It's Official

I've always wondered if I was just overstating the facts a bit when I referred to our property as a farm. We have several acres of land which used to be pasture land of a much larger farm.  It is now mostly woodland.  I never thought that having a small orchard, a handful of chickens, and two bee hives really counted as having a farm (and I shouldn't forget the electric fence). I think the fates are trying to tell me otherwise.

For those of you just tuning in to my ramblings, we sell eggs via a cooler on the side of the road.  We work under the honor system-the eggs are in the cooler as well as a bit of money to make change.  You take a dozen eggs, you leave your money.  We don't produce that many eggs so our customer base is a pretty small and loyal group.  Many a time someone also returns their used egg carton.  Yesterday someone returned a carton on which they wrote "Ross's Chicken Farm."  I had a good laugh when I saw this.  We aren't sure who wrote it, but they sure do know who we are.  That was the first sign confirming our 'farmdom.'

The second sign came in the mail today.  We received the 2012 National Agriculture Classification Survey from the USDA.  This is a mandatory form that we have to submit. I picked it up with a "yeah, right" thought going through my head.  There are four qualifying questions on the cover.  If you respond no to all four then you just send the survey back stating that you are not farming.  We have to answer yes to three of the four questions.  

I guess all signs are pointing to us really being a farm.