The Yuppie Farm

Photo of the Alexandria Coop from the Williams-Sonoma Catalog

The new Williams-Sonoma catalog arrived in the mail today, and I was intrigued to see that even Williams-Sonoma has jumped on the sustainability bandwagon with its new Agrarian product line. The 12-category line includes chicken coops, beekeeping supplies, and Do-It-Yourself kits for items like cheese, vinegar, and sprouts. This latest move has not gone unnoticed. Today a lot of commenters on the homesteading blogs I follow are rather dismayed and disgusted that Madison Avenue is trying to cash in on the back-to-the-land movement. To this I say, "So what?" There's room for everyone here. If you don't want to pay $800 for an attractive, ready-made, Martha Stewart-y chicken coop, then don't. But what's it to you if someone else does?

Here's the thing. Not all of us are handy, own a lot of tools, have a shed filled with scrap wood, and want to devote a month's worth of weekends to going to Home Depot and sawing stuff in the backyard. When I was looking for ideas for goat housing I found only instructions for building one myself. I had to jerry-rig my own version of a goat enclosure, but I gladly would have paid a little extra to buy a Williams-Sonoma version if there were one available. I did laugh, however, at the "chicken coop predator kit" for $59.95. I don't see how it's that much different from the "goat pen predator kit" that I invented last week, which consists of a roll of garden wire from Lowe's for $4.95 and (you guessed it) about 50 zip ties ($2.95 for a pack of 50).

The people protesting the Williams-Sonoma line are probably the same people who have a problem with Pottery Barn. Don't get me wrong; I know that buying mass-produced farmhouse furniture is neither posh nor particularly imaginative. But it's an easy, relatively inexpensive option for people like me who don't like used furniture (I have an abnormal bedbug phobia), don't have an eye for antiques, and don't want a house filled with expensive or one-of-a-kind pieces. Instead of passing out cold if the dog has an accident on an heirloom-quality chair or the Wrangler (who really shouldn't be practicing his short game in the house) accidentally hits a golf ball into a decorative piece from Sotheby's, I can just heave a small sigh, clean up the mess, and reorder the same item--which will arrive in three to five business days from good ole PB.

On the other hand, I will always be partial to things that are homemade. It's especially nice when they look better than my goat pen.