I love my chickens. I ‘d love to give everyone their own small flock to enjoy, all the strutting and sashaying, the color and pattern of the soft feathers, the clucking and even the squawking. And the eggs, too, of course.

Unfortunatley this is impossible, but what I can do – and did do – is donate $20 to Heifer International who will give a small flock of chicks to a family to raise. The nutritious eggs will feed the family, and perhaps a neighbor or two. Some of those eggs will hatch and another flock will be born. The gift that keeps giving.

Heifer International (http://www.heifer.org/) is a wonderful organization whose goal is to help people help themselves to better health and to a more secure family economy. $20 will buy a flock of chicks, ducks or geese. $30 will buy bees, a hive and training. $60 will buy trees to stabilize the soil and generate oxygen. $150 will buy a llama and $500 a heifer. Looking at the catalog reminds me of another group of animals gathered in a stable rude, one night in the bleak midwinter, so very long ago.