Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Why Did the Blogger Cross the Road?

I subscribe to a number of Twitter feeds from people who blog on thrift and frugal living. An article came through today on the top five reasons to raise chickens.

It reminded me of a fun little book I recently read called Travels with my Chicken by Martin Gurdon.

I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite quotes-- Gurdon on why he doesn't eat his pet chickens:

"What do you think? Eating them before [they've died] isn't much of an option. They wriggle when they're alive, the feathers are likely to get stuck between your teeth, and the process itself might be a little distressing for both parties, so we wouldn't eat them at that point. Once they've shuffled off their mortal perches the presence of death tends to indicate that they weren't well beforehand."

And on being interviewed with a chicken on your lap:

"An interview like this is something that is done to you-- not in an unpleasant way, but you're part of a process extruded like the product of a sausage factory into people's homes. Then you step off an invisible conveyor belt and emerge back into the real world, blinking with surprise, exactly as you were before."