goats

I”ve been thinking a lot about chickens lately, because I’m going on a trip where I’m going to see a LOT of them! This reminded me of the Seattle Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour. This annual Seattle event has been hosted by Seattle Tilth since the 1990s! The tour is self-guided , with sites located all around the city, where you can see see simple chicken coops built in an afternoon along with elaborate finely-crafted coops that took weeks of planning and building. Several urban farms also featured miniature goats, ducks, mason bees, honey bees and bunnies.

Each one of the lucky urban farmers we visited were over-the-moon enthusiastic about their chickens (and bees, goats, ducks). And why wouldn’t they be? There is nothing like an egg plucked fresh from the hen’s nest!

I was absolutely amazed with the ingenuity displayed at the coops we visited. Added bonus was the dedication and excitement of the coops “manned” by kids. It was heartwarming. They were really into their chickens!

Here are a few pictures from the tour:

A girl and her hen

Yellow Chicken coop with metal roof

Eggs from Lucy and Augustine

Coop d’etat

Chicken egg

Double decker chicken coop

Chicken Radio Flyer

Home sweet chicken coop

Chicken house trompe l’oeil

Miniature chicken paintings in a chicken coop

Amazing chicken coop

Take the road less traveled, Beth

When Big Papa was a little boy, he would go with his family to Soergel’s roadside stand for fresh-picked fruits and vegetables. On several of our trips to visit his family in the Pittsburgh area, we’ve stopped at Soergel’s, even though its days of being a small roadside stand have long passed.

Soergel’s is over 150-years-old. In the mid-1850’s, John Conrad Soergel, a German immigrant settled on the spot where Soergel Orchards is now. He began planting apple trees and, for several decades, the apples were sold wholesale in town. John Soergel’s descendents continue to operate Soergel Orchards. When the business outgrew its original farm stand, a larger stand was built. Eventually, in the early 1970s, the Soergel family felt it was time to expand their business further and built the market that exists today.

A bevy of surprises await little ones:

Goats, sheep, bunnies, chickens and one VERY large pig are in the out-buildings with feed available to purchase (25-cents a handful)
Pirate ship playground
A cute electric train that circles the perimeter of the ceiling in the country store
Toy shop
Butterfly house ($2)
Firetruck rides

Inside the country store you can find:

Ice cream parlor
Sandwich shop
Dime store candy
Wine shop
Bakery
Deli
Oodles of fresh fruit and vegetables

Baby Bird loved feeding the goats, staring at the enormous pig, and, when we went inside to grab a sandwich for lunch, she couldn’t take her eyes off the miniature train that chugged in circles around the ceiling. If you find yourself north of Pittsburgh, Soergel’s is definitely a great place to take kids, and it’s a lot of fun for grown-ups too.

Take the road less traveled,

Beth

Chicken Little: City Chicken Coops in Seattle

Soergel Orchards and Country Store in Wexford, PA