Soul Food Farm, Vacaville, CA

My family and I went on a road trip a few weeks ago. We loaded up our minivan after work Friday night and headed north for a 7-hour drive to The Bay Area. We arrived at 3 AM tired from the drive (though the boys fell asleep after a couple hours in the van) but excited because in a few more hours we were going to be at Soul Food Farm, a farm that raises chickens and eggs on organic pastures.

I have never heard of Soul Food Farm before watching this CNN video a few weeks ago. I was taken aback by what they gone through; a fire ravaged their farm on September 2009 destroying almost all of their chickens and damaging most of the chicken houses. But more taken aback by the fact that people have rallied up to save the farm.




We went on a tour of the farm and was greeted by Alexis (the owner) followed by her three dogs. My boys had a blast with them, especially playing fetch with Max, the border collie. My youngest was the one who followed the dogs (instead of the other way around!) while we walked through the farm.

We listened while Alexis went into details of their everyday farm chores, all the while taking in the beautiful weather and gorgeous views.



Of course, the chicken were all over, roaming around and I was surprised how the chickens were all relaxed about having people around in their space, a sure sign they are content where they're at!






Besides chickens they also have a llama (which they found out helped in chasing out the coyotes),

ducks (this one contemplating diving in the water, haha), and

horses (which the kids had success feeding them cut grass).

Then came another fun part: collecting eggs! My youngest was a little apprehensive at first, since we were warned about the chickens pecking.

Later on, they figured it's best to take eggs when the hens aren't looking (notice all the tail feathers are pointing out!) :)

In no time, this bucket was filled with eggs,

all diffrent shapes, sizes and shades (blue, green, tans and dark brown speckled ones).

Then we sat down to a light lunch of chicken salad sandwiches

and enjoyed their garden,


next to a small field of lavenders, their flowers almost ready for picking.

A great day!