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Petaluma Poultry Pioneers

by Adam Jackson · March 29th, 2009

Eggs, Farming, Jewish Culture, Pesach/Passover

chicken

Eda Goldstein’s recent post about vegetables grown entirely by elementary-school children presents one way in which farming can bind a community together.

Back in the 1930s, a world that “revolved around eggs, feathers and nightly meetings of the International Workmen’s Circle, the Jewish socialist organization” thrived in Petaluma, California, a small town then home to about 5000 people. Petaluma’s “unique American Jewish community of socialist farmers” raised chickens for their eggs, which were sold all over the USA. Their members “rejected the bourgeois institutions of marriage and organized religion” or “experimented with vegetarianism and anarchist ideas, growing their hair long and living communally”. Visitors to the town were greeted by a “giant, painted chicken” at the town’s entrance.

For those interested in delving deeper into the lost world of Petaluma, Sue Fishkoff (author of the portrait of Chabad, The Rebbe’s Army) wrote an article on the subject a few years ago. And “A Home on the Range“, a movie about Petaluma’s chicken farmers produced by Bonnie Burt and Judith Montell, can be purchased on DVD from the filmmakers’ website.

More recently, Michael Pollan recounted his own visit to Petaluma in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, where chickens are still raised by the industrial-organic farm Petaluma Poultry, (which apparently was founded by Alan Shainsky, a descendent of one of Petluma’s original Jewish chicken farmers) and natural, free-range eggs emerge from Petaluma Eggs, (according to Pollan) “a nearby egg producer. with corporate ties to Petaluma Poultry”. (Note that, being industrial organic, this isn’t quite the perfect ideal of egg production: while Petaluma’s chickens are theoretically able to range free for the last two weeks of their seven week life, when the door of their shed is opened, they seldom do, since they’ve become acclimatized to the indoor life they’ve always known.)

A roasted egg is, of course, a central feature of the Passover seder plate. Many people traditionally eat hard boiled eggs with salt water at the seder, and some even make meringues. We’d love to hear about your Passover egg traditions. And be on the look-out for an unusual and delicious Passover egg recipe, coming later this week…

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7 Responses to “Petaluma Poultry Pioneers”

Making Love In The Kitchen Says:
March 29th, 2009 at 11:42 am
I heart chickens! To my families dismay, I know longer eat them at our Friday night dinner- but there is nothing better than happy hens.
Susan Says:
March 29th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
My grandparents had post World War II chicken egg farm in Pennsylvania. The chickens were always treated respectfully and honored for their production of eggs. As modes of production changed, my Grandfather couldn’t keep up with the new production techniques of industrialized farms – caging hens, hormones, and artificial feeds. He sold the farm, and is now not alive to witness the turnabout as more people seek free-range eggs and chicken meat. I think the story about Petaluma reminds us that there are always those among us who carry on certain traditions, and often good values, despite the noise of latest trends and innovations.
Adam Jackson, Editor-in-Chief Says:
March 29th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
It’s fascinating to hear about your grandfather, Susan; I’m sure he’d be proud of your involvement in the field of food nowadays. And I wish I could have tasted his eggs. Do you remember him making any particular egg dishes when you were growing up, if he was still alive?

I find your comment about respecting those who pass on valuable traditions a poignant one. Sometimes it seems that what is lacking is the political will from a bureaucratic context to support people who want to grow food and raise animals humanely. As you say, sometimes financial pressures, skewed subsidies for agribusiness and the lack of government incentives and support for humane farming have caused honorable farmers who deserve our respect for their hard work and good intentions to turn away from farming, or towards less healthy modes of production.

Where in Pennsylvania was your grandparents’ farm? Did they come with farming experience from the “old country” or was it something they took on as a new profession in the USA?
Mark Hurvitz Says:
March 30th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Those interested in learning a bit more about the precursors of this phenomenon might want to check out:

Jewish agricultural utopias in America, 1880-1910 by R. Uri D. Herscher who is now the director of the president of the Skirball Center in Los Angeles.

`//rite On!
,\\ark Hurvitz
Delilah Says:
March 30th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I saw the movie you mention at the SF Jewish Film festival a few years ago. It’s quite charming!
Avigail Says:
March 31st, 2009 at 7:17 am
The Hazon food conference happens in California’s South Bay whereas Petaluma is North Bay, but I want to make sure that people get a chance to see that film about our favorite Comrades and Chicken Ranchers (the title of the book about the same community). When I was growing up, and then when I lived in Portland, Oregon I had a couple of chickens in my yard – they’re amazing at turning chicken scraps into food and quite charming to look at. We were no where near this scale of egg production, but I liked to think of myself in the tradition of Jewish poultry farmers…regardless, it was always amusing to watch the chickens peck around the yard.

Thanks, Adam, for sharing this.
Avigail Says:
March 31st, 2009 at 7:21 am
I meant kitchen, not chicken scraps. Sigh. That’s what I get for posting comments pre-coffee.