True signs of warmer days to come and little kinks

I’ve said it many times before, but I dream of having my own little family of hens. Honestly, the laws around here a bit foggy and we are yet to get clear answers on whether or not we would get in trouble by building a small chicken coop in the back of our little plot of land. So for now, we are reliant on local farmers for our eggs and believe me, they are few and far between this close to the city.

We used to have a “if we can’t get them fresh, we do without” philosophy because the thought of buying grocery store eggs, even organic free range ones, was a stretch. So we would go vegan for most of the colder months. But with Little Man being allergic to milk proteins, being most likely gluten intolerant and having problems with soy and legumes, eggs were a necessity so we have been buying eggs from the grocery store for most of the last 5 months.

Most of our local sources dry up in winter. Either they get just enough eggs for themselves so they stop selling them or they plain out over-winter their chickens elsewhere since their coops are not warm enough. This last reason is why our favorite little family can only supply us with eggs 6 to 7 months out of the year. We had found a year-round source a while back, but we stopped going after we realized the chickens were not treated at a standard we approved of (over crowding and very little attention and love). We had started finding meat spots and blood in almost every single eggs which meant something was wrong and the owners were not addressing the issue.

Usually, by the beginning of May, our little flock was back from their winter vacation and we would start our weekly drive down to the farm. But this year, since temps were still so cold, it took much longer for them to be brought back and to start laying again. For the last 4 weeks, we have taken a drive on Saturday morning, hoping to see the little sign by the road. Every week we came back empty handed…

Until this week that is! Oh happy happy joy joy!

What a beautiful sight : Baskets full, ready for returning customers. Some eggs were still very small, but Little Miss loves those, saying they are a perfect size for little bellies.

So until late next fall, we will have our farm fresh eggs. We will set out early every Saturday morning to make sure we get our share. We will most likely take the slow road through the outlining villages, saying hello to very familiar scenery. And so it starts, our growing season rhythm. Renewing relationships with our food, finding our way back to hold friends. These people have seen my children grow, they’ve shared their hard work and love for the land with us. They are our teachers, our inspiration. How we miss them when winter keeps us inside. But how glorious our Springtime reunions are.

Hope all of you are having a wonderful week-end!

PS : My portrait project will be a bit late this week. Seems I’ve thrown my back out and I haven’t exactly been bringing my camera out and about. It,s been hard to rest with so much that is happening, but I’m doing my best to take it easy.