Thanks to the locavore movement, people around the country are reducing their carbon footprints by finding their food sources closer to home. But for some families, even the movement’s proposed 100-mile shopping radius is just too far, so they’re bringing the farm—chickens, goats, bees, and all—right into their own backyards.
It’s difficult to tell which came first: the locavore movement itself or the inspiring bestselling authors. Barbara Kingsolver, author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
and Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
have written about how distanced people have become from their food sources and explored ways to reconnect. The concept of eating food produced as close to home as possible or becoming the grower has gone from alternative to mainstream and all the way up to the White House.
And it’s not just about growing our own fresh food anymore, but actually raising it as well. People want warm, freshly-laid eggs, milk, honey, and more from the comfort of their own backyards—where they even get to decide what to feed their future food before it ends up on their kids’ plates. These families are growing bananas alongside their rooftop chicken coops on New York City rooftops; chasing ducks, rabbits, and chickens around Brooklyn backyards; learning to make their own goat cheese in the shadow of Atlanta’s capitol dome; and enjoying just-laid eggs in downtown Denver and Portland.
City Chicks
Urban agriculturalists, as these city-growers are called, want it all: The benefits of agrarian culture with the conveniences of city jobs and lifestyles. Their motivations vary, but for many, a main driver is the desire to reduce carbon footprints.
“The average food item on a U.S. grocery shelf has traveled farther than most families go on their annual vacations,” writes Kingsolver. This awareness of the environmental impact—or carbon footprint—of food transportation, storage, and processing is perhaps the leading argument for eating locally produced food. Rising concerns about food contamination also inspire people to want to know their food sources, and of course local, fresh food just plain tastes better.
First Lady Michelle Obama cited nutrition and soaring childhood obesity rates as motivators when she broke ground on a small patch of White House Lawn for an organic kitchen garden in March that will provide arugula and other vegetables for her family and staff. But the First Family will also have a beehive on the premises that will provide much-needed pollination in the new vegetable garden and fresh-as-can-be honey.
People like Rebecca Knapp of Denver cheered this news because it provides a great example for her children who don’t live on a farm or necessarily know farmers. “We’re trying to be more green about everything,” says Knapp, who added two chickens—Beulah and Lucia—to her family backyard last fall. “It’s part of what we’ve chosen as a lifestyle for our family.” Mrs. Knapp decided it was time to get her own chickens when her local CSA (a food co-op) discontinued eggs.
The Knapps, who live in a neighborhood on the edge of downtown Denver also have several fruit trees and an herb garden, but are still trying to figure out how to best grow vegetables around their hungry hens. (So far pots in the front yard where the chickens are not allowed has worked.)
Most importantly, she says it’s fun for the kids. “The boys love the chickens,” she says of her 4- and 2-year-olds. “They pick them up and carry them around the yard.”
Not just fun, but also educational. “The boys are actually learning where food comes from,” says Mrs. Knapp. “I want them to know where food comes from and not be so distanced from the source. Hans likes to gather the eggs for me and comes in the house telling Daddy, ‘them can’t stop laying eggs’ with the cutest look on his face!” Her young boys help feed and water the hens, let them in and out of their coop and collect eggs, seeing the entire process. When the family visited a local farm to order beef and pork, the kids first met cows and pigs. Now when eating bacon, Mrs.Knapp’s son comments how much he likes his “half a pig.”
Thinking you'd like to add chickens to your life? Learn the basics of keeping hens.
Homegrown Honey
Like the Obamas, Knapp and her husband, Pete, intend to add a beehive to their backyard this summer for both pollination of their many fruit trees and to make their own honey. They will position their hive on the garage roof, high enough to keep the bees away from their kids. Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture Magazine, says that this is just the type of smart planning that allows families with children to safely keep bees.
Bees have been getting a lot of attention in the last couple of years because of the steep population decline due to something called “colony collapse disorder” in which worker bees vanish. Although there are mixed opinions about what is causing this, the concern is a sudden lack of pollinating bees for many of the world’s crops. “The last two years have put a lot of focus on honeybees and their plight and people have responded wonderfully,” Flottum says. “There has been an incredible influx of new beekeepers, who are not commercial.” He notes that about 95 percent of his audience is made up of people just starting out with one or two bee colonies. “Whether they’re on a rooftop in New York City or in the backyard of a suburban house, bees will help pollinate everybody’s gardens.”
Is beekeeping right for you?
Not for the Weak of Wallet
While some people are drawn to the idea of urban agriculture as a way to save money on groceries, they soon learn that the endeavor is anything but cost-saving. Carrie Saunders of Portland, Oregon, invested more than $1,000 in chickens in the past year and about $50 in bees—and she is also willing to pay a little extra for organic chicken feed every few months.
“About eight years ago, I started paying attention to where my food was coming from,” recalls Saunders, an accountant and single mother of 3-year-old and 1-year-old daughters. “I think it’s important for kids to know where food comes from beyond the grocery store, instead of just seeing eggs in the carton.”
The fact that there isn’t any savings in raising her own food—at least not in the short-term—is not the issue for Saunders and other families. “[The hens] make great pets,” she says, glossing over the mess and incorrigible vegetable garden marauding, and noting their charming names: Hazel, Alice, and Omlette.
From Yard to Farm
While the interest in back-to-the-land lifestyles is gaining in appeal among urbanites, some people are taking it to the next level from just the backyard hobby. Mary Rigdon of Atlanta may be a cautionary tale to some of the enthusiastic beginning backyard farmers. After she spent a couple of years fantasizing about having goats, she and her family moved just 10 miles from downtown and acquired three. More than a decade and 35 goats later, she has turned into a producer, selling her artisan goat cheeses to local restaurants. “That has various ramifications on your family,” she says with some reservations about the time-consuming aspects of the endeavor. She loves farm life, but not running a business.
The upside is that her children—now 15 and 11—have learned about where their food comes from, how to care for it, and a lot of responsibility by having farm chores. “Just two days ago I ran to the grocery store for some paper towels and my daughter called and said [one goat] was about to give birth. I told her, ‘You can handle it.’ And she did. By the time I got back she had birthed two goats.”
Zoning and Regulations
Before investing in chickens, bees, or other livestock, you’ll need to find out if it’s even legal to keep them in your city. If not, you just might be able to help overturn laws prohibiting it.
“There is generally a loosening of restrictions in municipalities on keeping small animals for productivity,” notes David Morely, a research associate with American Planning Association in Chicago. He points to a significant increase in the number of queries from communities about livestock ordinances, specifically for backyard animals such as goats and chickens that are not on farms. Once passed, these livestock zoning laws usually come with restrictions, such as prohibiting roosters and limiting the number of hens, requiring notification of neighbors, and more. While waiting for the laws to change, you can educate yourself on how to care for your new additions either through local classes, books, or websites.
Useful Links
thecitychicken.com has a regularly updated list of local ordinances pertaining to chickens.
eatwellguide.com allows users to enter a zip code to find local, sustainable, and organic food sources.
easternapiculture.org is the site for the largest beekeeping organization in North America.
voyageurpress.com is the site for the publisher of a livestock series “how to” books, such as How To Raise Chickens
by Christine Heinrichs, and more.
Mindy Sink is a coauthor of Colorado Organic: Cooking Seasonally, Eating Locally and author of Moon Denver
.