As I have begun to sell more eggs I decided that it would be a good idea to include an insert with each dozen I sell. Doing this allows me to tell a little piece of the story of agriculture with each carton of eggs that I sell. Because we are blessed to have several repeat customers, I presently have two different letters that I am including with my eggs. One for new customers and one for people who have come back for a second time. I will likely have to add a third soon! I thought that I would share a copy of my first two letters so that everyone has the chance to read a little about us regardless of if they are a current customer or not! (Although we would really love for you to be!) Enjoy!
The First Letter
“Angel Family Farms, LLC was started in September of 2015 by my husband (Jonathan) and myself (Shana). I have a degree in Agribusiness from THE Ohio State University and Jonathan has his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the same great school. In real life I am a grain merchandiser at a grain elevator and Jonathan is a large animal veterinarian; we operate our farm on a “part time” basis. Agriculture is a passion for both of us and we are disheartened by the many untruths about it that have been accepted by most of society. With a projected 9 billion people on the planet by 2050 and most of them a generation or more removed from the farm, we wanted to make a difference in our own way. We started the farm as a way to connect with consumers and share the real story of agriculture. If you have any questions about how your food (any of it, not just ours!) is raised, please feel free to ask. Even if we do not know the answer, we know someone who does. We feel that by opening a dialogue we can bridge the gap between producers and consumers. Please get in touch if you are interested in learning more about a farm to table meal, a farm visit or to learn more about our product offerings at this time.”
The Second Letter
“Hi There! Thanks for choosing to buy your eggs from us! We are excited that you came back! You will notice some things about our eggs that are different than the eggs that you might buy at the grocery store. Most of these come back to the fact that we have quite an eclectic flock of birds. We have 24 birds right now. There are 2 Buff Orpingtons, 7 Rhode Island Reds, 6 Bantams, 3 “easter eggers”, and 6 mixed breed birds and they all have a story behind them. (Plan a visit to the farm sometime, we’d love to tell you about it!) First, you will see that our eggs are VERY different sizes. That is because our birds are different sizes and different breeds. Bantams are basically a miniature chicken and they lay very little eggs. Two of our bigger girls lay JUMBO eggs. You don’t see the big discrepancy in size in the grocery store because most larger operations all buy the same breed of bird and they get enough eggs that they can sort them into different sizes and sell them as “Large” or “Extra Large”. There are actually sizing charts published by USDA that they have to follow. Grading eggs was one of the labs in the entry level animal science class at Ohio State. Another thing you will notice about our eggs is the colors are all different! Opening a carton of eggs that is full of color makes me smile! This is purely attributed to the breeds. The Orpingtons lay some of the darker brown eggs, and the Rhode Island Reds lay some of the lighter tan eggs. If you are lucky to get a blue or green egg in your dozen, those can be attributed to our aptly named “Easter Eggers”. I once heard someone say that they didn’t eat brown eggs because they have poop on them. That made me giggle because chickens are all about pooping, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the color of their eggs! I personally wipe down every egg I sell so that they are pretty darn clean. You might notice that the colors of the yolks vary from time to time. This can be a difference in the breeds or a difference in what we feed them. We like to give our girls our old fruits and vegetables along with their regular feed. They also get mini marshmallows as a treat from time to time! They’re a little spoiled. I hope you enjoy the eggs!”
Feel free to contact us at angelfamilyfarmsllc@gmail.com with any questions!
Angel Farms Homestead 