Chickens are coming to the City Opera House in Traverse City on Sunday, October 19. Children, adults and families are all invited to join the Master Gardener Association of Northwest Michigan in celebrating the latest trend in backyard gardening, chickens.

The event will have plenty of activities which include:

—> A featured speaker, Jessi Bloom, author of “Free-Range Chicken Gardens” published by Timber Press. She will present *What the Cluck?!” which will address the basics of how to integrate chickens into your garden, starting with chicken raising myth busters, on to designing beneficial habitat for them and you. She will also share her favorite top 10 chicken garden plants! Bloom is an award-winning landscape designer whose work emphasizes ecological systems, sustainability, and self-sufficiency. She is a certified professional horticulturalist and certified arborist, as well as a long-time chicken owner with a free-ranging flock in her home garden.

—> Jen Strauss of Story Be Told Productions will tell chicken stories such as “An Appalachian Tale of Two Chickens” and “The Chicken Who Thought She Was an Eagle.”

—> The finalists of a “chicken joke” contest with entries from local school children will be featured. The top 10 joke entries will be invited to the event to tell their joke.

—> Leelanau County’s 4-H’s “Synchronized Chickens” will perform.

—> Merchandise table with specially made “chicken aprons” and books for children/gardening; and a Chinese Raffle will be available.

Chickens have burst upon our landscape as an easy and inconspicuous barnyard animal readily adapted to urban and suburban life. Chickens are omnivores who love pecking through the yard for leftover food scraps, bugs and feed. In return they give the feeder wonderful fresh eggs full of nutritious protein and fats. Free range eggs are the rage and owning the chickens that produce them is a popular activity for adults and children alike.

The Master Gardener Association of Northwest Michigan celebrates home gardens, landscaping, soil quality, pollinator gardens, tree fruit and small fruit, food preservation, lawn care, water quality and now, CHICKENS! Our goal is to share quality, researched-based practices and knowledge with the community. Having fun is always an added benefit. Please join us.

Doors for this event open at 2:15 and the program will run from 3–5 pm.

Ticket Prices:

  • $15 for adults
  • $12 for seniors, students and MGANM members
  • $5 ages 6-17
  • Free for 6 and under

To purchase tickets please go to the Opera House website.

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