Is the Upper Class discovering the joys of Nature or this just another in a long string of Fads?

The Silicon Valley elite’s latest status symbol: Chickens

"Johan Land has a life that stands out even among Silicon Valley’s tech elite: He’s the lead product manager at Waymo (formerly known as Google’s self-driving car project), a job that keeps him glued to computer screens and fixated on the future.

Excelling at his work, Land said, requires an obsessive focus on it. But maintaining that passion — especially with his fourth child on the way — means knowing when to detach. Land’s secret to success: relaxing with a glass of wine in the back yard alongside his wife, kids and the family’s 13 chickens and three sheep. It’s mindless, he said, but far from banal.

“It’s a fascinating thing to sit and watch the animals because instead of looking at a screen, you’re looking at the life cycle,” Land said. “It’s very different from the abstract work that I do.”

In America’s rural and working-class areas, keeping chickens has long been a thrifty way to provide fresh eggs. In recent years, the practice has emerged as an unlikely badge of urban modishness. But in the Bay Area — where the nation’s preeminent local food movement overlaps with the nation’s tech elite — egg-laying chickens are now a trendy, eco-conscious humblebrag on par with driving a Tesla."

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One side of me wants to laugh at chickens in diapers running around my living room, though it would keep the floor and furniture from being soiled. The other side of me hopes that people, even ones that are so detatched from the Real World can benefit from re-establishing some touch to the Earth.

Though I doubt its the Lord and Lady of the EcoManor, who is gathering the eggs or cleaning out the coup.

Could be a possible Green Wizard job though:

"It’s not uncommon here to see chickens roaming in their owners’ homes or even roosting in bedrooms, often with diapers on, according to Leslie Citroen, 54, one of the Bay Area’s most sought after “chicken whisperers,” who does everything from selling upscale chickens and building coops to providing consultation to backyard bird owners. Her services cost $225 an hour. Want a coop and walk-in pen (known as a run)? You can expect to pay $4,000 to $5,000 for a standard setup. Citroen has had thousands of customers over the years, she said, giving her a front-row seat to the Bay Area’s growing obsession."