She called me late morning. "Do you have some eggs?" "Yes," I replied, thinking she wanted maybe a couple of dozen. "Do you have...say, ten dozen?" "Ah.... I don't think so, but I'll let you know by the end of the day and you can have what the girls give us."
With the help of a very good friend who also free ranges her chickens, I was able to get a total of eight dozen. Apparently this new family goes through a dozen eggs a day. They have four young children (six years and under) who like pancakes and eggs for breakfast every morning. "Great!" I thought. Now I should have no trouble getting my eggs sold come this fall when I am not at the markets anymore. But ten dozen a week?! That's 120 eggs. And I only have about 25 girls laying right now. And they are sporadic due to the excessive temperatures lately. And "Tom," my other regular, usually wants about six dozen every ten days. Good thing that the new ones should be laying in about a month and the 25 baby partridge rocks should easily be laying well by spring. We may have a slight difficulty meeting demand in the meantime though.
But I wander.
The visitors came as a family. They all wanted to see the farm and the chickens. I guess I was unprepared for such scrutiny. Usually my egg buyers (or any buyers for that matter), simply drive up, get their stuff, chat a bit and leave. They don't want a tour.
But these guys did.
I discovered that they were a young family who recently moved back to the area. They try to eat only organically grown fruit and vegetables and free range chicken eggs. They sweeten everything with honey. In fact, they purchase their honey by the 30 pounds. (That's a lot of honey!).
As we were showing them the fields and our progress I found myself getting anxious. Weeds everywhere. Disarray. Branches down in various piles. Equipment here and there. Hoses stretched in coils on the sidewalk. Kittens jumping. Chickens (and their droppings) cruising about. Crops lost in grasses waist high. Flowers barely able to bloom between the horse weed. Not my idea of a beautiful farm.
I was embarrassed to show the farm. We've been working so hard at farming organically / naturally. But on this scale, with only a couple of hands, that beatific vision I have of the farm is unrealistic. And looking at the place through "new visitor eyes" made me aware of the chaos surrounding me both inside the home and outside on the farm. Change is due.
We have made plans to focus. For which I will have to wait until tomorrow or so to describe. But I am excited about the possibilities.
Today's Journey Joy - visitors
