Admit it. You've considered getting a few backyard birds for months, but up to now, you've chickened out. Poultry keeping is both easier and more rewarding than you might imagine. Join Elizabeth Beggins for a program on the merits and methods of owning a small flock of chickens. With the proper preparations, you'll soon find yourself more attracted to keeping chickens than you ever dreamed possible.

Elizabeth is a writer and educator with over a decade of experience as a market gardener on the Eastern Shore. She believes that health depends on a keen understanding of what we eat and that our choices as consumers are vital to sustaining ourselves and our planet. She also is director of The You Food Project, a grassroots initiative designed to connect youth to food and the environment through school gardens. In this three-part series, she will teach participants the basics of producing food.

Session 2, Beginning Vegetable Gardening, is Friday, February 8. Session 3, Growing with Kids, is Friday, March 8.

Fee: $15 members, $20 general public per program; $35 members, $45 general public for all three programs in the series

Register for Backyard Chickens or for the three-part Homegrown series