Join Local Clucksters in Coop Solidarity

What, you ask, is this thing called “Tour de Cluck”?  It’s a day choc-full of all things chicken, focused on supporting urban chicken farming.  Two parts family fun,  one part educational for those curious about dabbling in backyard urban chicken farming, with a dash of chicken art, a wee bit of philanthropy and a whole lot of tomcluckery mixed together; the first annual Tour de Cluck is shaping up to be a uniquely Davis event that you won’t want to miss!

How many of Gertie's fine feathered friends are hidden in backyards all around Davis supplying fresh eggs every morning?

Don’t delay, mark your calendars now for the May 22 Tour de Cluck community event.  There are only 500 tickets and they’re going fast (General $15, Seniors 65+ $10, Students $10, Kids 10 and under FREE).  Buy your tickets by clicking HERE or at Davis Food Co-op, The Avid Reader, Hibbert’s Lumber and at their Saturday Farmers Market table.

Organized by the Farm to School Connection in hopes of bringing greater awareness and involvement into this community organization, all proceeds will be donated to Farm to School.  If your child is enrolled in a Davis school, you’ve probably already heard about the Farm to School Connection and their commitment to sustainable food systems, student nutrition programs, and helping students make healthy lifestyle choices.

“We’re excited about this day, we’re hoping that it brings a lot of attention to Farm to School, it’s just a fun community event.  I think that’s part of what we’re about, just engaging the community and the well being of the community,” says Jacqueline Clemens, event coordinator.

Clemens, who is also on the Farm to School Steering Committee is enthusiastic about the benefits of this organization: “Farm to School is about increasing healthy good food in a healthy school environment and we are so lucky to be in a community where so many people get it.  Our goal is to become a model nationally for how to make this work.”  Working alongside the school district, the program has already experienced success.  As a result of these efforts, 43% of the food in student lunches is being regionally produced.

Clucksters: the volunteer organizing force behind Tour de Cluck.

Starting bright and early at 9am, the day’s events are many and varied.  In Central Park, Mayor Ruth Asmundson will kick-off the event, followed by a Courage to Cluck Exhibition, in which you’ll see familiar Davis faces clucking and crowing onstage.  You can even get up and do it yourself…if you have the guts.  If you’re feeling shy, let the reward entice you: you’ll receive an official certificate and get to have your picture taken with a giant Tour de Cluck Chicken!

There will also be a Fowl Food Fair, which will boast a variety of egg and chicken samplers and a silent auction with painting, sculpture, and jewelry donated by some of Davis’ best regional artists.  Some of the especially unique items on the block will be a custom painted bicycle from Ken’s Bike and Ski with a “distinctly retro Tour de Cluck barnyard vibe,” a coop crafted by a builder from chickencribs.com, and a landscape designer/contractor team to provide coop plans specifically designed and landscaped for your backyard.

But the main event is the actual Bicycle Chicken Coop Crawl, consisting of a “coop loop” of 16 coops, all uniquely named for this event and easily accessible on bike (bike maps designed for this event will be provided).  Though it is strongly encouraged that you bike it, parking for cars will be available as well.  Grouped in 4 smaller loops, with 4 coops per loop, each loop will have one “chicken wizard” or expert, who can answer questions on everything from dietary needs to chickens and composting to landscaping and coop construction to cost depending on which station you find yourself in.

So get thee outside and go see the glories of Egg Place South and Egg Place North, the Coop de Soufflé, and Coop of the Rising Sun.  Clemens, who herself is a local urban chicken farmer and included on the loop says fun will be had: “Every coop is unique.  Every coop owner has different styles, different kinds of experience, different lessons they’ve learned, different things they would change if they were going to do the coops over again.  It’s just a fun, fun bunch of people.”

If you’re curious about urban chicken farming, if you’re interested in adding fresh eggs to the basket of garden veggies and fruits you’re sharing with your neighbors, if maintaining a community culture that supports the connection between farmers, the land, and healthy living is important to you, don’t miss out on Tour de Cluck.