I learned something new today – September is national chicken month in the United States. Really!

Now, when I first read this I thought – oooh, that’s so cool! A whole month honoring chickens and their contribution to the wellbeing of humans! What a forward thinking, pro homesteading, back to the roots concept!

Then I googled it. Oops. My whole happy-chickens-running-through-a-bucolic-pasture image was quickly shattered. National chicken month is not to promote chickens, but to promote the eating of chickens and is supported by a consortium of chicken producers. Humph.

No one tell Buttercup, Bluebell, SweetPea, Blackberry, Clover or Thistle. I already told them it’s their month!

So I’d like to propose a new meaning for national chicken month. Rather than celebrating the eating of chickens, I’d like to recognize how chickens enable self-sufficiency. I’d like to celebrate their contribution to our nutrition, yes meat, but also eggs. And I’d like to acknowledge how much fun they are as pets. Seriously, I never knew how hilarious chickens could be to keep! Chickens in many ways are the cover gals for the back to the land movement. They are a gateway “drug” to keeping other animals.

So cheers to chickens and their scratching, pecking, clucking, dirt bathing, silly ways!