I guess I'd say "cool" is in the eye of the beholder, but here is what I really enjoy about it:
- It reduces my dependence on mainstream living.
- It increases my ability to live sustainably.
- It reduces my cost of living immensely which frees up my income for more interesting projects.
- It's incredibly cheap to get into, it costs next to nothing for seeds for a few plants to start small and a handful of chickens cost about $10 each, $30 will buy you a bag of seed that will last months. You can get a reasonably decent chicken coop/hen house for $300(ish). In return: They give you free eggs every day; they'll eat all the bugs eggs and bugs you give them access to; chicken poop is fantastic fertilizer for your lawn/plants. So you only really need to spend what you want to spend. Aside from the cost of the coop, 3 chickens will pay for themselves inside of a month - depending on how many eggs you eat, our 3 hens give us enough eggs that nobody in our extended family needs to buy eggs. We give most of them away and still have enough left for baking and Sunday brunch.
- It helps reinforce my inner MacGyver... which was already strong to begin with.
- It allows me to connect with nature and nurture something that makes a tangible difference in the world. Something we all live for.
- Having animals, plants and trees around you gives you a sense of peace and well-being that can only be purchased by many thousands of dollars in therapy.
- It gives you as much exercise as going to the gym.
- It's immensely satisfying watching it all come together.
- It's the only thing I've found that constantly engages me in the same way programming does. There's always a problem to be solved and there's always many interesting ways to solve it.
- It's nowhere near as much work as everyone said it would be, and the work there is feels like it has real value.
- I get to drive a tractor... albeit a miniature one :P