You sell chickens?

The fall season and the threat of excessive priced heating oil prompted us to look at measures we could take to mitigate some of our excessive energy usage. The windows on the north side of our early 1800’s small farm house became this year’s project.

Well it is now mid November and the windows we ordered in September just arrived. The good news is that the price of fuel has dropped significantly so if, and we hope this is not the case, we can’t finish the window installations this fall we won’t be completely crushed by the oppressive heating bills.

The interesting part of what I have described is the delivery portion of our story. The windows came to us from someplace in Massachusetts. As the driver and his helper pulled up the drive-way they were greeted by our free ranging chickens moved about to and fro dodging and weaving as they continued in the daily routine of grazing the yard in search of anything and everything that chickens like to eat. The men began to unload and one asked “You sell chickens?” The answer was “No we don’t sell them, but do you want a chicken?” The men continued the delivery while gazing fondly at the chickens. After a bit more conversation a box was procured from the house and one of the beautiful buff colored chickens was placed in it for the ride back to Massachusetts. The smile on the men’s face was warming as they drove off waving with their prize new possession.

For us at Schoolhouse Farms life lessons are more then growing and selling. It is more importantly about our ability to teach our children to give and to share without ulterior motive. It is a simple choice to bring joy into people’s lives by sharing the bounty we have produced and it is a choice we gladly make. I think they call this Thanksgiving!

Richard Malcolm
Schoolhouse Farmer
Schoolhouse Farms Blog
Schoolhouse Farms on LocalHarvest.org
Borodino Market Blog