The Giving Chicken

Four days ago the good people at the Louisa County Sheriff's office were forced to take into custody about 500 animals they discovered in various stages of neglect (561 was the number I was given by a man caring for the animals post-seizure that I spoke to on the phone). All at once. 561 critters from furry to feathered. That's a lot.

At Jolly Folly Farm, like you, we do whatever we can wherever we can. Help where help is needed -- pretty simple. We're not a non-profit. Just a dude and a dudette taking care of critters and people that God drops in front of us. In fact, is there something called "less than profit?" or "negative profit?" If so, that's what we would qualify as! But it doesn't matter because, as you know, we define profit for ourselves in a less than conventional way.

In that vein, this Wednesday, 100 PERCENT OF WHAT YOU PAY FOR YOUR EGGS will go to the Louisa Humane Society to aid in care of these animals while decisions are being made about how and where they will eventually land.

So instead of calling it Wednesday "egg sales" we are doing a PAY WHAT YOU WILL DAY in hopes that we can:

1. Raise awareness about this recent seizure and the good folks stepping in. We in Albemarle County tend to follow our own news, but our hearts extend way beyond our borders and we know yours do, too.

2. Give others a chance to contribute and pass along the JoFoFa Wednesday sales as a community donation from our awesome customers so people can know how great y'all are. (We love our customers as much as our critters!).

What we are hoping:

1. Is that you are willing to pay a little more (or a lot more....) than you normally do for the dozen eggs you buy from our lovely ladies. That the $75 or $100 we normally take in each week will be multiplied many times over by the hens' gesture.

2. That by leveraging our organic/non-kill practices this week, we can directly and immediately help animals that haven't had the benefit of humane conditions before.

What you need to know:

You can still pay by check when you buy your dozen eggs, but just make it out to Louisa Humane Society instead of us.

You can pay with cash as usual, but you'll be putting it in the can (or box, whatever I bring) that is labelled for the Louisa Humane Society, not technically buying your dozen eggs from us.

No credit cards Wednesday (we kinda hate them anyway since we lose even more money than we already do on each dozen when we're selling the eggs for ourselves, but we definitely want 100 percent of everything to go to Louisa Humane Society instead of the credit card company getting a cut).

EVERYTHING ELSE IS NORMAL. No face painting, no rides, nothing weird, no pressure to make a huge donation. Just you getting your dozen eggs as usual from the crazy chicken lady sitting on the side of the road smilin' and telling folks about her happy, well-loved hens.

Thank you and hope to see you on Wednesday!

P.S. If you don't eat eggs, but want to donate, please feel free to stop by and put something in the can and it will help Louisa care for the furry and feathered animals.