Community Post

Coop Tour, Kraut-Making, Chicken Butchering in Colman

The Colman Community Harvest invites our CD neighbors down to Judkins Park for some great FREE events this Saturday, October 8th. CLASSES ARE FREE, BUT SPACE IS LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS, so please RSVP if you are interested…

10 AM to 12 NOON: Chicken Coop Tour. 
Come take a self-guided walk in Colman to see four different coops, from ultra fancy and heated to tiny town-home chickens, anytime during this time frame (minimum time, probably 30 minutes). You’ll also get to see how easy it is to build green roofs for your rabbit hutch, meet a shy rabbit and learn about raising quail. The chicken owners will be able to answer all your questions about many different breeds, different colored eggs, predators like raccoons and how to get along with your neighbors (hint: give them eggs). If you’ve been thinking about getting chickens, now’s a perfect time to start thinking about how you’re going to build your hutch. 

Pick up map at 733 25th Ave S.

12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM: Community Lunch.
Free sandwiches and tasty cakes made with fruit harvested by the Colman Community Harvest Team at Knox and Victor’s house: 733 25th Ave S.

1:00-3:00 URBAN SUSTAINABILITY CLASSES, Session 1. 

Class 1: Sauerkraut and Pickles the Old-Fashioned Way
Join health counselor and Judkins-resident Kate Faulkner for a class on how to make your own whole-food probiotics at home beginning with basic sauerkraut. We’ll talk about why live-culture foods are good for you, how to make them inexpensively at home, and safety-tips. This empowering class will be a good intro for those who want to learn how to make many fermented foods that can enhance our senses,  digestion, and total health.

Class 2: Getting Your Hen into the Stockpot
At some point your hens are going to stop laying and it will be time to figure out what happens next—  CD Neighbor Knox Gardner will show you how easy it is to get your backyard chickens ready for the stew pot. It’s not pretty, but if you’re eating meat and like chicken noodle soup, this class will show you how it’s done. Please wear clothes you can get a little dirty if you’re going to help pluck feathers.


3:00-5:00 Classes, Session 2

Class 3: Getting Your Hen into the Stockpot repeats if there is interest…

RSVP for classes: [email protected].
Specify class(es) and time slot. I will email you a confirmation to let you know if you are in. 

We’re still interested in adding additional classes, or scheduling similar small hands-on classes in the near future, so be sure to email me if you have a cool skill that you could teach folks in your own home, like good pie making, jam-making, or awesome knitting, winter gardening, etc. 

7 thoughts on “Coop Tour, Kraut-Making, Chicken Butchering in Colman

  1. Thanks for having this tour. My kids loved. it. We are excited to see the chicken kiled at 1 :) There are definately chicks in our future.

  2. Sauerkraut class was great. Thanks, Kate. Am looking forward to more in the future.

  3. A friend of mine was a home economist for City Light, and a minor local celebrity for many years. She and her husband were also sauerkraut enthusiasts. It never failed that whenever they were up to their elbows in sauerkraut production, with it’s associated odors, someone unfamiliar with the process would drop by the house.

    They finally had a stove (electric, of course) installed out on their patio to spare the inside of their home. :-) Actually, it’s not at all uncommon. To see “canning stoves” in basements or garages of Seattle homes, especially if people have lived there for decades. City Light used to offer free classes on how to can and freeze food.

  4. Thanks for sharing your recollections about the old stoves outside and kraut making.

    And thanks to everyone who came down to our part of the CD to take part in the classes and walk. It was awesome to meet new neighbors and build more shared knowledge.

  5. Great! It was a fun class, and i’ll keep you posted about more in the series of making more raw, unpasteurized, live-culture probiotics at home. I hope to reveal how easy it can be, and educate everyone about the health benefits of this traditional method as well as making yummy kraut! Let me know how your projects go!

  6. If they liked the chicken killing you should up the ante and show them the Faces of Death videos, volumes 1-4 next. It’s wonderfully desensitizing and will help them overcome any squeamishness, empathy or compassion they may have about killing defenseless creatures. Fun for the whole bloody family.

  7. Yea Thumper – learning how to slaughter an old hen that can’t lay eggs anymore is not quite the the same as killing humans. I am sure you live very happily with your whole family thinking meat comes from styrofoam containers in grocery store.