The Passion of a Small Breeder

*Written by Vanessa @may_blooms_acreage and shared with permission.

Vanessa is a small breeder of heritage breeds, sustainable pastured chicken, and beautiful rainbow egg layers. Located in BC Canada.

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This is my trade, this is my passion.

The caring of them, and all that being one with an animal that provides nourishment entails but also all of the art that comes forth from the intentional sourcing, pairing and combining that is behind these eggs you see.

They cannot just be replicated in the simplest sense. Yes you can get hens that will lay these colours or Yes you can acquire their genetics in an individual. But the lines that have been developing on these lands are now my own. I believe this to be true when the first pairing is made and you hatch the resulting offspring. That result is your doing, your mispairing, your mistake, or your accomplishment and progression. I take deep pride in the accomplishments that I see before me and am deeply grateful for the genetics that I sourced to ensure it was possible. And I’m grateful for the lesson on patience and intention during the months spent agonizing over details that only 7+ months later you know the result of.

This is a long game, what you see here, it isn’t an overnight rainbow.

So many chicks were hatched, grown out and proven to not be worthy for breeding. So much loss, so many didn’t make it, lacked vigor. So many don’t measure up, and that’s the reality behind it all. For every 1, 4 were cast aside. A rough number but startlingly accurate.

So this collection is all the more special because of the journey it took to become what you see pictured. The eggs I used to create with didn’t necessarily come to me in these colours, and originally the eggs and genetics acquired were a result of someone else’s pairings, not mine. But these, these are truly my own. My art. My pairing, my intention.

I hope to never weave a fairytale of instant gratification but to sow deeply the desire for a slow and steady burn. And to showcase that good comes to those willing to both create but then also patiently wait for the fruitful rewards of ones art.