Oh heck to the yeah, it’s time, once again, for the Raleigh Tour D’ Coop, the premier tour for backyard chicken raising!

If you’re interested in raising backyard chickens for their juevos deliciosos (literally, “delicious eggs”), in seeing some jawsome homemade chicken coops, or touring some amazing gardens (shrines to mother nature herself!), then you’ll definitely want to check out the 2014 Tour D’ Coop!

I’ve gone three times to the Raleigh Tour D’ Coop, in 2008, 2010, and 2011, and each time you get to see new chickens, cool chicken coops, and interesting garden setups, plus meet a bunch of good peeps who raise peeps (chicken peeps, that is!).

P.S. Durham has its own Bull City Coop Tour, which I attended with much fanfare last fall, and plan to attend this year as well.

Anyhoo, here are the pertinent details, or “deetz” as I’d text it.

When?

Saturday, May 17, 10AM – 3PM

Where?

Cary n’ Raleigh
On Saturday morning, online ticket buyers will get an email with the addresses of each coop. If you buy tickets in person, you can get a map at any of the following locations (see below).

How do I Tickets?

Order tickets online, or buy them in person on May 17 at one o’ these places:

• Urban Ministries of Wake County (site of the Coop Carnival) – 1390 Capital Boulevard
• Whole Foods (Raleigh) – 3540 Wade Avenue
• Whole Foods (North Raleigh) – 8710 Six Forks Road
• Whole Foods (Cary) – 102 New Waverly Place

You only need one ticket per group, dang, what a deal!! I recommend the heck out of this if you’re anywhere near Raleigh; you won’t regret it, and that’s the EcoJoe guarantee.

Did y’all know that America Recycles Day is right around the corner? I didn’t either, but apparently it’s on November 15!

It’s basically a day to try to get Americans recycling more. The average American generates 4.4 pounds o’ trash every single day. It makes a ‘uge difference if you recycle a chunk of that instead of just sending it to your local landfill to sit in the dirt.

As if THAT isn’t enough incentive to take the “America Recycles Pledge” (which I strongly urge you to do immediately, just go do it), you can win a FREE bench made from recycled plastic! I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to be lounging on my very own recycled bench after I win one.

So head over ahora and take the pledge. To find recycling places near you, check out this handy web-site page.

More recycling, more doing. That’s the power of EcoJoes.

As you might already know if you’re an EcoHero, I’m all about keeping things out of the landfill, reusing, and getting things for free.

College move-out days are a perfect combo of those three things. Students moving out of dorms throw away TONS of perfectly good items, including laptops, clocks, futons, and even money!

Right around now is when many colleges have their move out day. So my humble recommendation to thee is to hop on The Ol’ Google and find out when your local college’s move out date is.

On that day, or the day after, head out to their dumpsters and you can find all kinds of great stuff that would otherwise be sent to the landfill. Trust me, you’ll be astounded.

Tomorrow is NC State’s move-out date; who knows what perfectly good things I might find?

Do you live near Raleigh?

Did you know that a bunch o’ people raise chickens in their backyards inside the beltline?

Do you wish there was a tour of all these backyard coops coming soon?

If so, then you, my friend, have got your wish, for the 2011 Raleigh Henside the Beltline Tour d’Coop is this Saturday from 10AM to 4PM!

I’ve been fortunate enough to go on the 2008 tour and the 2010 tour, and I can assure you you’ll see some jawsome backyards, houses, chicken coops, gardens, and chickens.

You’ll laugh at the antics of the hens, marvel at elaborate hen houses, and maybe even get to hold a chicken. Plus there are tons of helpful people around to answer your insightful chicken questions.

How Can I Go?

Bring a non-perishable food item or a wad of cash money to one of these convenient locations (money & food goes to Urban Ministries):

• Steven B. Andreaus, DDS , PA1637 Glenwood Avenue , across from the Rialto Theater
• Ornamentea: 509 N. West Street, one block south of Peace Street
• CupAJoe: 2109-142 Avent Ferry Road, in the lower level of Mission Valley Shopping Center
• Whole Foods Market: 3540 Wade Avenue, in the Ridgewood Shopping Center
• Seaboard ACE Hardware: 802 Semart Drive, across from Logan’s Nursery

To find out more, mosey on over to the official website, right about here.

You might want to sit down before you read this news. Go on, I’ll wait.

Although my hopes were high, someone else’s video won the Raleigh Nissan LEAF event. As full of sorrow as I am, I’ll blink back the tears just enough to put up a link to the winning video.

Winner’s Video
“And did I mention it’s fun? Ohmahgod.”

Dang. My hat is reluctantly off to him for winning. He must’ve done a good job getting out the vote for that video.

For old times’ sake, here’s my video entry, one last time:

Joe’s Video

Such poise. Such je nais sais quois. As for how that video didn’t win, I shall never know.

Although the final vote may say otherwise, I think we can all count this as an emotional win for my video. Better luck next time.

This Saturday I’ma have the chance to test drive a brand-spanking new electric car known as the Nissan Leaf.

“Dang”, I hear you say, “But I want to test drive that electric car, why not me?” . Why not you indeed.

This Friday (March 4) through Sunday (March 6) will be your chance to test drive the all electric Nissan Leaf when it comes to the State Farmers’ Market in Raleigh.

You can either sign up for a spot to drive the Leaf, or take your chances and just show up and wait. You can sign up for a test drive at this link here.

Tell them EcoJoes dot com sent you, and wink when you say it. They’ll know what you mean.

(Polish Mophead chicken from 501 Mial Street)
Welp, last Saturday was the 2010 Henside the Beltline Tour D’ Coop, a big chicken-coop tour in Raleigh. Me and the lovely EcoTiff donated some non-perishable food at Cup a Joes, got us a chicken tour map, and away we went on a journey of chicken knowledge, touring other people’s eco-friendly yards, and homespun wisdom. READ MORE »