Ali Berlow - The mobile poultry slaughterhouse: building a humane chicken-processing unit to strengthen your local food system

Chickens make connections in a typical food web.

Gather people in your community who fall into the categories mentioned above to begin the discussions, dialogues, and actions early and transparently. Identify:

Farmers, who may or may not be raising meat birds now.

Markets and grocers, who hear increasing customer demand for local food, including locally raised and humanely slaughtered poultry. Its unlikely that the supply can meet this demand.

Restaurants, which have chefs and cooks looking to source good chicken. Frequently restaurateurs dont have access to local product or think its too expensive, cumbersome, or inconsistent for their menus.

Backyard growers, who are raising chickens or want to for their own consumption. This would fall under custom slaughter as opposed to commercial, licensed or permitted slaughter. These backyard growers may well become the next beginning farmers.

Eaters, who are neither farmers nor growers but want to make a difference in creating a healthier and more resilient food system.

Invite people from your food web to meet and discuss your communitys needs. Invite the farmers, grocers, restaurateurs, cooks, parents, teachers, gardeners, writers, students, food-pantry volunteers youve identified in your food community anyone who eats and who wants to work for a better, more resilient local food system.

Let them know in advance that this is a working meeting aimed at assigning tasks and scheduling subsequent meetings. Include possible resources for them to review before they come to your first meeting, such as Michael Pollans book The Omnivores Dilemma or Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared M. Diamond.

Serve food or make it a potluck. Always include some good, fresh food! This seems obvious, but sometimes we forget that this journey is really all about food. What you serve sends a message, sets the tone.

Have your agenda visible, whether its on a poster on a wall or easel or on each table. Leave room for discussion people may be shy at first but be sure also to stick to your timeframe.

Set up a sign-in sheet to collect best contact information: e-mails, phone numbers, and mailing addresses.

Use name tags.

Have fresh or dried fruit, nuts, and water on the tables so people dont have to get up for their brain-snacks.

Screen a film (see for suggestions) with a discussion afterward about addressing humane raising of poultry and humane slaughter and processing of poultry.

Assign a scribe to take notes throughout the meeting.

Set up a white board or tape sheets of paper to a wall to gather peoples thoughts, ideas, and, most importantly, actions. Make these notes available to everyone who attends the potluck/meeting. Share them on the Internet (such as on a listserve or Google docs) or print out copies and supply them to attendees.

Put pens and paper on each table so people can take their own notes.

Ask your group for names