Spring Chicken Festival

Spring Chicken Festival
March 3^rd ~ Noon – 6:30pm
at Sustain Center
443 S Bastrop Hwy
(next door to Callahan’s on 183 South)

The Spring Chicken Festival is a celebration of Spring, Gardening and Backyard Poultry Keeping.  A family affair – join us for this eventful day full of fun, educational sessions, kids activities, and local shopping. 

Educational sessions will include backyard chicken keeping, organic gardening, composting, and more.  Vendors will include purveyors of organic gardening products, chicken keeping products, and locally-made foods and art.

Sustain Center is an education center and cooperative demonstration project comprised of a variety of local businesses displaying sustainable systems and products.  Learn how you can lead a more sustainable life, be more self-reliant, and make a smaller impact on the planet.  Sustain Center brings you the people, products and knowledge to make sensible decisions for your future.

Noon-6:30P:  Spring Chicken Festival at Sustain Center

Vendor and Information Booths     (Become a Vendor)

A Texas Henhouse * Austin Creative Reuse * Better Bites Bakery * Coffee Sock Co * Coyote Creek Organic Feed Mill * Dripping Springs OLLAS * EcoRise Youth Innovations * Green Earth Oil Plus * Greenling Food Delivery Service * H&H Poultry * Ideal Poultry * in.gredients * Lady Bug Natural Brand * Little Miss Recycle * Mary Louise Butters Brownies * Master Gardeners/Jr Master Gardeners /AgriLife Extension * Microbial Earth Farms * NadaMoo! * Round Rock Honey  * Texas Hill Country Olive Co * Wildlife Austin * Wounded Wood * and more!

Food Trailers

• Chipotle Mexican Grill
• Gonzo Juice
• Texas Coffee Traders

Seminars

12:30p ~ Backyard Chickens: Organic Gardening Partners (Elaine Dill – Travis County Master Gardeners)  In addition to homegrown organic eggs, backyard chickens are also effective, natural pest control.  Learn about appropriate breeds of chickens, chicken coops, feeding and care, city ordinances, and resources.

1:30p ~ Video Screening of FRESH the Movie
(72 min) Sponsored by Chipotle Mexican Grill
FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people who are re-inventing our food system. Learn the importance of local, sustainable agriculture and how you can get involved in these efforts.

3:00p ~ Rain Gardens in Austin (John Gleason, landscape architect – City of Austin Watershed Protection Department)  A rain garden is a shallow, vegetated depression designed to absorb and filter runoff from impervious surfaces like roofs and driveways.  Information will be presented regarding the six steps to creating your own rain garden.

4:00p ~ Introduction to Chicken Care & Heritage Breeds (April Howington – H&H Poultry)

5:00p ~ Home Composting with “Chicken Fuel” (Austin Resource Recovery)  City of Austin curbside trash/recycling customers: Sign in at the Seminar table at 5PM.  Customers who complete this class may be eligible for our home composting rebate (attend a free class, downsize to a 32-gallon or 21-gallon trash cart, and buy a composting system. The City will rebate you up to 75% off the cost, up to $75)

Kids Activities

1:00 ~ Wildlife Austin: Join Austin Parks Wildlife Rangers to reate seed balls which will be sent to Bastrop to help with the reseeding efforts in the wildfire affected areas.

2:00 ~ Austin Reuse Center: Recycled crafts for kids

3:00 ~ Travis County Master Gardeners/Texas AgriLife Extension: Building Bug Bodies

4:00 ~ Chipotle Mexican Grill: Seed Pots Activity

5:00 ~ PuntoVerde US Team: Biomimicry activities based on the Ask The Planet CD

Admission to Spring Chicken Festival: Adults $3/Kids 12 & Under $1
Cash at the Gate or Click Here to Pre-Purchase Your Tickets Online:
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2882813573

Attend the Festival and Register for an AWESOME Door Prize Gift Basket!! $250 value: Chicken Keeping Books, Feeder & Chicken Treats, Chicken Themed decor, CobraHead Tools & Garden Markers, Edible Austin Gift Subscription, Greenling $35 Certificate, Renee’s Garden Kitchen Garden Recipe Book & Seed Packet, Renee’s Garden Wildflower Seeds, and more! (Double your odds of winning: Pre-purchase your tickets online and be registered once — then register again onsite at the event!) Winner will be announced (emailed) 3/10.

A portion of the proceeds from this event will benefit:Special Thanks to our Event Sponsor for their Donations and Promotional Assistance:

Renee’s Garden Seed Company * Maine Root Handcrafted Beverages * Vital Farms Eggs

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 8:00-2:00P:  Shop more local vendors & farmers at the Farmer’s Market at Callahan’s General Store

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Following the Festival …. Don’t Miss the Funky Chicken Coop Tour Kick Off Event!

6:30-8:30P:  Mad City Chickens movie screening in Callahan’s Hay Barn
Sponsored by Callahan’s General Store &
Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow
Synopsis – 1 hr 18 min – seating at 6:30,
movie begins at 7:00pm.

Mad City Chickens is a sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical look at the people who keep urban chickens in their backyards. From chicken experts and authors to a rescued landfill hen or an inexperienced family that decides to take the poultry plunge—and even a mad professor and giant hen taking to the streets—it’s a humorous and heartfelt trip through the world of backyard chickendom.

Tickets for Mad City Chickens Movie Screening Event are $5 – Kids 5 & under free.
Purchase tickets online at:
http://austincooptour.org/2012/02/movie-night.html

Find out more info about the April 7^th Funky Chicken Coop Tour at: AustinCoopTour.org