PLENTY TO CROW ABOUT
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Here’s your chance to ask the eggsperts at Ayton Farm
AYTON Farm, owned and run by Kathy and Rod O’Connell, will be open to the public next Wednesday and the chickens can’t wait to say hello.
“Chickens can actually recognise people – they say chickens can remember up to 100 people,” Kathy says.
“They run over and greet us and then they’ll crouch down and be still so we can pick them up. They have their own personalities.”
The bigger personalities belong to the cheeky geese, though, and you might make a few friends – or enemies – depending on your gender,
“We’ve got a guard goose. His name is Harry and he’s hilarious, he loves girls.
“He always gives the girls lots of attention and if there’s a couple he’ll get in between them and object to the boyfriend being there. The geese are real characters. We’ve got another one who’ll come up and talk to you – you can’t understand him obviously, but he’ll talk to you.”
Once you’re done gossiping with the geese, Ayton Farm has plenty of activities planned.
“This is our first year taking part in Eat Local Week, but last year we went to a few events and just loved it,” Kathy says.
“Our chicken is being used at two of the other events, the Canungra Valley Picnic and the Spicers Hidden Vale Roaming Degustation. On the Wednesday we’ve got Saucy and Spicy in the Scenic Rim. So we’ll have four or five stalls and a doctor giving talks about using spices and herbs in a healthy way. And we’ll be at the Winter Harvest Festival as well, which is the Eat Local Week signature event.”
On June 28 and June 30 Ayton will hold farm tours.
“We’ll take people on a tour of our laying hens and show them things like how the eggs stay clean and how we use our chickens to regenerate the land,” she says.
“Then if they want they can cuddle a chicken and collect eggs. We’ll show them our breeders and they can cuddle a little one-day-old chick. They’ll be shown the egg-handling facility and how the eggs are graded, cleaned and sorted.”
Kathy says she and Rod are overjoyed to be part of Eat Local Week and hope to spark a thirst for knowledge in visitors.
“It’s really important because it connects people with where their food is produced,” she says. “There’s a disconnect, young children don’t understand where their food comes from. Once people understand there’s more awareness and a desire for knowledge. It helps to support small farmers to survive.”
Ayton Farm’s Saucy and Spicy in the Scenic Rim, June 28 at 1 Johnston Road, Rathdowney.