Inspiration
Chickfly was founded by Anna Birkás, an entrepreneur with an unconventional perspective. Anna’s back-to-the land upbringing in Mendocino County was among artist intellectuals who made things from scratch and peed outside. This inspired her to study the natural sciences. Anna became a hydrologist and general engineering contractor. She started her first company, Village Ecosystems, in 2009. Anna spends her days tending to the watersheds of Northern California, helping foster ecological stewardship as a lifestyle.
A Long Standing Issue
Historically, women all over the world have worn big skirts that allow them to discreetly pee. In Europe and America, wealthy women of the Victorian era wore bloomers with a split crotch; because their hoop skirts prevented sitting on a toilet, they would pee standing into a small dish (often sold as gravy boats in antique stores today).
My Roots
"This is me in the arms of my inspirational grandmother, beside her mother, my mom, and my dad. My grandmother went back to school in the 1960's, after having four kids by the age of thirty, and got a degree in Sociology. She learned about feminism, sex, and equality, and she brought that knowledge home. She taught us sex ed early. She worked in a free clinic where she helped many people. She and my grandfather realized their life dream of sailing to Hawaii on their own. Because they were blown by a hurricane, they got there a week early and were terrified the entire time. They still found time to make love, and she marked those days in her journal with a heart. My mother and father bought land on the rugged coast of Point Arena, California when I was six months old. We lived in a tent the first winter while they built this cabin. Some of my favorite memories were when the families harvested grapes from inland, hauled them in communally owned dump trucks, and made wine. Us kids ran feral.”
Not Raised by Wolves
“I say 'not raised by wolves' jokingly because I was once nabbed by one. At the age of one I had neighbors that loved animals and nursed wildlife back to health. They had llamas that spat and terrified me, they had a deer that lived in their house for awhile, and sometimes an owl perched on the sofa. Incidentally, this is where I first saw a woman pee while standing. One of their injured beasts was a wolf from Oregon named Roake. After it had been nursed back to health it stayed on the land for a couple years. One day I was playing in the yard and it picked me up by the diapers and carried me towards the woods. My mom called out and it dropped me at the edge of the clearing. She said the wolf liked the smell of perfume and was just after my scented diapers. To this day my mom always assumes the best of everyone. Eventually the wolf was released back into the Oregon wilds.”