Egg Production & Monitoring Rain Damage

Village Farm Team,

Our flock is currently in peak egg production with the longer daylight hours we’ve been experiencing. Each hen lays an egg roughly every 28 hours so with the current conditions, we are averaging 12 to 15 eggs per day (or 7-8 dozen per week). We check for eggs a few times per day in order to discourage our ladies from sitting on them. Hens become broody when they start sitting on their eggs which means they eat less, begin to lose weight, and stop laying. This can easily become a habit so we work to break the cycle before it has a chance to start. If you’ve been wanting to try the eggs from our flock, make sure to get to the veggie wagon as close to 8am as possible on Saturday as we have a limited amount available each week.

Over 9 inches of rain fell on the farm this past week. For a bit of perspective, the average precipitation for our area for the entire month of May is 4.06 inches! Though rain can be a good thing, excessive rain can begin to cause problems like root rot. We’ve been closely monitoring our tomatoes the past few days as they tend to be more susceptible to this issue than our other crops. Though we lost some we’re happy to report the majority of them seem to have weathered the storm.

If you’ve been thinking about getting more involved on the farm but didn’t quite know how we’ve got the perfect opportunity for you! Beginning this Sunday and every Sunday thereafter, residents will be able to volunteer for various farm tasks from hand weeding to raking the animal pens. The tasks will range from light to heavy duty making it accessible for all levels and ages of volunteers. If you’re interested, meet at the farm office between 8-9am on Sunday mornings and we will direct you from there. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via e-mail.

Did you know we have more than veggies and eggs at the veggie wagon on Saturdays? We also sell transplants for your home garden! Our transplants are sustainably grown in the greenhouse alongside our other farm crops. This coming weekend we will have a few varieties of sweet pepper plants as well as garlic chives. Sweet basil transplants will be available in the next week or two.