Ahhh, Tuesday: High-end condos aren't selling well in Portland, union workers are teed off at Governor Ted and this country is still at war (but the Brits are close to calling it quits).
Yet behold this bright spot in today's Oregonian:
A story by Kathleen Bauer both sweet and pleasingly specific, about a former high-tech couple who left jobs at Intel to raise chickens in Yamhill. It's about taking a leap with the one you love. It's also about how to kill a chicken as kindly as possible, a process that at Kookoolan Farms involves an inverted cone, swaddling and a very sharp knife.
Emblematic of the systems that Kookoolan uses to protect their land and create as little waste as possible, the blood from the chickens is caught in pans and fed to their pigs. The feathers are combined with the waste from the live chickens and spread on the fields, enriching the soil, and the gray water from their processing plant is filtered and used for irrigation.
And swimming in the water tank in the livestock pen are several large goldfish, an idea they got from a neighbor. The goldfish eat any parasite eggs and worms, which keeps all the other animals healthier. Plus, Koorosh noted, "It's just nice."
•Writer Kathleen Bauer also authors the Good Stuff NW blog.
•Then click here to learn where to find a Kookoolan bird of your own.