The vagrant chickens of Farthing Street  have been reunited with their owner, who has vowed to clip their wings.

Who knew that chickens could fly?  I sure didn’t.
Of course, their flying acumen  is  akin to the  Wright Brothers first flight.  These things aren’t ready to make a transatlantic voyage yet, but they were able to clear a fence and glide happily across another neighbor’s yard before landing in our tomato patch.  (I’ve  heard that chickens in the wild actually nest in trees.  I’m sure the life of a wild chicken is “nasty, brutish and short” though.)

I had shooed one of the little darlings out of our sweet potato patch.  It turns out she knew before I did that the sweet potatoes were ripe for harvest.  When I went out to water the patch yesterday, I discovered a little dug-out area with the orange end of a sweet potato peeking through.  They are Covington sweet potatoes, which are a little smaller than your run-of-the-mill sweet potatoes, but still just as tasty.  Hooray!

Now I feel inspired to attend Durham’s own  ChickenStock Festival this Saturday down at Bull City Burger and Brewery. (I told you the Bull City is crazy about chickens.)  The fun starts at 4:00 p.m. and is described as a “free, fun and funky edu-party that brings the community together to learn about urban chicken-raising and sustainable living.”   The Bulltown Strutters, Durham’s own New Orleans-style jazz band, will be providing the musical entertainment.  Inspired I’m sure by Oktoberfest, they’ll be playing “The Chicken Dance.”  That alone would be worth the price of admission,  but happily, the event is free.

Peace out, chicken lovers.