If you want to recycle buy a chicken... but don't eat it!

After my post on parks in the UK, I remembered from some years ago about this piece of news. First of all here is the original link, as a thank you for the journalist who wrote the article!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/belgians-egged-on-to-keep-chickens-ndash--but-theyre-not-for-eating-1942124.html

Now let's go to the article. There are lots and lots of interesting things to comment on and learn about.

Belgians egged on to keep chickens – but they're not for eating

Hen-rearing craze takes hold after drive to reduce household waste

By Vanessa Mock in Limburg

Monday, 12 April 2010

1. to egg on: to motivate, to encourage
2. hen rearing: to keep hens alive in your house or farm to obtain eggs or to have more chickens. To rear can be applied to any animals kept in captivity and even to children.
3. to take hold: when a new activity doesn't disappear, but instead it consolidates as a habit.
4. drive: as a noun it is an impulse, the promotion of something. In this case the authorities are promoting recycling.
5. household waste: the waste produced by a family unit (a household) in contrast with waste produced by industry or a business such as a restaurant.

In a garden dotted with daffodils overlooking open fields, a trio of English Sussex hens strut their stuff. Two small boys stroke their resplendent white and black plumage while feeding them. The youngest child takes advantage of the diversion to dive into the birds' dark-red wooden coop to play hide-and-seek.

1. to dot: distribution of elements at regular intervals. To see an example, click here and look at the picture on the right.
2. to overlook: in this case, to look at something from a higher point. Other very common meaning means "not to notice something, voluntarily or by accident."
3. to strut: to walk like a bird does, e.g. a chicken.
4. plumage: same as in Spanish, but with "g" instead of "j".
5. To dive: usually to jump into the water or swim under it. Used as a metaphor here.
6. hide-and-seek: traditional children's game where one of the children has to count and the others find a place to hide. Once the count is finished, the first child tries to find the rest.

• note: difference between notice and news: notice is a piece of written information in a visible location or sent to you by post. News (uncountable) is information provided by journalists, in newspapers, on the TV... to speak about it individually you have to say "a piece of news" (=una noticia).

"We get two eggs every day, which go towards making pancakes," says Tibo Duijsters, a blond eight-year old, as he scatters grain around the ground.

Their father Michel Duijsters points proudly to his fast-disappearing compost heap. Most of the food scraps and vegetable peelings have been eaten by the hens.

The Duijsters and many of their neighbours in Dilsem-Stokkem, a small town of neat detached houses a few miles from Belgium's border with the Netherlands, have no agricultural background or training in poultry farming. But they have joined a chicken-rearing craze which has taken hold with tens of thousands of hens now living in coops in family gardens.

The boom is thanks to own-a-chicken schemes launched by the Belgian authorities in a bid to cut down on household waste. In the region of Limburg, near the Dutch border, more than 2,500 families adopted hens just last year, a 306 per cent rise on the previous year. There have been similar successes in other parts of the country.

1. to go towards: go in a specific direction. in this case, the eggs' direction is being eaten as pancakes.
2. to scatter: to spread over a big space elements that were together before. e.g. the plate fell from the table and the food was scattered all over the floor.
3. proudly: feeling proud. someone is proud of something or someone when they are happy about being connected with it (for example your children).
4. heap: a disorganized accumulation of something e.g. garbage bags on the street when there is no container!
5. scraps: in this case, remains from food that has been eaten. also vegetable and fruit peels, etc.
6. neat: nice, clean, organized.
7. detached: a detached house is a house which is separated from others around it. If it shares a wall with another house it is called "semidetached" and if they are part of a row of houses they are called "terraced houses".
8. background: work experience (in this context)
9. poultry: this word refers to any farm birds (so, domestic birds which aren't pets)
10. craze: collective craziness or intense fashion.
11. coop: the house where the hen lives. 
12. scheme: a system or organization.
13. bid: to place your money because you think something will happen and you will benefit from it.
14. cut down: reduce.
15. rise: to go up. note: raise means to "make something go up". e.g. I raised the curtain with my hand. Compare: The sun rises every morning.
16. success (plural: successes). obtaining the result that you wanted. Note: Success can also work as uncountable.

The Duijsters family were egged on by a marketing campaign by the authorities, which also subsidises the cost of buying the hens. One hen only costs around €4 (£3.50), but comes with expectations.

"We expect owners to look after them properly and provide a lot of reading material for them to go through," said Annick De Paepe, an official with the Limburg regional authority.

1. to subsidise: to pay with public funds, partly or completely something that private citizens or companies need to pay for.
2. properly: in the right way. If something is proper it is correct and adequate. Like Mr. Proper!

"It's been a huge success and it's proving ever more popular". She believes the boom has been fuelled by the recession. "There is very much a mood of getting back to nature right now and people love picking up their own eggs from the garden. But it's also a great way to cut down on household waste as the chickens will eat any leftovers and cut organic waste by half."

1. ever more popular: more and more popular, people like it more and more.
2. to fuel: to give something energy or impulse. Fuel: gasoline, kerosene, diesel oil...
3. mood: if you are happy you are in a good mood, if you are sad or depressed you are in a bad mood. If you change from one mood to another you are a moody person.
4. to pick up: to get something that is lower than you. For example on the floor.
5. to cut down on something: to reduce (usually expenses) on some specific area.
6. leftovers: usually it applies to food that still remains after people have finished eating.

"So far, we haven't had any bad experiences, but of course, we can't be sure that people aren't just throwing them into the oven. Not everyone wants to take on a chicken for life."

Mr Duijsters, a civil servant, leads the twice-daily feeding round and says the hens have become part of the family. "They look so lovely and they do all have their own personalities. They get very impatient if they don't get fed on time and come pecking at the windows to complain.

"But it's nothing unusual around here. Everyone seems to own hens, it's the thing to do"

In the Flemish regions of Belgium, authorities typically apply a stringent approach to ensuring the well-being of the chickens.

1. to take on: to adopt something or someone (except if it's a new son or daughter then it is adopt.
2. to lead: to make someone go in a specific direction, physical or metaphorical.
3. to peck: the way birds eat on the ground.
4. stringent: something that limits
5. ensuring. To ensure: to make sure that something is in a specific way. In this example, they want to know for sure that the chickens are alive and happy!

"We have proper training courses in rearing and feeding the hens and we watch out for anyone who might not be suitable," said Christophe Deneve, who recently launched a chicken scheme in Mouscron.

The town, a stone's throw from the Belgian-French border, is distributing 50 pairs of chickens for free to families with sufficient space to keep the birds in their gardens.

But anyone who takes part has to agree not to eat the chickens for at least two years, or give them away.

1. suitable: appropriate, right for a person, thing or situation.
2. to launch: to start. literally to send something into the air or space.
3. a stone's throw from: talking about distances, a very short distance (as far as you can throw a stone). The same expression exists in Spanish.

I hope you enjoyed this story about a very clever way to recycle the food. Your opinions and ideas are welcome in the comments section!