For years now, we’ve had a serious egg surplus. It came from my chicken habit, and my husband (who collects the eggs) often had to say to me, “Honey, what shall we do with them all this time?”
And now that we’re breeding more chickens, our laying flock is increasing (since that’s where those hens who are not comely enough to be bred can still find a useful place at Storybook Farm).
We eat a lot of our yummy eggs. We have also sold them to friends locally, and given them away to family members. But this summer, I realized that our tiny town hosts a fledgling farmers’ market in good weather, and when I went down to check them out, they allowed as how they never had enough eggs!
The first hurdle was, as is so often the case, legalities. I consulted the WV Vendors’ Handbook. Here are the (lightly annotated) regulations I found:
- A small producer may market up to one hundred fifty (150) dozen eggs (!) or less (that’s me!) per week of their own production.
- The producer must register with the WVDA (West Virginia Department of Agriculture).
- Small producers must label their cartons with:
- The name and address of the person selling the eggs
- The date the eggs are packed
- The words “Ungraded Eggs” in print of at least 5/8″ high
- Eggs shall be washed (removing their bloom, and necessitating refrigeration, whereas if we had not washed them, they would stay fresh for up to 6 months, but never mind).
- Eggs shall be transported at forty-five degrees F, unless the time for transportation is less than three (3) hours. (Great! I only live 20 minutes from the market. 😇)
- Eggs are to be stored and displayed at the Farmers Market in cold-holding equipment capable of holding forty one degrees F or less. The eggs must reach the forty-one degree temperature within four (4) hours of receipt at the market. (That cold-holding equipment was my cooler, and since our market lasts from 9 AM to noon, no problems here.)
- Small producers are permitted to pack in recycled or used cartons when the distributor’s name, address, expiration date, size and grade are marked out and replaced with the labeling required for small producers.
- Cartons shall be clean and free of odor or debris.
- Any vendor selling eggs shall have a valid Food Establishment Permit from the local health department before the date of sale. (Our county did not actually require this. Yeah; it’s almost heaven here! 😍)
It took me a couple of weeks to get all these ducks in a row.
I had to fill in a WVDA form and show it to our county Board of Health.
Then, I had to pay for a county permit ($15/year), which my county BoH discounted since we were at the end of the season. I paid $6.
After all that, there were only a couple of weeks left in the selling season, but we got up early to wash and pack eggs. Here we are in our PJs getting it done (right)!
Eggs were washed.
Eggs were packed and labeled according to regulations and put into clean, clear cartons (so, no need to ink out the former farms’ names).
We set up our table, and had a blast networking with other likeminded folks.
We sold about half of the eggs we brought and had a great time! Can’t wait for next Saturday!
