Posted on 04/28/2005 7:37:48 AM PDT by dukeman
Attention Washington DC Area Residents & Others
Join UPC at the University of Maryland May 4 and Takoma Park May 8
On International Respect for Chickens Day, UPC will leaflet on behalf of chickens in front of McKeldon Library at the University of Maryland, College Park on Wednesday, May 4 from Noon – 2 PM. Brochures and posters will be provided along with our banner proclaiming INTERNATIONAL RESPECT FOR CHICKENS DAY - A DAY TO CELEBRATE CHICKENS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. Please join us in front of the library!
On Sunday, May 8, we will leaflet in the Takoma Park Town Square in the vicinity of the Roscoe the Rooster Memorial Statue and the 7th-Day Adventist Church from Noon – 2 PM. As everyone knows, the Roscoe statue honors a rooster who for years was tenderly cared for by Takoma Park residents until his death in 1999. In 2000, UPC president Karen Davis sat on the committee that selected the artist and helped to raise funds to erect the statue through our generous membership. Sadly, while Takoma Park honors Roscoe as the town mascot who "made us smile and brightened our days," this community, which has traditionally embraced peace-loving, anti-war, vegetarian values, is retreating to a mainstream consumer identity and dolling up the downslide as wanting to be "part of the revolution for lovingly and humanely raised and culled meat" (Washington Post 3/20/05). ROSCOE NEEDS OUR HELP. PLEASE JOIN US AT THE TOWN SQUARE ON MOTHERS DAY, SUNDAY MAY 8 FROM NOON – 2 PM. Next to the endearing Roscoe statue there will be a farmers market plying the flesh of dead chickens and other innocent victims of human violence. We’ll have brochures, posters, and our banner. We look forward to standing out as the true friends of Roscoe. For more information, call 757-678-7875 or email karen@upc-online.org.
Here's more....
One Lucky Turkey Enjoys Vegan Feast
One lucky turkey will ham it up at vegan feast,” by Linda McNatt, appeared on the front page of The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA) on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2004. Here is the charming article, edited slightly for space:
“Florence the turkey has thrived since she came to live at Karen Davis’ bird sanctuary on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. She’ll be an honored guest at Davis’ annual vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday.
“MACHIPONGO - Sssshhhhhh. Don’t mention the T word around Florence today. It might upset the plump, white turkey. Here, at her home in this tiny, rural town on the Eastern Shore, Thanksgiving is just another day at the bird sanctuary. . . . In fact, she will be an honored guest at a vegetarian dinner at the sanctuary that is also home to several ducks and more than 100 chickens. Florence is the lone turkey.
“‘Oh, we’ll let her come in the house and set bowls of food and water on the floor for her,’ said Karen Davis, president of United Poultry Concerns and an avid animal activist. ‘That way, people can get to know her.’
“Davis, a former English professor at the University of Maryland, believes that everyone should get to know their feathered friends better, especially the kind that often meet their end at processing plants. But none of that for Florence. The quiet, curious turkey was one of three rescued from a plant in Maryland when she was a youngster. . . .
“Florence and her cage mate, Boris, were sent to live with Davis at her bird sanctuary almost five years ago. But Boris died two years later of a respiratory infection typical of mass-produced birds. Florence, however, has flourished. ‘She’s very hardy,’ Davis said.
“Her love of fowl began in the mid-1980s after she met a chicken she named Viva [see pp. 10-12 in this issue of PoultryPress]. . . .
“Even before that, by the early 1970s, Davis had changed her eating habits and become a strict vegetarian. Her diet doesn’t include any animal products. In 1990, she started United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization that addresses the treatment of domestic fowl in meat production. In 1998, she looked for a small farm and found it among the poultry processing plants on the Eastern Shore.
“Many of the chickens at the sanctuary were rescued from local highways after falling off trucks on the way to the plants, Davis said. At the sanctuary, Florence gets along just fine. . . . In the fenced yard, Florence takes dust baths, flopping her wings and feathers in the dirt, and sun bathes. She appears to enjoy her status as the only one of her kind on the farm. For a turkey, she’s rather quiet, Davis said. Florence prefers to observe and listen, cocking her head one way and then the other to consider the world around her.
“This Sunday, she’ll be the center of attention. For the past several years, Davis has opened her home and her farm after the holiday for a not-so-traditional potluck vegan meal. The Pennsylvania native has had anywhere from 15 to 50 people join her, she said. . . . They’ll be eating things like Mrs. Gobble-Good’s Golden Brown Pie, a recipe made of lentils, carrots, celery, onions and diced potatoes that Davis includes in a brochure she hands out about the plight of turkeys produced for meat. . . .”
Woo Hoo! I'll have a Family sized batch of KFC Popcorn Chicken!
It’s not as spicy as you’d think.
Or you could do the “Greek” style chicken.
Pour olive oil (~1/4 cup) in a bowl, squeeze in the juice from a couple of lemons, salt, couple of minced garlic cloves, and a little chopped up rosemary and/or oregano if you want.
Mix in the chicken pieces and let them marinate a little – it really doesn’t matter how long. Usually 10 – 20 minutes or so (while the grill/oven heats up).
Cook them however you want. Grill/broil/bake. Baste occasionally with the marinade if you want.
That one is pretty good… easy/quick. Plus it was convenient because we *always* had garlic and oil – plus had lemon tree, rosemary, oregano, basil, mint – all right outside the back door.
Greeks use that oil/lemon juice/salt/garlic type of marinade for everything – fish, lamb, beef, chicken – whatever.
Yep. And while mom was inside fooling around with the chicken we’d be out on the porch taking turns cranking the ice cream maker.
I hear chickens taste like chick.... - Ah, never mind. B-D
YOU ( and every one else here) needs THIS link!
Fresh spices, fragrant and cheap!
http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.html
ANd they have recipes in every catalogue!
thank you for your recipes!
:-)
It really is very efficient. The growth rate versus the amount of food fed is supposedly very good.
I'd like to raise a bunch of meat chickens someday, but it might push the limits of my neighbors tolerance!
I love to talk about chickens...almost as much as VWs, you know...
:-)
I know you do! Can't wait till May 4! You'll have to make a special party for your girls, with pictures!
Hi, Hair.
4-H PING!
Bring recipes!
I have the greatest respect for chickens everyday...........in fact I have so much respect for chickens that my closest neighbors are about 150,000 of them!!!!!
LOL!! No way. I like my chickens (my pets and also fried) but I'm not associating myself with this basket case.
See, though...that's my point...the whole point is if this woman is picking up meat chickens on the side of the road and letting them suffer and die, I wonder about her compassion. These chickens are bred to be butchered when they are 6-8 weeks old, regardless of whether it's right or wrong, they suffer if they live longer.
Now if she's talking about commercial layers, I've heard of people doing that before and getting a pretty good hen. They do take commercial layers to be processed when they are about 2 years old, I believe...they start slowing down laying. They make them into canned soup.
So I guess I can't jump to the conclusion, but I do get the impression the chickens are being taken to a "plant" to be processed and she's saved them from that fate. If it's an "old" layer, she's getting herself some pretty decent hens probably...if it's a meat chicken, she's being inhumane.
One trusts you are up-wind?
;-)
Oh - come on.... play along! Make them some little hats! We'd like to see the pics!
Oh good grief - I just realized that bird sanctuary in the article about the turkey is in my neck of the woods.........
"rescuing" birds that fall of the truck on the way to the plants is not a difficult taks - poultry is the main industry in this county........sigh.
this isn't gonna cause the price of chicken to go up is it?
"Resuing" sounds like a way to a fast, cheap dinner!
Do you know about Penzey's?
Link is above if not....
WONDERFUL stuff!
LOL!!!!I'm on the northeast corner and they are on the southwest corner of the intersection.
In the 2 years we've been hear I have noticed them exactly twice..........and both of those times were when the houses were being cleaned out. There is little to no odor eminating from modern chicken houses - which is a relief for those of us living in close proximity :)
An entire day?
Uggghhh..
Guy I used to live up the road from kept chickens (OLD way) ... I do believe I would rather live down-wind of pigs.
Is this a French national holiday? ;^)
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