Got chickens?

El Cabrero for once was on the cutting edge of a hot new trend. From the New York Times:

As Americans struggle through a dismal recession, many are trying to safeguard themselves from what they fear will be even worse times ahead. They eat out less often. They take vacations closer to home. They put off buying new cars.

And some raise chickens...

I think we're looking at the convergence of virtue and necessity. Lots of people are understandably squeamish about our industrialized food system, which isn't sustainable in lots of senses. Many have been inspired or at least made aware through books like Barbara Kingsolver and family's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle or Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. And then there are the folks who doing things like this just to make ends meet.

El Cabrero became a footsoldier in the local food revolution the honest way. I got married. Things happen when you do that. My sister-in-law even wrote a book about chickens.

There are all kinds of benefits from having chickens around. One of the biggest for me has been the insight that roosters offer into much of the behavior of the human male.

UNEMPLOYMENT ACTION. Yesterday's post talked about how WV take advantage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to extend unemployment benefits to those who have exhausted them. To qualify, the state needs to pass enabling legislation by the end of the year. To make it reach the people who need it, the legislation should be made retroactive through June of this year. Here's more info about the option from the WV Center on Budget and Policy.

TOO MUCH TEA? This article from The Nation discusses the increasingly shrill and racist noises coming from the far right and its connection to the health care debate.

THUG LIFE. On that note, hard right groups are using thug tactics to disrupt public forums on health care reform. (Have they been talking to some people round here?)

SMALL BUSINESS. Here's Dean Baker taking a comparative look at the status of small business in the US and...horrors!...Europe in the context of the health care reform debate.

TRUE GRIT or what my maternal unit called stick-to-itiveness could be a major key to success according to recent research. I know from 36 years in the martial arts that one major secret of getting better is to keep coming back. There is much to be said for taking one's lumps.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED