The Backyard Chicken Glamour Campaign
Summary
Hosts Anne Helen Petersen and Tove Danovich discuss the recent surge in backyard chicken ownership. They delve into the various motivations behind this trend, from pandemic prepping and a desire for local food to social media aesthetics and political ideologies like Christian nationalism and distrust of government. They explore the historical context of raising chickens, contrasting the romanticized view with the demanding reality and the often-overlooked exploitation of labor in the industrial poultry system. The conversation also touches on the practical aspects like costs, regulations, and disease risks associated with keeping backyard flocks, highlighting how this seemingly simple hobby connects to complex societal issues.Episode description
Tove Danovich is the person to talk to about raising backyard chickens — at least if you want to talk about the culture and discourse swirling around raising backyard chickens. When the current administration started messaging that everyone should consider countering rising egg prices by raising some chickens in their backyard, Tove and I wanted to do an episode about what people are really talking about when they talk about getting backyard chickens. This is an episode about chickens, in other words, but it’s actually an episode about ‘wellness,’ regulation, MAHA, homesteading, the very real joy of being a steward to animals, and so much more. If this doesn’t immediately strike you as your thing, I hope you’ll give this nuanced discussion a chance.
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Read my interview with Tove from back in 2023:
Data sources re: increase in people keeping backyard chickens
Write-up of the Secretary of Agriculture encouraging people to keep backyard chickens as a way to a) combat avian flu and b) afford eggs
Tove mentioned Martha Stewart’s first book, Entertaining, as inspo for a wave of chicken popularity. Here’s a story of how people clamor over old copies of it, driving the publisher to re-issue it later this year (NYT gift link)
What 2000s pop culture did to women’s understanding of themselves
What’s going on in AMERICAN PARENTING CULTURE (broadly conceived) right now (with Melissa Wenner Moyer!)
TEXAS Culture, MONTANA Culture, and MONTREAL/Québécois Culture for our ongoing culture-of-place series (different eps don’t worry)
Evangelical Summer Camp, past and present
How/Why Private Equity is Fucking Everything Up
The intersection of technology and parenting
Katy Perry?? Maybe??
Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!
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