| This could be subtitled: How I went from California | | | | they made me an offer, which I accepted. The last |
| suburbia to a chicken ranch in Arkansas. I was minding | | | | week in August, I moved my family (mother, sister, son |
| my own business one day in February, managing a | | | | and dog) to Arkansas. |
| busy veterinary specialty hospital in the San Francisco | | | | It took three more months of looking, but I finally found |
| Bay area when I received a phone call from a | | | | the perfect house sitting on 15 acres, about 1/2 |
| veterinarian in Arkansas. It seemed I was on the | | | | wooded and 1/2 pasture; a decent-sized, year-round |
| reference list for the practice management software | | | | pond, cross fencing, and a barn. I had only been there |
| program we used, and this doctor was trying to get | | | | for a couple of months when a friend of the |
| information on how we had the program and our IT | | | | veterinarian called and asked if I would like to have |
| system set up. After three months of occasional | | | | some chickens. The doctor's neighbor has a Tyson |
| phone calls, I was asked if I would consider moving to | | | | farm, and during the pick up, several chickens |
| Arkansas. | | | | "escaped." Once they've been free-ranging, Tyson |
| Of course, my knee jerk reaction was, "Arkansas? I | | | | doesn't want them. So, 25 chickens were delivered to |
| don't think so!" After all, I was born and raised in | | | | my house. Now, the most experience I had had with |
| California. Why on earth would I want to move to | | | | chickens was trying to raise three silkies in our |
| Arkansas? But, you know how things have a way of | | | | backyard in California until the raccoons got them |
| running around in your brain. That night I did some | | | | about 3 weeks into the project. Suddenly, I had 25 full |
| research on line. I discovered that Arkansas wasn't as | | | | grown, laying hens to take care of. Just for the record, |
| backwards as it is presented on the Tonight Show, the | | | | when asked how many I wanted, I said a dozen. |
| school system received better scores than the school | | | | Apparently, a dozen is considerably more here in |
| system my son was attending in California, and the | | | | Arkansas than it is in California! |
| cost of living was much lower. I did a quick real-estate | | | | Unfortunately, for my poor hens, I learned a lot through |
| search, and found that I could actually purchase a | | | | trial and error in those early months. But several years |
| house with land -- something I didn't think I would ever | | | | later, I have a good-sized, mostly free-range flock. We |
| be able to afford to do in California. | | | | enjoy farm-fresh eggs almost year round. I have |
| So, I took a giant leap of faith. I revised my resume | | | | successfully incubated and hatched chickens. And |
| and mailed it with a cover letter, and booked a flight | | | | though some of my family members still have a |
| two weeks out. I contacted a real estate agent to | | | | problem with the idea, I have butchered some of the |
| schedule some walk-throughs while I was there. The | | | | roosters and served them up for dinner when my |
| drive from Little Rock airport to Clarksville in the | | | | rooster to hen ration was too high. In future articles I'll |
| Arkansas River Valley convinced me that this was | | | | discuss specifics about raising backyard chickens and |
| where I wanted to be -- whether or not I got the job | | | | running an animal rescue. |
| at the veterinary specialty practice. Two weeks later, | | | | |