Why didn’t the chicken cross Dean Street? Because she was poppin’ out eggs at this Crown Heights hen farm!
Urban farmer Philip Botwinick is harvesting fresh and tasty eggs plucked straight from a community garden farm, where you’ll find a slice of country in the concrete jungle.
Botwinick said his 36 hens — whom he lovingly calls “The Ladies” — are letting Brooklyn foodies get a real understanding of the term “locavore” while saving egg-lovers trips to the grocery store.
“You actually get to see where your food is coming from,” he said.
His gaggle of prolific cluckers are at their spring season egg-laying prime thanks to mother nature’s gift of extra daylight, which makes hens produce more eggs. Each of the gals has been squeezing out one per day lately, he said.
Brooklynites are no strangers to the chicken-raising trend — but that doesn’t mean urban farming is an easy undertaking. There are space constraints, rodent infestation challenges, and the occasional unhappy neighbor.
Hens are allowed in the city, unlike their noisy and abusive male counterparts.
Foodies can sign up for a $5 dozen-per-week deal with Imani Garden Chicken Stewards.
Preference goes to folks who live close by, Botwinick said.
“You know how they’re treated — and what they’ve been fed,” he said.
Imani Garden Chicken Stewards [at Dean and Schenectady Avenue in Crown
Heights]. Visit www.bkfarmyards.blogspot.com.
Reach reporter Natalie O'Neill at noneill@cnglocal.com or by calling her at (718) 260-4505.
