Who's hand print do you think that is???
(Note to self: move the chair away from the huge wall mirror.)
I had grand plans for yesterday... I have been wanting to get some local free-range, hormone free, eggs for a while... I'm concerned about the high amounts of abnormal hormones in the food we eat (especially concerning my children!). So I had contacted a local small farm, and made arrangements to come out and gather eggs. The lady said they didn't have many eggs, but we should be able to get a dozen if that's all that we wanted. I said that was fine, because we don't go through eggs that fast, and we could always come back later for more, right? Anyway, so I talked to Taylor Anne and she was really excited about it, I kinda hyped up the 'coolness' of going to gather eggs in the chicken coop, and getting to see the little farm. I even found a nice basket and put some towels in it so we could put our eggs in there to take home. Well... when we got there, it was not even close to what we expected... the lady had said to come to the back door. Well, we pulled up to this 'farm' and it was a single wide trailer with a large garage-type thing in the back, which had little sheds built all around it, like dog kennels. There was a large tarp covering part of the 'barn', and there was a turkey wandering around.
That was all fine, I guess... then we walked to the 'back door' and the lady came out and met us on her back stoop in a pair of loose red sweatpants and a tight pink sweatshirt. She had on some slip on sandals and thick wool socks. It was a sight... She was very nice and took us on the tour which included the little paddock (no grass, just mud) behind the 'barn' where there was a miniature horse, a donkey (in SORE need of a farrier), a pony, and a "randy" billy goat. She said we needed to be careful about the goat, but we were encouraged to pet all of these animals. They were filthy - and they stunk to high heaven! In her defense it had rained the night before, so it was muddy out there. She told us that they usually give rides on the miniature horse, but couldn't today because it was too muddy. (Thank goodness!) Then we went into the 'barn' by passing under the tarp which also served as a doorway. We saw a mama goat with two babies, and a retarded sheep, and as she was showing us the sheep, her husband walked in with 3 eggs in his hand (one HUGE brown one, a tiny gray one, and a regular tan one). She told him - "NO, honey, this little girl wanted to find her own eggs"... and he proceeded to tell her that it was too muddy. Anyway, then we were shown the brooding box where they are going to put 66 chicks they're getting in the mail today. After that, we were finally able to go see the chickens (and roosters). They were all in these kennel-like areas... I don't think they were really free to roam anywhere... There were lots of different kinds: Polish, mixed, bantams, Rhode Island Reds, and something else I can't remember.... (oh - Silkies)we didn't see any eggs anywhere! So, we then walked out to one of the kennel type of things and looked in there, where there were more chickens (and roosters). There was one lone egg sitting in a shallow divot on the ground... I guess it was a nest the chickens had scratched out. And it had chicken poo on it. The lady picked it up, and wiped the poo off on a board, then handed it to Taylor Anne - who very nicely took it and posed for a picture, being a good sport! 
(I was thinking "How are we going to end up with a dozen eggs?") When we left the chicken coop/kennel, I asked as nicely as I could if there were more eggs anywhere, and she said that she would take the 4 that we had in our basket, and give us a dozen she had collected earlier that were in the refrigerator... "Oh, OK.", I said... and we waited outside her back door as she went in to get the eggs. They looked nice enough, and washed, sitting in the little Styrofoam egg carton she had saved since July last year. As we got into the car after saying Goodbye, Taylor Anne said "Mama, that wasn't fun AT ALL!, I wanted to keep the eggs we got from the chickens, not these in a carton! I don't want to come back here any more!" See, the lady had invited us to come to a "Blessing of the Plough" ceremony on Saturday... we won't be attending.
I had grand plans for yesterday... I have been wanting to get some local free-range, hormone free, eggs for a while... I'm concerned about the high amounts of abnormal hormones in the food we eat (especially concerning my children!). So I had contacted a local small farm, and made arrangements to come out and gather eggs. The lady said they didn't have many eggs, but we should be able to get a dozen if that's all that we wanted. I said that was fine, because we don't go through eggs that fast, and we could always come back later for more, right? Anyway, so I talked to Taylor Anne and she was really excited about it, I kinda hyped up the 'coolness' of going to gather eggs in the chicken coop, and getting to see the little farm. I even found a nice basket and put some towels in it so we could put our eggs in there to take home. Well... when we got there, it was not even close to what we expected... the lady had said to come to the back door. Well, we pulled up to this 'farm' and it was a single wide trailer with a large garage-type thing in the back, which had little sheds built all around it, like dog kennels. There was a large tarp covering part of the 'barn', and there was a turkey wandering around.
That was all fine, I guess... then we walked to the 'back door' and the lady came out and met us on her back stoop in a pair of loose red sweatpants and a tight pink sweatshirt. She had on some slip on sandals and thick wool socks. It was a sight... She was very nice and took us on the tour which included the little paddock (no grass, just mud) behind the 'barn' where there was a miniature horse, a donkey (in SORE need of a farrier), a pony, and a "randy" billy goat. She said we needed to be careful about the goat, but we were encouraged to pet all of these animals. They were filthy - and they stunk to high heaven! In her defense it had rained the night before, so it was muddy out there. She told us that they usually give rides on the miniature horse, but couldn't today because it was too muddy. (Thank goodness!) Then we went into the 'barn' by passing under the tarp which also served as a doorway. We saw a mama goat with two babies, and a retarded sheep, and as she was showing us the sheep, her husband walked in with 3 eggs in his hand (one HUGE brown one, a tiny gray one, and a regular tan one). She told him - "NO, honey, this little girl wanted to find her own eggs"... and he proceeded to tell her that it was too muddy. Anyway, then we were shown the brooding box where they are going to put 66 chicks they're getting in the mail today. After that, we were finally able to go see the chickens (and roosters). They were all in these kennel-like areas... I don't think they were really free to roam anywhere... There were lots of different kinds: Polish, mixed, bantams, Rhode Island Reds, and something else I can't remember.... (oh - Silkies)we didn't see any eggs anywhere! So, we then walked out to one of the kennel type of things and looked in there, where there were more chickens (and roosters). There was one lone egg sitting in a shallow divot on the ground... I guess it was a nest the chickens had scratched out. And it had chicken poo on it. The lady picked it up, and wiped the poo off on a board, then handed it to Taylor Anne - who very nicely took it and posed for a picture, being a good sport! (I was thinking "How are we going to end up with a dozen eggs?") When we left the chicken coop/kennel, I asked as nicely as I could if there were more eggs anywhere, and she said that she would take the 4 that we had in our basket, and give us a dozen she had collected earlier that were in the refrigerator... "Oh, OK.", I said... and we waited outside her back door as she went in to get the eggs. They looked nice enough, and washed, sitting in the little Styrofoam egg carton she had saved since July last year. As we got into the car after saying Goodbye, Taylor Anne said "Mama, that wasn't fun AT ALL!, I wanted to keep the eggs we got from the chickens, not these in a carton! I don't want to come back here any more!" See, the lady had invited us to come to a "Blessing of the Plough" ceremony on Saturday... we won't be attending. **Note: I have nothing against people who live in trailers, I did while in college! And I have nothing against the small family farm... it was just not what we had expected, and we were disappointed little ladies on our drive home.
1 comment:
That place sounds like quite a setup! You are a brave woman :)
Post a Comment