Postcard: New Tripoli

摘要

There's a steady rain falling as SUVs with bumper stickers reading "My pet makes me breakfast" pull up outside Steph and Jason Oplinger's barn one-and-a-half hours northwest of Philadelphia. Inside, 240 people are slowly walking past pens that hold the kinds of chickens you've probably never seen on any egg carton. There are white silkies, which look like feather boas; Polish, each of which appears to flaunt an elaborate Kentucky Derby-style hat on its head; and dominiques, whose exotic black-and-white patterning would inspire a French couturier. A few people exchange cartons of eggs (each shell carefully penciled "buff Polish bantam" or "lavender silkie") to take home and hatch, as they discuss the merits of silkies vs. leghorns with a new-bie: "Silkies are more affectionate, but a leghorn will lay more eggs."