The 14th Chicken Coop & Urban Farm Tour is this Saturday, July 12, and includes four sites in the Phinneywood neighborhood. The self-guided tour of 25 urban farms showcases people who have incorporated animals and unique gardens into their landscapes. Tour-goers will see unique backyard coops, chickens, turkeys, goats, ducks, bunnies and bees, and learn how to create their own urban farm. Tickets are available online: $12 for adults, $5 for kids, and discounts for groups, bicyclists and Seattle Tilth members.
The chicken coops show an impressive display of ingenuity, both practical and fanciful. Many hosts use recycled materials, compost manure, harvest rain water, use solar energy and have other systems that creatively conserve natural resources onsite. All of our hosts have vast knowledge about their animals and gardens and are happy to share what they’ve learned so others can participate in raising urban livestock and creating productive gardens in their communities.
Many of the hosts have fun names for their sites including, “Feathered Fish Farm,” “41 Legs Urban Farm,” “Big Belly of the Earth Farm,” “Urban Farm Schoolhouse,” “City Art Farm,” and “Roosevenna Rancheria.” Jake Harris, host of the “Stone Soup Coop,” has a unique chicken tree bungalow where his birds brood. His site also includes a mushroom farm, lending library, edible native plant nursery and a stone compost system.
