The "Homegrown By Heroes" Label

Yesterday we obtained the rights to use the Homegrown By Heroes label on our eggs.

The HBH label "serves to inform consumers that products donning the logo were produced by military veterans. The program is available to farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and value-added producers of all branches and eras of military service."

I first heard about this program from an NPR story that I heard a little over a year ago.  At the time, we only had three laying hens and not all of them were laying.  Of the original four chickens, Penny had gone off to Haweewee months before courtesy of a predator, and Meriweather was sitting on her clutch of eggs.  That left just Hyacinth and Olive.  The other eight hens (and Zap) that we got from the breeder were in various stages of growth, none laying.  And Donder, Blitzen, and Cirrus were among the eggs under Meriweather.  In short, egg sales weren't a going concern for us.  Nuts, the girls weren't even yet keeping up with our kitchen needs!

My how that situation has changed!  These days we're getting up to and including a dozen eggs a day, even with Daisy's production line shut down while she takes care of her brood.

The obligatory picture with Daisy and her chicks

Somehow I remembered that NPR story recently, and a little bit of paperwork later we have the rights to use the HBH label.


Tangentially, the astute among you noticed that in the picture of the egg cartons, they're stored in what appears to be a temperature-controlled chamber.  You're wondering "what happened to storing them on the counter?" "Why are they in a refrigerator?" and "I clicked on that link and boy has Zap grown!"  Yes, he has but focus, please, focus.  In the interest of broadening our egg sale opportunities, we also obtained a Nebraska Egg Code Number from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture a few months ago.  This brings with it various labeling requirements and a requirement that the eggs be washed and refrigerated like you find at an American grocery store.  We still eat countertop eggs, and we still offer countertop eggs (and chicks) by request, but our default sale is now washed & cold.  But still a whole lot fresher than you'd get from the store.