Are chickens calling to you? Do you have a secret desire to begin raising chickens in your backyard? Join the crowd! Mad City Chickens is a wacky and wonderful documentary about one Wisconsin city’s “chicken underground” to make their poultry passion legal. The film will be shown on Saturday, July 25 at 4:30 p.m. at the Ojai Theatre in Ojai as a fundraiser ($10 suggested donation) for the Food and Agriculture Committee of the Ojai Valley Green Coalition. Following the film, Garm Beall, founder of the website backyardchickens.com, and Karen Kaminsky, chicken owner and member of two local chicken clubs, will be available for questions and will adjourn to the patio of the Village Jester next door at 6:30 for those who want more chicken chat. For further information on the event or the Ojai Valley Green Coalition, visit ojaivalleygreencoalition.org or call (805) 653-8445.
Worldwide, home-based chickens are a common occurrence, and up until the expansion of suburban housing of the last 50 years they were also the norm in the United States. Now chickens are coming back to neighborhoods across the country, and citizens are even fighting City Hall where necessary to ensure that their poultry pals can move back in. This is a film you won’t want to miss, even if you don’t eat eggs or have a hankering for feathered friends. You will laugh out loud, and sci-fi and Twilight Zone fans will especially appreciate the storytelling style of the film. One thing’s for sure, if you’ve been on the fence about getting chickens, the film may inspire you to join the growing ranks of home farmers who are committed to including happy hens as a part of their life.
