Locally Laid: How We Built a Plucky, Industry-Changing Egg Farm from Scratch

How a midwestern family with no agriculture experience went from a few backyard chickens to a full-fledged farm ¿ and discovered why local chicks are better.

When Lucie Amundsen had a rare night out with her husband, she never imagined what he¿d tell her over dinner ¿ that his dream was to quit his office job (with benefits!) and start a commercial-scale pasture-raised egg farm. His entire agricultural experience consisted of raising five backyard hens, none of whom had yet laid a single egg.

To create this pastured poultry ranch, the couple scrambles to acquire nearly two thousand chickens ¿ all named Lola. These hens, purchased commercially, arrive bereft of basic chicken-like instincts, such as the evening urge to roost. The newbie farmers also deal with their own shortcomings, making for a failed inspection and intense struggles to keep livestock alive (much less laying) during a brutal winter. But with a heavy dose of humor, they learn to negotiate the highly stressed no-man¿s-land known as middle agriculture. Amundsen sees firsthand how these mid-sized farms, situated between small-scale operations and mammoth factory farms, are vital to rebuilding America¿s local food system.

With an unexpected passion for this dubious enterprise, Amundsen shares a messy, wry, and entirely educational story of the unforeseen payoffs (and frequent pitfalls) of one couple¿s ag adventure ¿ and many, many hours spent wrangling chickens.

An EChristian, Inc production.