Pluck and Feather Farm

Saturday we got to go hang out with our new friends Esperanza and Dipak of Pluck and Feather Farm in Oakland. We got to also meet Maya and Nevada, who are just starting their homesteading adventures in El Sobrante on 2 acres (Awesome!). And of course we can’t forget Kumar, Dipak’s father, and Marcel, their roommate.

Pluck and Feather Farm is near the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. They have the most awesome chicken/turkey house ever! The yard is covered in vines so it’s perpetually in shade.  I want! The gardens are very free form and beautiful with beds lined in stone. In the little nooks and crannies hide the various rabbit hutches. They also have these really cool vegetable beds that kind of remind me of sharks teeth.

And the little door at one of the vegetable gardens? Now that’s my kind of garden art. Oh, and did I mention Esperanza is an amazing artist? She of course won’t call herself one, but I will!

Esperanza made an amazing meal including stewed chicken (which just so happened to be one of our old hens that we had traded for a rabbit with her – more on that later), the most amazing coleslaw, rice and beans. Maya and Nevada brought a wonderful goat cheese quiche that was to die for. We, of course, brought a lemon meringue pie, my signature dessert. The food was fantastic, the company was amazing, and the conversation was spectacular.

Esperanza is raising American rabbits. They are a rare rabbit breed that is on the critical list with the American Livestock Conservancy. She has some recently weened kits that we traded some chickens for. She also sent me the contact info for the breeder she got hers from so we can get it a mate. I think we got a buck, but now I’m not so sure. We’ll have to wait a bit longer before we know for sure. So, without further ado, here’s our new addition – Scooter!