chicken

 Chickens are so cool. They're cute, they're silly, they're wise, they got their eye on you.

and now lots of urban people are keeping a chicken or 2 in the backyard. Touring the city to gawk at Chicken Coops is a thing.
Some of us are hicks from the sticks, and raised by traditional-minded country people who know that livestock and gardens in the yard is perfectly normal behavior.

So, about that cute white chicken up there,  if you like chickens in the backyard, you can go be a friend to my niece, Edith. She's a chicken.

What to wear in the barnyard, in the backyard, out in the garden?
May I suggest a Chicken and Rooster print 50s day dress?

These days growing your food, bee hives in the backyard, or chickens for eggs (or gosh forbid, to eat them!!), is called Food Security.
And this is a very good thing. Home gardeners used to be looked at like some kinda weirdo, because after WWII it was all about being Modern.
And clean, and sanitary, and buying food from a big supermarket.
The tides they say ... are turning. However, some government entities are harrassing folks for doing what comes natural. Gardening. Providing food for oneself.

Dig in the dirt in vintage overalls.

  

so yeah.   Cream and tan vintage check overalls. By Cherokee, these are roomy with lots of pockets and a gathered waist and a tie on the back.

Vintage 50s overalls, with lots of pockets.   

Vintage 80s white canvas Sears and Roebuck,  overalls.

and, since you might be shoveling lots of Manure, how about a shirt that says Oh Shit!

I completely agree that roosters probably have no place in the city, that large scale farming is best left to large tracks of land outside the City Limits, perhaps.
But there ain't nothing wrong with neighborhood gardening, small plots turned into food for the neighbors.
Who would be against such a thing? Food Corporations of course. Well, Just Say No to Monsanto, and Big Agriculture.
We have a right to know what's in our food, where it comes from, and all we ask is to label it clearly.

Learn more about urban farming from Seattle Tilth.
Here's some discussion about the early history of pure food and drugs in America. It's not a bad idea, again.

Upton Sinclair, wrote The Jungle to alarm you about the meatpacking industry. In 1906. 

Overalls....... for working all the live long day...

When Johnny went marching off to World War II, the ladies went to work in factories and farms in positions they had not been allowed to in the years before. Making airplanes and bombs, and running farms and growing potatoes and onions.

Here's a co-ed from Mt. Holyoke College working in the college farm fields, as a member of The Women's Land Army. Farm boys went to war, and the gals went to work the fields. Here's a gal chatting with a farmer.

Great picture of The WLA with their anklets, saddle shoes and Bass Weejuns, their overalls and rolled up jeans, with buckets, hoes and shovels. Their hair is covered with tied kerchiefs and scarves, and wearing over sized shirts for comfort.



These gals are working on making B-29's at Seattle's Boeing Plant.

Here's more women working to sort chicks......or are those potatoes??

The US Government encouraged women to go into the work force, and encouraged their middle-aged husbands to be supportive.
Honestly, working class women had always been in the work force. Only middle class and wealthy women ever had the luxury of staying home to raise the family.......but all women had been made to feel guilty for working. For many many women, WWII brought opportunities for work outside the home, and once the war was over.........some women went home and TV and Ladies magazines encouraged them to go home and buy washing machines and have a lot of children.

Here's Norman Rockwell's tribute to Rosie the Riveter.....who was a real person......we are completely familiar with her!

" The Depression and World War II pushed more women into the work force than ever before and inspired increased organizational activity. The New Deal both improved working conditions for women, encouraged a high level of women’s participation in organized labor, and overcame some racial prejudices against non-white women workers.  Despite these gains, sexism and racism continued to plague women in the labor force and in labor unions. "


More gals in The Women's Land Army.

After the war, Josephine the Plumber stayed on working in a "man's world". Trying to straddle the gap, to market to formerly working women, the domestic gal, and the women working and running a home.... Comet cleanser stepped in to sell a product to keep your sink and bathtub sparkling clean!

pics from Mt.Holyoke archives, archives.gov/publications, and Library of Congress


funkomavintage has an authentic pair of WWII, 40s vintage women's overalls. These are by J.C. Penney, and are labeled Women At Work. 

40s Can't Bust 'Em overalls.....

2 classic pair of vintage Overalls.......from Key workwear, most often found at feed stores, and a pair of vintage Redrock overalls, from Big Smith, the makers of denim jeans.
 

The standard by which I measure......

Daniel Clowes.....always......click it. Really, it's OK. It's a tumbler and this is the best I can do about that...

In honor of MJ...deregulation and Ronald Reagan..and other types of out of control behavior....

I am earnest. I can't do the Shiny Happy People thing, but I am basically happy...considering I am living thru the time in history that saw the lovely society formed by The New Deal, being dismantled by the Republican Revolution, for which Ronald Reagan reigned as First King of Destruction, Federal Edition.
Reagan said this: "

I don't believe in a government that protects us from ourselves.

Ronald Reagan

And he meant It !! Regulation is the way we protect ourselves from evil assholes, hopefully. And, when the regulations on dangerous companies become Republican-style weak, Reagan's beloved Deregulation, the BP Oil spill is what happens.

The BP Oil Debacle is the Exact Universe the Republicans wanted, and what Libertarians wanted ....it is their Wet Dream!

And here is the difference between Irony and Coincidence... So, discuss.....is the BP oil hell, Irony, in that, with Deregulation, companies do what the fuck they want and when the shit hits the fan, Republicans call...For...Regulations !!!
....or just a Coincidence that deregulation and catastrophe happened at the same time, and most of the oil is washing up on the shores of states lead by Republican governors.

Texas - Governor Rick Perry, Mississippi - Governor Haley Barbour, Louisiana - Governor Bobby Jindal, Florida - Governor Charlie Crist, Alabama - Governor Bob Riley.

my mind boggles.


This link dates to Sept. 11, 2008, in the Bush/Cheney years..........."Government officials in charge of collecting billions of dollars worth of royalties from oil and gas companies accepted gifts, steered contracts to favored clients and engaged in drug use and illicit sex with employees of the energy firms, federal investigators reported yesterday." and it goes on...

that's from the Washington Post. Billions. Of. Dollars. that belong to you and me.that the oil companies kept because of deregulations and corrupt "regulators" in the Republican "governance" in the last 30 years......

So...I can do better than that.... I prefer this:
Back to Daniel Clowes.....


Aren't you glad that we have recalls of dangerous items? That's regulations at work!
;-)
So, regulations of dangerous or potentially dangerous activities...is a very good thing...and over-regulation is not a good thing.


Mindless shopping ...no, let's not do that. But Shopping Is Fun!!
Yes it is and we are wired for it.....
So, buy vintage and used as often as possible.....Fix, repair, mend and make when you can.
Here's some of my faves around the internets.

Electric Cars !

Urban Farming !

Parks ! this land is your land, this land is my land...