Wow. Who knew so many people were interested in chickens? Or that Agnes could be so patient? I’ll post pics later, but suffice it to say, we earned our dinner today! Penny, Maisie, Agnes and I spent 7 hours at the Seattle Tilth Harvest Festival today down in Wallingford.
I’m not sure what I expected, maybe that there would be a steady stream of people, but also time for me to wander around and see the various exhibits and booths. But nope. It was wall to wall people interested in chickens from 9:55 am to 4:15 pm. Wow.
The three girls ended up spending the day in one cage – an old meat bird box for transporting birds to the processor. It was nicely set up with hay in the shade. It was a bit too low for Penny to stand up, and she was so freaked out that she mostly chilled in the hay all day. Maisie was pretty well behaved – tolerating being held for about 5 minutes at a time, about once an hour.
But Agnes? She was the star of our show. She was so calm and wonderful. She got passed from child to adult to child all day long. And pretty much accepted it with charm and grace. Too bad you can’t clone her – we would have converted 20 homes to become urban henneries today! Everyone wanted to know what breed and where to find one. It was a bummer to keep having to explain that she’s a mutt and there’s no reliable way to make another one of her.
Anyway. They had a great turn out today. I really enjoyed every minute and talked to more people in 7 hours than I’ve talked to in a while. I did manage to feel a few minutes for a bite to eat and to get some produce at the farmer’s market. I aslo spent some time talking to the Puget Sound Beekeepers Association. Gonna have to get some of those next year. I bought a pint of the sweetest cranberry honey from them – I’m really excited to have it in my oatmeal and my tea all winter.
It was fun to see all the exhibits, the music was fabulous, and how great to meet everyone else’s birds as well. Someone even had a couple of big hens on harness and leash – the harnesses were made from scrunchies and the leashes were just light weight dog leashes. May have to give that a try – what fun would it be to take a chicken for a walk?
Anyway, now we’re off for a night of beer and food at the Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival. Hopefully I can find somewhere to sit – not sure I can do too much more standing today!
[…] a great if exhausting weekend. The Sustainable Ballard Festival was fun – not quite as busy as the Seattle Tilth fest, but pretty good considering it was blustery, overcast and raining for much of the day. I met Jim […]