Goodbye Chickens 😭

And thanks for all the eggs…

WATCH: UPDATE FROM THE CHICKEN COOP

It’s a somber, still day here at the Fruit + Flower house. It’s oddly silent. A warm breeze rustles the tall wispy bamboo stalks that swish in the wind. What’s missing are the soft clucks and ear-piercing COCK-A-DOO-DOODLE-DOOOOooooOOOO–oO–ooo-s!!!!!!!! of His Royal Fluffness, Sir Dudeberry and his ladies: Lady Olgaberry, Burritoberry, Snozzberry, Butterberry, Fizzleberry, Leelaberry, Pickleberry, and the late great Queen Raspberry Magnolia. 

It’s a violently fitting end to an era that began with a baking blog with chickens and their eggs. Please excuse the absurdity that follows. I’m extremely high and grieving. 

Vol. 24 // In This Issue: 

• What happened to the chickens?

• What will happen to the lone survivor?

• Life’s hidden easter eggs

• Will you get more chickens?

• 420 Events 

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I kept chickens because I wanted to experience a deeper connection with food. The idea of having fresh eggs from an adorable backyard coop with cute little fluffbutts was an urban homesteading life goal. Keeping rescue hens and a devilishly handsome rooster gave me an intimate appreciation of where food comes from, how much care it takes to raise happy chickens, and why eggs should be expensive. 

Their eggs are undoubtedly the secret sauce of my baked goods. I’m at a loss for what to do without the daily supply of butt nuggets and fertilizer gold for my garden. Fresh eggs from happy backyard chickens taste richer and more flavorful with their creamy golden yolks the color of molten sunshine and whites that whip up into perfect stretchy clouds of fluffy meringue.

Keeping chickens happy, healthy, and safe is not easy when everything wants to turn them into a snack.  

🙈 Close your eyes  

In the dark of night, a gang of adorably rotund, fuzzy raccoons swept through the chicken yard like a Las Vegas buffet. I made a mistake. I forgot to reset their automatic chicken door so they could put themselves safely to bed in the pink and teal Fort Knox of chicken coops. They were stuck sleeping outside exposed to the night’s terrors. 😭 

I’ve made plenty of other dumb mistakes, like forgetting to close the coop door at night, many other times in the past. I’m only human, mistakes happen. Sadly, this mistake benefited a hungry family of trash pandas with gourmet tastes. I found Leelaberry, the lone survivor, shaking and huddled by my front door with a stump left for a tail and missing a toe. I’ll spare you the grisly details of what happened to the rest. 

🌈🐓 Island of misfit animals

Chickens are flock creatures and need complex social systems to thrive. A lone chicken with no flockmates will go mad with boredom or waste away from loneliness. Longtime chicken lady friend and follower @alltheprettychickens offered to take in Leelaberry so she wouldn’t have to be alone and suffer such a fate. 💕 She runs Beazy Farms, a non-profit island of misfit and special needs animals befitting Leelaberry’s endearingly clingy personality. She’ll have a flock of fellow game hens to scamper, meep, and be naughty with, which means… I’ve reached the end of my chicken lady era. 

🐣 Life’s hidden easter eggs

Those chickens gave me endless silly inspiration to create desserts that enchanted people across the internet from my Dude Pocky Matcha Cake, a GBBO style chicken cookie sculpture, chicken tea parties, rounds of chicken shit bingo, to the “Punk as Cluck” rainbow cake seen on Hulu’s Baker’s Dozen S1E5. They even inspired a stationary collab with Such Good Birds, featuring illustrations of my chickens and desserts. Dude was featured alongside me in High Times, and they made a cameo on my first podcast episode with Weed + Grub. Listen to me go full chicken lady mode on Coffee with the Chicken Ladies podcast. 

The most precious easter eggs are the friendships forged with fellow chicken ladies I’ve made over the years sharing their antics. From @therapy_chickens in Washington state and her tiny screaming dinosaur Lulu who has a crush on Dude, to @koo.farms who brought me the gift of Tim Tam slams all the way from Perth, Australia, these digital friendships near and far were a spot of sunshine and joy during the long pandemic isolation.

Just like my backyard pasture-raised eggs, the cannabis I enjoy most is grown outdoors, in the natural sun, and raised on organic, natural ingredients. Not surprisingly, many of the cannabis farmers I meet are also chicken tenders. Food and cannabis are inextricably connected, they grow from the same earth and regenerative ecosystem that we’ve become disconnected from in the age of plastic shrink-wrapped convenience in a box. 

End of a Chicken Lady Era

I won’t be getting more chickens any time soon. As much as I love these funny, sweet creatures and have been forever changed by their presence, my life circumstances have changed so much that chickens and don’t fit in anymore. Maybe another time in another place where the ground is flat and land is abundant I’ll rescue another set of tiny dinosaurs and name them Ganjaberry and Brownie Mary Berry.

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HIGH-ly Recommend Events

A roundup of cannabis events with good vibes. 

• 6/28 - Comedy x Cannabis, hosted by Matt Richards with happy hour rolling session and munchies from Brooklyn Dumpling Shop | Lost Canna Club (New York

• 7/2 - Friday, get high and watch movies | Cannabis and Movies Club (Los Angeles)

• 7/9 - Jurassic Park, get high and watch movies | Cannabis and Movies Club (Los Angeles)

• 7/7-7/8 - Nomadic Nights, infused 8-course dining experience with Chef Travis Petersen | The Nomad Cook (Los Angeles)

• 7/9 - Afternoon High Tea Time, an intimate concert and tea party at a 420 speakeasy | Radtida Tea Co. (Los Angeles)

• 7/10 - 710 Dinner Party, 5-course tasting menu with pairings by Chef Chris Binotto | Cannabis Supper Club (Los Angeles)

• 7/13 - Pot Girl Summer Los Angeles, interactive stoner scavenger hunt. Complete stoner challenges to receive the next clue that leads you to the #potgirlsummer main event | The Hot Box (Los Angeles)

• 7/14 to 7/30 - California State Fair & Food Festival and CA State Fair Cannabis Awards, a celebration of CA cultivators and represents another step towards normalization and a new conversation about cannabis. CA State Fair (Sacramento)

• 7/15 - Relax and Unwind, a plant-based elevated sound bath dining experience | Chef Onyx (Jacksonville, FL)

• 7/16 - Four2Zero Night Market, an 420 and dog-friendly elevated shopping experience | Babinka Treats (Los Angeles)

• 7/20 - Pot Girl Summer Las Vegas, interactive stoner scavenger hunt. Complete stoner challenges to receive the next clue that leads you to the #potgirlsummer main event | The Hot Box (Las Vegas)

• 7/22 - Farm to Table, a culinary cannabis farmer’s market at SF Buyer’s Club | PuffDao (San Francisco)

• 7/29 - Pot Girl Summer Denver, interactive stoner scavenger hunt. Complete stoner challenges to receive the next clue that leads you to the #potgirlsummer main event | The Hot Box (Denver)

• 8/5 - Pot Girl Summer Detroit, interactive stoner scavenger hunt. Complete stoner challenges to receive the next clue that leads you to the #potgirlsummer main event | The Hot Box (Denver)

• 8/6 - Farm to Table, a culinary cannabis farmer’s market | PuffDao (Los Angeles)

• 8/6 - Understanding Edibles 101, two hour free class led by ButACake to learn about safe and responsible consumption of infused edibles | Baked By The River (Lambertville, NJ)

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My chicken adventure began with two adopted best friends, Raspberry Magnolia and Lady Olgaberry. Fizzleberry and Butterberry with their magnificently fluffy beards came next, rescued from a tiny townhouse complex where chickens are not allowed. Raspberry died in my arms one tragically sad afternoon and her best friend grieved every day at the fence nearest where she’s buried.

Leelaberry was an escapee running wild in the neighborhood during a summer heatwave and near impossible to catch. It took me 3 hours of patience to lure and trap Burritoberry, Snozzberry, and Pickleberry, an ornery bunch of local escapees wandering and shitting all over neighborhood lawns.

And then there’s Dude, my final rescue. A handsome, ungrateful tit of a rooster with punk rock hair who loved the camera and blowouts. I adopted him from the local animal shelter and brought him back from the brink of death. Despite being terrible at his job and taking it too seriously, he loved cuddles, spa days, and having his eyebrows brushed.

Goodbye my beautiful chickens, Christina W.