Growing food and community (and chickens in town, we hope)

All things food and community have been under way this spring in SO IL. Two months ago, the local farmer's market opened for the season, and last month we started receiving our weekly CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) deliveries from Clearcreek CSA. A bonus with the CSA this year is visiting with the other members each week. We volunteered our house to be the drop-off/meeting point for the bi-weekly deliveries. Stocked with a cooler full of beverages and the occasional homemade fixings, we've been able to enjoy visits with Adam and Anne (Clearcreek proprietors) and the CSA members who have the time to visit. It's amazing how well a "cooler full" can coax a person to sit down and chat for thirty minutes or so. Who says barley and hops can't build community?

via Modern Coop

On other things food related, we're still anxious to hear the city council's decision about raising hens in town. Last February, there had been some press in the local paper about the matter (even the addition of miniature goats to the proposed city ordinance apparently made oh-so-informative USA TODAY), but it's been pretty quiet lately. Regardless, I've been looking for chicken coop ideas. Fortunately, there are even a few ideas out there with a modern/contemporary aesthetic. For example, Modern Coop uses reclaimed cedar. (Well, well, well...it so happens that I have a leftover cedar board or two from the finished courtyard fence--I'll make a post about that one soon). The Cocorico Hen House also got me thinking about alternative uses for the super-flexible PVC pipes used for outdoor electrical conduit. Other store-bought varieties are produced by Omlet in the UK and the stateside ChickenCribs. Oh, the possibilities.

Cocorico Hen House by Maxime Evrard via Yanko Design