A Chicken In Every Yard

The famous 1928 Herbert Hoover presidential campaign slogan of, “A chicken in every pot”, may soon be, “A chicken in every backyard”. Ironic isn’t it how things seem to come full circle in so many ways. It used to be considered common place for most folks here in the U.S., prior to WWII, to grow their own food, from eggplant to eggs. But as people left the rural communities and gravitated to metropolitan areas, anyone in "the city with backyard livestock such as chicken houses were thought of as “wacky” or “strange”. Now however, a large number of city dwellers are raising chickens in places such as Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. The chicken it seems is quickly becoming the proud mascot for the local food movement. And while the chickens are raised mostly for their egg producing, there are some communities utilizing mobile slaughterhouses to produce poultry meat. Backyard raised livestock is quickly becoming popular nationwide and is a natural extension of the urban farming movement, bringing a lot of us full circle.