This Week's Notes 4/10...

    

       Good Morning! It looks like the weather is going to cooperate so we can keep moving and spreading compost this weekend. I felt oddly ahead of the game, until I was reminded by our giant 10 month old puppy, that no matter how good of germination I have, and even if everything survives it's move from the greenhouse to the hoop house to outdoor gardens, no plant is safe without fencing!

    This week, I wanted to tell you about last weekends experiences. You can imagine, selling farm animals, I meet a lot of different people, mainly from Fb & Craigslist. Generally speaking, this goes well, though sometimes we get the annoying people who try to buy things that aren't for sale once they are here, or talk me down on the price. On Saturday, I had someone coming to buy 4 male ducks. The ladies were getting beat up and we never finished processing them for our food  over winter (7 in 1 day was enough!). The men that came were from Fern Mill Farm, which has 2 locations in Ashford & Mansfield Ct. We got to talking about the animals we each raise and why and realized that we are good contacts for each other. They also gave me a sample of their Hibiscus Tea! It is delicious and I am always looking for something new to drink, so I offered to give it a try for our Members. To make the trip up here worth it for him, we have also added their Quail Eggs and Quail Meat- a really hard thing to find in Ma! Going forward, they also raise rabbit, so if all goes well, we can look into that as a specialty for folks. 

    After that nice experience, On Easter Sunday evening, I had an experience that my gut had been warning me about all week. A man had ordered hatching eggs from my Craigslist add totaling $81. All week long I saved up 3 dozen duck, 1 dozen turkey and 7 goose eggs. I dated them and have to leave them out on the counter at room temps, so they can no longer be sold as eating eggs. Sunday morning I sent him his total, which he responded that he thought they were the eating egg price. After that, he said one thing that perked up my ears- "I'll Venmo you when I get there". So, I decided not to leave them out, but rather run next door ( Easter was at my sisters) for a hand off instead. I asked Brian to come with me because I felt uneasy. My gut was right and the man called when he was at the farm stand instead of 15 minutes before as I had requested. When I got there, I nervously asked for the Venmo before he would leave. No one in the car moved for a phone. The woman in the car was rifling through the eggs and the man brought up that my ad didn't distinguish eating vs hatching eggs, which I had already sent him a screenshot that it did. Again, I asked for payment and noone moved. When I spoke, to say that "owning a hatchery, you should know what a great deal the eggs at my hatching egg price are" and the woman, who put her finger in my face, said "there is a child in the car, you won't talk to us like this" at which point I snatched the box of eggs off her lap inside the car and they sped off(with the child unbuckled and running around in the back of the van, I might ad!)! Needless to say , I am still shaken up by this! In retrospect, everything was suspicious. No getting out of the car to shake my hand, vehicle parked so it could leave quick instead of in our parking space, Brian even said his foot was on the brake the whole time!

    These "behind the scenes" types of interactions are one of the reasons that Farmer at the Door is such an amazing concept for farmers. Having individual transactions like this for small amounts of produce and meats, where you never know who will show up and when, is non-efficient at least and not safe at most! Each winter we consider having a live animal department, but come to our senses as soon as spring starts and we realize we don't have the time or equipment to travel.

   For those wondering about what happened to the hatching eggs- they didn't go to waste! Luckily I had a huge hatch of ducklings & chics that finished 2 days later and I was able to reload the incubator. A month from now, I will have more ducks than any sane person should, but don't forget, we have a new relationship with Stillmans Farm coming up very soon and an offer for them to process up to 50 ducks for our Members!

   So, enough clucking, it's time for me to go pack your orders and then get back to farm life for the weekend! Enjoy the weather, I saw 70 by Monday!