ESCONDIDO, Calif. — So, you say you're looking for a new COVID hobby? How about a new lifestyle called Homesteading? In this Zevely Zone, I went farming in Escondido. That's where I found Heather Thelen hatching a plan.
"I have people come out and have coffee with their chickens every morning," said Heather. She wants to teach you and your children how to raise a chicken.
"When they come back with the pictures of their first eggs and they started their babies from chicks I just get this thrill. I mean truly like a truly heat up my back excitement for them I get so happy I want to throw a party. I'm like you got your first egg," said Heather.
For the 17th year, that's just what Heather will do celebrate Flocktober with 'Chick Days'. It's a three-day event at their stores Fallbrook, Escondido, and Santee. Chick Days will be COVID safe your group of up to 10 people will take a tour, enjoys crafts and snacks, and a book for just 15 dollars for the entire group.
Heather Thelen is offering an educational experience for families wanting to learn about chickens, farming, canning, garden growing, and more.
"This is all part of your evil plan?" I asked.
Heather replied, "It is."
Heather calls chickens, a gateway drug. She gets you hooked on one or two. The next thing you know, you're homesteading.
"Homesteading is self-sufficiency on small to large scale, so I grow, I produce, I preserve my own food in some way or I take care of myself the products that I need to survive in my own house I have created them," said Heather.
Hawthorne Country Stores are a family affair.
"I am the grandmother, ha, ha," said Suzy Hawthorne. She and her husband bought this place in 1998 and watched a city grow up around them.
The Hawthorne Country Store is on one corner and fancy condos are on the other.
"Well, that used to be the police department. We are hoping to make friends with the condo owners too," said Suzy.
Everybody's neighborly around here which means everyone gets a country nickname.
"They call my son Chicken Jake, he has been raised here and Chicken Gabe so I am sometimes Heather the Chicken Lady," said Heather.
I suggested, "Maybe they should call you the Chick Magnet?" Heather laughed and said, "I should take that one on. I should be the Chick Magnet, but there is a double-side to that so we'll see. Maybe my husband wants to be the Chick Magnet?"
The 17th Annual Chick Days takes place on October 2-4. If you'd like more information click here.