Do you LOVE farming?
Of all the questions we answer regarding backyard chickens, coops, and urban farming, the most common question we hear is "Do you LOVE your job?" The cool thing about this question is that even on long delivery days or hot and grimy farmwork days, we get to say yes! We have a lot of reasons to love our job: we work with each other, with adorable baby chicks, delicious farm fresh eggs, and we get to travel around the beautiful state of California to deliver aforementioned cute chicks to super-cool customers. There's really not much to dislike about our job. But here's the best part:
The most satisfying and fulfilling part of farming for us is the human interactions. There are so many people who just want to get their hands dirty as a way of escaping from their daily commutes and 9-5s, intensive curriculums, or busy city lifestyles. People crave sunshine. They want to see the miracle of sprouting seeds or learn the art of humanely raising animals for food.
Out at the farm we get to show our incredibly awesome and diverse group of work-stay guests from WWOOF-USA how to do what we do: from hatching and raising baby chicks, to keeping laying hens and gardening. It's like camp: they spend around 1-3 months with us and group of their peers learning the ins-and-outs of farm life. When they travel on, many of them gift us with letters describing the immense changes they've undergone since arriving at the farm, and why they're so thankful for their time with us. (We usually cry, and then save them to read again later!) Lots of them stay in touch. Some move on to other farms where they'll get to share their newly earned knowledge. Some find new direction for their education or career. Others simply find a way to incorporate a bit of farm life into their regular lifestyle with plans to keep it growing.
Our farm's main product is backyard chickens. We hatch and raise baby chicks to make it possible for people to start keeping chickens for eggs. Of course there's an intrinsic joy to keeping chickens just like other pets – it’s especially evident on the kids' faces when we pull up in our chicken-mobile to bring them their new little chickens. Let me tell you - being a part of that joy is priceless. But even after their cute baby chicks grow up, there's the excitement of finding their hens' first eggs, or the satisfaction of giving a dozen fresh eggs away as a ‘thank you’ gift to someone who has never experienced the taste of eggs from hens that are truly cared for. Our customers call us months or even years down the road just to tell us how much they love their chickens. Then they get to share with and teach their friends, neighbors, and children the benefits and joys of humanely keeping an animal for food. We believe in what we are doing, and we know that our business is putting honest value into people's lives.
Most importantly, backyard chickens are a gateway to farming – tearing up lawn, building raised garden beds, and sometimes even moving out of the city and investing time, money and energy in DIRT. This is the kind of change people are looking for, and we get to help ignite it! What's not to love about that?