When I was a kid, I made extra cash every year selling baby guinea pigs to the local feed store (to be purchased by nice families who would love them and care for them and change the sawdust in their cages every day and give them lots of carrots and broccoli florets and most certainly would NOT feed them to snakes. WHAT.)
Upon wandering into the Urban Farm Store on Southeast Morrison over the weekend, I was immediately struck by how similar it was to the feed store we went to when I was younger, albeit selling organic dog food instead of the kind made with, you know, decaying horse hearts and kitten fetuses. It’s a very practical store, not boutiquey at all, stocked with bags of wild bird seed, chicken scratch, kitty litter, cat and dog food, organic garden seeds, and an edible plant nursery outside. And in the back? TINY BABY CHICKENS. They’ve got a few bins of chicks which have been selling like mad, according to Robert, the store’s owner (when I asked him where they come from, he said he orders them by mail and they arrive in “cheeping boxes” at the post office).
Future plans for the store include selling full-grown chickens, beekeeping supplies, and rabbits (for petting and loving and cuddling. Certainly not for eating. WHAT.). Oh, and goat feed: Apparently people are into raising and slaughtering their own goats these days? This I did not know. They also offer free chicken keeping classes, for all you aspiring urban farmers out there. (Robert was super helpful, too, even before I disclosed that I’m a media spy; when I asked if they sold cat treats, he said “not yet,” but ran to get me a cat food sample. It’s definitely a place I’d feel comfortable asking for help and advice.)
This store is great. And of course, business has been booming, because this is a brilliant idea at absolutely the right cultural moment. Check it out for yourself: 1925 SE Morrison, 234-7733, or visit their very comprehensive website, which even has a schedule of when new chicks will be arriving.
If you want to vicariously participate in the raising of chicks…I am documenting the progress of my motley little brood over at my blog.
bungalowranchstyle.com
There are actually a lot of goats living in Portland. They’re mostly raised for milk, fiber, or just as pets. I don’t know of any city goats being raised for meat.
I totally need a goat. That would go with my chickens and my bees. Of course, what I really need a goat for is the milk, which means I need to go out there every 12 hours and milk it, and not ignore it for 3 days at a time because it is cold and raining and I don’t want to hang around with a wet goat.
Maybe if you get a prime specimen fainting goat, you can just scare it and it will pass out for three days.
Now that I know where to buy bees, my roommates had better be walking on eggshells.
Is anyone in Portland doing a local “heifer project”-type of thing to provide goats to poor people?