Learn about the birds and the bees from White Rock Local Market

“Local” is a buzzword in food these days. The idea, of course, is that food sourced locally is fresher, more seasonal and, presumably, more delicious.

It’s also how we support our neighbors who make a living growing and producing edibles. And, perhaps more important, it puts us in touch with the source of the food we eat every day.

Those most committed to local eating look to their own backyards. But it’s one thing to stick a tomato plant in the ground in the summertime. It’s quite another to raise your own chickens for eggs or keep a beehive and extract your own honey.

That said, the idea is gaining traction, and to help those with an interest in these endeavors, White Rock Local Market is presenting a three-part Birds and the Bees workshop November 3.

“Part of White Rock Local Market’s mission is to create awareness of the environmental, health and social benefits of eating local food,” says director Sarah Perry. “With our workshops we hope to encourage more local food production, and we hope to demonstrate that growing our own food — and, in this case, raising chickens for eggs or bees for honey — is not only easy, but also affordable. It gives what you eat even greater value.”

At the Saturday workshop, participants join Caroline Fruth of Fruth Farms Southwest and Bob Richie of the Bob’s Custom Coops to learn the ins and outs of chicken raising, from breeds and nutrition to egg production to coop building. That and a crash course in backyard bee keeping comprise the morning class.

Next step is learning how to process your chickens humanely, which also serves to paint an accurate picture about how food goes from the farm to your plate.

“We’ve had an interesting response to this one,” Perry says. “Some of our customers have suggested that killing animals and eating flesh is cruel at all times, and others have said they are just squeamish, and though they eat chicken would not want to see one killed.

“Well, this just shows how our relationship to our food supply is complicated, and we hope Birds and the Bees will bring people that much closer to the realities of how food goes from a farm to their plate. We feel really great to make these connections.”

If you’re one of the squeamish ones, you can opt out of part two. But you’ll want to stick around for part three, when the group heads to Fruth Farms for a Love Your Farmer Day. Participants can volunteer to work on the farm, preparing crops, building a shelter in the goat paddock or helping to vaccinate the baby goats.

Did you get that? Baby goats? They’re pretty cute.

Fruth has been ranching since 2000, when she fled the corporate world. According to Perry, Fruth likes to say that animals are much easier to get along with than people.

“I appreciate her practical approach to being a steward of her herds and flock,” Perry says. “I would hope to be as glamorous a rancher as she is if I ever get to own some cattle!”

As for Richie, he’s been keeping bees since he was 13. He got into raising chickens as the result of a standoff with his teenage son, who announced he either wanted to get chickens or a mohawk. (You can guess which way Dad went.) Richie has been helping others with their backyard coops ever since.

Perry admits that the urban-farming endeavors may be part of a trend — but a good one, she says. “I like to think people really want to connect with the natural world, which, like it or not, is where all of our food is supposed to come from.

“I think it’s great that people might see both a smart phone and a flock of chickens as essential in life. What a great world!”

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The Birds and the Bees workshop presented by White Rock Local Market starts with a 9 am class at First Unitarian Church of Dallas to learn the basics of raising chickens and bee keeping. The last two parts take place at Fruth Farms Southwest in Cash, Texas. The day wraps up at 4 pm. Register online for one or all workshops.