165. Gina G. Warren with Chicken Mike and Nicole Graham: Dispatches from the Backyard Chicken Movement

Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

“Chickens are a lot more mainstream than veganism and a little bit like kombucha: super weird twenty years ago, now somewhat more popular and made even more so by logos, brands, and hashtags.” So begins Gina Warren’s book Hatched: Dispatches from the Backyard Chicken Movement. In this presentation that is part memoir, part food and sustainability discussion, Gina G. Warren sat down with renowned fellow chicken aficionados Chicken Mike and Nicole Graham to dig into the history and food politics of the backyard chicken movement.

Together, they provided their deeply personal experiences with the movement’s social and cultural motivations, the regulations it faces, and the ways that chicken owners build community. Warren shared other interviews with urban agriculture advocates, entrepreneurs, animal rights campaigners, and chicken enthusiasts, exploring America’s complex relationship with animals and what it means to be a conscious eater. Join them for this enlightening, unique, charming story that offers a fresh perspective and invited us to ask questions about sustainable farming, industrial agriculture, and our connections with the animals we love.

Gina G. Warren writes about animals, the natural world, and human relationships for publications such as Orion, Creative Nonfiction, and Terrain.org. She raises a flock of two dozen chickens in her South Louisiana backyard.

Chicken Mike and Nicole Graham live in Houston, Texas and own an urban based educational chicken business called The Garden Hen. They started their business in 2012 educating youth across Houston about the life cycle of a chicken. These efforts have spawned a program they bring to students of all ages called Project Life Cycle: The Chicken reaching over 20,000 students as of spring 2021. Along the way, The Grahams have become Houston’s premier chicken coop builders, building over 250 coops. Most of the coops are designed by Chicken Mike and Nicole, including the needs of their clients to make the perfect coop. Along with their “chicken ecosystem” growing, they have three beautiful daughters ages ranging from 5-17. Actually four, if you count Pinecone the chicken…

Buy the Book: https://www.thirdplacebooks.com/book/9780295748627

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