I've been selling a few eggs from our flock. As far as I know, I've complied with all the state rules for person - to - person sales, but more is being demanded of me. I've been confronted with someone's presumptions that governmental regulations should apply to me that aren't legally necessary in this area. The other day, she told me that the government has to know what we're doing so it can regulate us. We clean that out of the chicken house on a regular basis. She wants me to have a license that simply does not exist here!
I learned today that she worked for the USDA, had a bad experience with farm eggs once, and believes that farm eggs should never be allowed to be sold. No one has tried to sell these eggs to her or suggested that she eat them. There has never been any suggestion that she should be involved in the sales in any way. She is offended and up in arms over the mere fact that they exist. She refuses to drop the subject or leave me alone.
Where does she think the commercial eggs in grocery stores come from? Robots? I've been inside commercial egg laying operations. Necessary to fulfill demand,I'm not making any moral judgements for or against them. There's no way the small entrepreneur can possibly fill their niche. But their existence does not make small family operations evil or unclean.
I fail to be impressed with the fact that she worked for the USDA. My dad did, for 30years. He was responsible for enforcing certain regulations and for millions of dollars of other people's money. Dad could be tough, but he does know the difference between personal opinion and laws. For that mattter, my husband was required to take classes for a certification in food safety for a job. I just happen to have a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics, which did have some training in food safety. We don't go running around being know-it-alls, but neither would we do unsafe things.
I will go to the health district and ask for verification, in writing, signed by the director, so that I can prove that I do know what I'm doing. But we will also sell the eggs by other avenues, that has no imagined impact on her.
I dread being around such people. I'm allowed to, and even have the responsibility to, defend myself. How to do it wisely is the big question. I'm not going to convert someone so ignorantly innocent to my viewpoint. People who've been personally impacted by such unfairness don't even need explanations. Once again, I've realized that I become angry because I feel very threatened.
There are always rules in life. They're a necessary part of living in a world that includes other people. Quite a few of them are good.
Where is the crime in trying to make a better, healthier, lifestyle for myself, my family, and my friends? In order to continue to keeping chickens, we need to have them at least pay for their feed. It would be nice if we could make enough profit to fund some expansion. What is this, Soviet Russia, where "profit" was restricted to state-run factories? Reality there was that those factories never really did make a profit. And the lack of small individual choices to do little things like have your own flock and sell eggs was one of the factors that eventually brought about the downfall of the entire system. Oh, no, I've dared to stick my head up above the common crowd, it must be chopped off!
I'm not running around dispensing questionable, unsafe eggs from a disease-ridden flock. Reality is that while our flock is not strictly organic, they eat much the same food we do. Theirs just gets to the coop daily when it's too stale to be palatable to humans, before it's spoiled. The chickens eat insects and plants that are available inside their run. They have access to the outdoors daily, which is a lot more than be said for most commercial egg operations. We plan to expand the chicken run and let some meat chickens range free throughout the acreage. If there was something wrong with the eggs or chickens, we'd know before anyone else. To me, it seems obvious that, if there was a problem, we wouldn't sell any eggs until the problem was appropriately dealt with.
The dogs and goats get table scraps, too, whatever is suitable for their species. When someone's home all day, the goats are turned loose to perform their function of weed eaters. Some of their browse is classed as noxious weeds. They're not poisonous, just fast spreading garbage. We've sown some seeds that should improve the browse. In a few weeks, when we can afford fencing, we'll build a bigger goat pen, then move them. Then we'll add their present enclosure to the expanded garden, which will have to be fenced to keep the goats out while it's in production. We need a rototiller or the means to have someone come with a tractor for a few hours. I suppose we shouldn't be allowed to use goat and rabbit manure and composted chicken manure, as fertilizer, since it doesn't come from a 'sanitary' factory. Tough.
PS 2/11/2011 Sat down and talked this morning with the director of food services, environmental health department of the local health district. Took in the high-lighted printouts from state website and a dozen eggs to show her what we're doing. She did have one stipulation that just hadn't occurred to me, to black out the original printing for grade, supplier, etc. Easily done, taken care of now. Everything else was fine, and anyone with further questions should be referred to her. See, I knew I wasn't the evil witch.
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