About Me

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My life's purpose is best described by: Be the change you want to see in the world: Gandhi. Smiling is my "botox"-FORGET THE DRUGS AND SURGERY. I spice up my life, not my diet, which is SIMPLY DELICIOUS on its own. KISS: I Keep it simple sugars-from whole, fresh, ripe, raw, organic fruits (veggies,some nuts/seeds too). The 811rv motto is: simplicity at mealtime, variety throughout the year. My motto is: I live in my own little world, but it's ok they all know me there. At some point, you have to realize that some people can stay in your heart, but not in your life.

6/09/2008

My love affair with chickens






My love affair with chickens began in the summer of 2001. We had moved into our new home almost one year earlier. Our home is in the country. The previous owners used to have chickens. They had installed a very good quality coop in the shed that was insulated enough to withstand even our Québec winters. There is even a light bulb to provide extra heat. Neat little ladders climb up to the laying/sleeping boxes at the top. I was also enchanted with the idea of returning to the land-to garden and be closer to nature.

Our first summer, my son and I went to the only farmers cooperative we knew of that sold chickens for raising-which was two hours from home. I wasn't planning on killing them to eat because I didn't have the stomach for that-but eating their eggs seemed perfectly ok (what a numbskull I was). Looking back now, it was pretty sad to see all those poor chickens pressed horribly close together in the packing crates-barely able to move. But I consoled myself with the thought that at least my chickens would have decent lives-roaming free in my garden. We weren't vegans at this point, but we were becoming more sensitive to organic issues. My thoughts were that organic eggs had to be better than non-organic ones. Sidebar, my cholesterol levels, just before becoming vegan, were off the charts(in the 500's) and even though I was only in my thirties, I was considered at extreme risk for cardiovascular disease by my conventional doctor. Now, I know that I was definitely a walking time bomb.

Since going 811rv, my levels have dropped considerably, but I still have probably many years of healing to do before they're very good-I did some tests recently and I'll post them once I know the results. So much for organic animal products being healthy!!!

I let my son choose the chickens. He chose 5 beautiful red hens and we were going to leave it at that, but since he's a boy he wanted a rooster too. The girl at the check out counter told us that roosters didn't serve much purpose, obviously, for laying, to-be-eaten-eggs, but they were pretty. Boy was she wrong!

Our rooster was blond with some red and brown feathers too. He reminded me of Billy Idol with his crest and bleach blond feathers and that's what we named him. We put the 5 hens in the travel box we had prepared and then added Billy Idol. Boy you should have seen his reaction to being placed in a box with five lovely hens! His eyes enlarged as he looked down at them and I swear his utter joy was palpable.

We drove home and didn't hear a peep from the poor chickens. Once we arrived, I thought it would be difficult to get them out of the box and into the coop, but they were so terrified that they just let themselves be lifted one by one out of the box. I placed them head first in their individual boxes in the coop with some water and food on the floor. The next morning, only one chicken had dared to even turn herself around so we called her Ginger from the movie "Chicken Run" since she seemed to be the bravest.


Full Story to follow...

10 comments:

Sarah said...

Hey Via you're looking glowy and very golden tan! Can't wait to hear the chicken story. :)

suzanne said...

que de souvenirs pour moi en voyant ces poulets, j'avais une fermette et j'avais des poules comme celle-là.

es-ce qu'elle sont a toi?

suzanne

Autumn said...

Oh they are very cute! And so are you. Definitely glowing!

qsdfghjklm said...

Tu vois me voilà aussi sur ton blog...

Et puis Suzanne aussi... on retrouve les mêmes, stunmonde !!!

Sinon, cela m'aurait assez intéressé de voir sur ton blog ce que tu manges au jour le jour, et les quantités... car je crains de ne pas manger assez de fruits, surtout que mon ventre est habitué à ne pas manger beaucoup en général et encore moins des fruits

voilà voilà...

bon c'est quoi ton prénom ? :-)

luba said...

Sorry to hear about your mom.
BIG HUG!!!!!

Green said...

Colonel Saunders loved chicken too, but in a different way lol.

Sorry about your mom, I know it's tough to get someone to understand health the way it is supposed to be understood.

Do your chickens enjoy your fruit scraps?

Azura Skye said...

lovely chickens. My family will be getting some soon - rescuing some from a battery factory. I can't wait to allow them to have a great life with us. Although my family aren't vegetarian : / But chickens are great. i loved the photos, so sweet! I used to do the same with our last lot of chickens (years ago) and ducks. Ducks are very sweet too.

You look beautiful Via! Your skin is gorgeous, what a lovely colour and glow. : )

suzanne said...

I got a whole kilo of lychees today for 75¢ (normally $13/kg),

you're so lucky

suzanne

suzanne said...

bonsoir

es-ce a cause de moi que tu n'as plus le temps de venir sur ton blog ?

j'aime bien suivre ton journal quotidien et là, plus de nouvelles de toi.
j'aime bien aussi lire ce que tu écris, je comprend un peu.

a bientot

suzanne

Via811 said...

Thank you for the comments and for reading about my beloved chickens-I will continue this story because I love writing about their antics. Dedicating enough time to my blog, as usual, is the problem. Ciao for now.

Girofle-il m'a fait seulement plaisir de te guider avec le 811 pendant une semaine!!