There is something very similar to 80s Britain and Eastern Europe. It's why a lot of us who grew up (or had formative years in that decade) have a kinship with people from there.
Yugoslavian culture is amazing. My parents lived in Yugoslavia they and all other relatives that lived there say that it is the best times of their lives.
It is called: Bratstvo i jedinstveno (Brotherhood and equality)
Surely that's at least in part just because of the contrast to the bloodshed and absolute savagery that followed when Yugoslavia splintered and the erstwhile Serb, Croat and Bosnian brothers started murdering each other?
No - it was an authoritarian regime but there was also a genuine belief in the Yugoslav project. It wouldn't have lasted as long as it did without that, it wasn't just sloganeering and coercion.
I built a chicken coop, mostly as a hobby, and the eggs were a bonus.
the 1,000 in materials for the structure and 25 bucks a month in food and bedding make that amortization table go out a couple of decades before you see ROI.
I joke that they are the most expensive organic eggs you can buy. ;)
10 years back, we were getting eggs at something like 25c/egg in feed costs. But we had a bunch of birds that only laid every 2 or 3 days, so they were no where near as efficient as a first year dedicated layer. OTOH, they all had names, we had most of the egg colors, and the bantam eggs were so cute. And the one hen that basically only laid double yolkers.
We're able to keep the feed costs down simply because as a family of 7 with young kids we have a lot of food waste that the birds will happily gobble up.
Also their bedding makes fantastic compost for next year's veggies.
We've recently taken on chickens and I also find the spaghetti free-for-alls very entertaining. I also like 'Chicken Basketball' where they will all attempt to get control of a squishy tomato or steal it from whoever has possession.
Owners of coops know how different are those organic eggs. Totally diffrent color of yolks, also they have totally different smell when they are cooked.
I've noticed a fun split among people I know—those who grew up on a farm will move heaven and earth never to deal with chickens again, while people who grew up in cities or suburbs are really into the idea.
Not an industrial farmer, but we had chickens, horses and goats growing up.
Chickens suck because they poop on everything, and it dries into a glue-like substance caked onto things. The straw ends up caked in poop, the walls get caked in poop, the floor gets caked in poop, the chickens poop on each other. Getting it off requires a paint scraper, and getting way closer to it than you want. It's also liquid-y. It's a lot like bird poop on your car, but bigger because the bird is bigger.
The horses were less bad. Their poop was fairly "clean" as far as things go. They stayed pretty structurally intact (it's basically a ball of half digested fiber, kind of like a hairball) so it wasn't a big deal to get them with a pitchfork, and they were almost exclusively on the ground. It's not a job I wanted to do, but it wasn't awful. The heat in the non air conditioned barn was honestly worse than the work.
Our coop is off the ground. All I do is bring my wheelbarrow up to the door, open it up, rake it in, and then go dump. From my POV it's one of the easier chores.
I'm married to someone who grew up on a chicken farm, have never so much as threatened to own a chicken, and still hear the litany of how awful chickens are at least a couple times a year. They're apparently really, really nasty animals.
Didn't grow up with chickens, but have had them for 8 years now. Easiest pet I've ever owned, and they provide eggs. Haven't seen a weed in the yard in years. They'll decimate a garden bed, though.
Grew up on a farm. Dealt with cows, horses, chickens. Chickens are by far the worst. Maybe bats would be worse. Happy to leave that as an exercise for someone else’s imagination
A chicken coop is a major time investment for most urban/residential owners.
Just keeping predators out alone is an ongoing effort, weather events damaging it, then the smell/near constant cleaning, sick chickens/vaccinations/health checks, and you better figure who is doing all of this if you ever want a vacation or are sick yourself.
If you're a full time farmer, this is just your normal day, and a personal chicken coop isn't even a blip. But people with no farming/livestock experience don't even have an idea of what they're signing up for. I've known two different people that didn't last two years and were out thousands.
And when the price of eggs go back down, taking it out is also work.
PS - Check local zoning/rules; for example some have size/chicken limits or require it to be XYZ feet from the property line (due to smell/noise).
My neighbor kept chickens in their backyard which caused issues in my yard with parasites and other pests. So it isn't even a PITA that you can contain to yourself.
I find it interesting that people with a lot of storage space tend to fill it with things they don’t need. My father is the king of clutter he has 500 square meters of storage filled with trash he doesn’t need. When I tell him to throw something away, he just says, “I might need it one day,” but that day never comes.
I somehow think that the most valuable companies are those hyped by the media and investors. That’s the reality, and it’s pretty sad because hype has nothing to do with real value.
Personally, I like to self-host everything I can. I know it’s not the most efficient way, but in the end, I love tinkering and owning my data.
That’s very interesting but the question is how and why are we failing to grep the real value? Or if have allowed media to get away with anything and everything without a sliver of responsibility?
