photo of the week

The 2019 Lineup

🌿The Lineup🌿

Want to know who of our lineup lays what? Here is a fun color egg chart labeled with the breeds. Represented here are all of the chicken breeds we are breeding in 2019 with the exception of the Alchemist Blues which are taking their swweeeeeeeet time in starting to lay 😉

🌿I believe they will lay a blueish/greenish but time will tell. Their color will be revealed any day now!

🌿Egg color and blue egg color in particular is a tricky thing to capture on film. Too overcast or too bright and the colors look different. We try to do our best when taking photographs but nothing is as fun as seeing the eggs in person 😊 This chart is a nice representation of everything side by side so you can pickup even the different hues in the cream eggs.

🌿💫 What’s the best tasting egg? The Marans get my vote, they do not lay at as high of a frequency as the others and as a result their yolks are really rich!

💫Who lays the most eggs? The Heritwge Welsummers, Sage Eggers and Double Silver Laced Barnevelders.

💫Who lays year round? Our Double Silver Laced Barnevelder.

💫Who is the biggest bird? Our Golden Laced Orpington.

💫Which breeds can be purchased as female chicks? Azure Eggers, Cream Legbars, Alchemist Blues, German Bielefelder 🌿

alchemist_farmThe 2019 Lineup
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The First Set

🌿And So It Begins🌿

This week I stepped into the hatching shed and cleared the space of its winter slumber. The ladies have begun to lay and everyday we are seeing new colors emerge that we will be enjoying for the 2019 season.


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I looked over the eggs collected, cheerful little gems, filled with the possibility of life and took a deep breath. I said a good long prayer over our eggs, our birds, our land, our infrastructure, our family, the folks who help us, and all of the people who support us.

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You see, breeding chickens and hatching eggs is so much more than that simple act for me. We provide jobs for folks, we preserve genetics, help with local food security and biodiversity of life all over the United States. We educate folks on connecting with the traditions of the past. We connect families with their land, help close loops in their lives, help reduce carbon footprints – one egg, one conversation at a time.


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Our genetics, our soil, our air, water and energy is concentrated in the eggs we collect everyday. All that is hatched and then sent out to all of you. A little piece of me is in every life we bring into the world and ship out.

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I ended my prayer, loaded the eggs and turned on the incubators. The deep hum of the fans brought back all of the memories of seasons past. The fans whispered the promise of life to come in just three short weeks. Three weeks and the sweet smell of freshly hatched chicks will fill the air, the sound of peeping and and scrabble of little curious feet scampering about the brooder.

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We are so honored each year to get to share this journey of the creation of life with you all. Thank you for your support of us and for recognizing the need for humane treatment of chickens. We could not do what we do without you! ❤️

alchemist_farmThe First Set
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Golden Laced Orpingtons

🌿Golden Laced Orpingtons🌿

I have a lot of folks ask me if a particular breed is “chatty” or “noisy”. I have found that all of the breeds we work with are naturally quiet unless they are laying an egg or a predator is present which seems like an appropriate time to make some noise!
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The common mistake chicken owners make is giving their flock treats in the morning. If the group gets used to having treats first thing they will start to call for you, wondering where their daily deliciousness is. We favor giving table scraps during the afternoon. Everyone comes running but they don’t bok at me if I am out to look at a watering system or auto door. 😊
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For their size, our golden laced orpingtons are remarkably quiet. They will give low cooing noises but I can only hear it when I am right next to them. They are not prone to a daily egg song as a cream legbar is. They are in and out of the nest without much fanfare or fuss ❤️
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It is rare that a hen is equally as beautiful as a rooster of the same breed. The golden laced Orpington is one of those breeds that is just all around beautiful, personable, safe for all ages to handle and hilarious to watch. They are not particularly agile birds, they romp around the farm when running and when walking they saunter like large clouds or your grandmothers boat of a Cadillac. 🌿
If you are looking for a breed for overall sweetness, pet like ability and large eggs – this is the breed for you! ❤️

alchemist_farmGolden Laced Orpingtons
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Moss Eggers

🌿Moss Eggers🌿

We are always tinkering to find new depths of color for eggs. Colorful eggs make excellent conversation starters that lead to discussions on where our food comes from and how it is treated along the way.
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Not all eggs are equal in terms of nutritional value. Every chicken has the ability to turn an egg into something exquisitely nutritious but they must be given the proper forage and feed to be able to pass on whole nutrients to us.
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In a world of factory farmed/caged pearl leghorn chickens you will never find a green egg such as this. This color, and all the colors we breed for represent something different. To us they represent a different possibility for our food systems. A possibility in which animals are treated with respect and given excellent living conditions. A possibility in which we feed our families real food that is raised in integrity with our environment.

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It does not have to be out of reach, it can be a reality and it can start with your own backyard. One small coop, a few hens, a small garden and before you know it – you and your family are eating pure food ❤️
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alchemist_farmMoss Eggers
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A Photo Review Of 2018

🎉 2018! 🎉

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You have been a year full of beauty and community connections. A year where grace was poured over our farm and we were able to pour it back on our community. Thousands of chicks were hatched – countless hatching eggs wrapped and shipped, all with a smile❤️
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With open hearts and open minds we do a chicken dance into 2019, we took photos of our breeding groups for the coming year and are so elated to share them with you in the coming weeks!

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Do you all sit down and write your intentions for the coming year? We do! It is a tradition I have followed for years, I save each years proclamations and it is always fun to look back and see what we were calling in and how God got us to where we REALLY needed to be 😊
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Let’s call in an amazing 2019 together!

alchemist_farmA Photo Review Of 2018
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This Months Colors

A Photo Diary
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I used to write in journals, these days I capture the happenings of our lives in images. Each image tells a story of what we have been working on and where we are headed with the farm.

Egg colors capture our imagination as we continue our breeding programs. Each season brings a new generation that yields new shades for your daily egg collecting basket. 

Little hands help sort and marvel at the different textures. 

alchemist_farmThis Months Colors
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Color Brings Us Joy

No matter how long the chores take it is the color of the eggs sorted at the end of the day that make it all worth while.
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I am continually tinkering on automatic coop doors, feeders and waterers for our 12 breeding groups spread out over our acreage. Sometimes I have little side kicks asking me to repeat the names of a breed or wanting to label eggs. Every moment on the land is a teaching moment with little ones and it all stems from the captivation these colors inspire. “I love the chocolate ones!” Will be followed by “I love the way the green ones feel”. Every egg is an opportunity for our children to connect to where their food comes from. Every label is a chance to practice letters and every feeder filled is a reminder that we must care for our animals every day.
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What does your rainbow inspire over at your place?

alchemist_farmColor Brings Us Joy
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Little Chicken Wranglers

Endless entertainment for little hands. We love having friends over to play when the sun is out. Many little ones have never held a chicken but our birds are patient and happy to accept cuddles from all ages 🙂

alchemist_farmLittle Chicken Wranglers
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Hand Made Goats Milk Soap Made Here On The Farm

 

It is official! We now have handmade goats milk soap available 🙂

Lots of folks ask us about our British Guernsey Goats, they are a rare breed of goat that have the face of a deer and the sweet milk taste of a Jersey cow. Everyone wants to try the milk but the laws around selling raw goats milk and other edible goat products in California are just too challenging for us to  comply with so we came up with this fun solution, soap! All our soaps are 3.5 ounces and sell for $6 each, shipping is available all over the US.

Goats milk is renowned for being gentle on the skin and its deep moisturising cabilities. We have filled our bars of soap with herb infused oils from plants we grew on the farm such as calendula, tulsi, and plantain. Each bar is formulated with a different experience in mind, we hope you enjoy!

Here are our current bars available, more coming in the following weeks.

Ceder Comfrey

Oatmeal Honey Lavender 

Gardeners Hand Soap

Lovers Bar

alchemist_farmHand Made Goats Milk Soap Made Here On The Farm
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Fun Photo of The Week

This weeks photo is the beautiful contrast in color of our French Black Copper Marans and Olive Egger hatching Eggs. 

 The olive egger chickens we sell are F1 (first generation) and are a mix of our Amerucana hens with our Little Peddler French Black Copper Marans Rooster. When folks come to pick up hatching eggs for those chickens from us the eggs will always look blue! Imagine mixing the bright blue of these eggs with the chocolate brown of the Marans eggs and viola, you will get a preview of the eggs our olive eggers will lay – pretty snazzy eh?

alchemist_farmFun Photo of The Week
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