How we started and where we are...

Hello!! I'm so glad you're here. This is Olde Stone Farm, and this is our story.

My name is Ashlyn, and I'm a born and raised Mainer. I've never lived anywhere else, and I don't plan to. I'm from a very small town of about 1,037 people, and I love how close-knit my community is. Whether you need hay for your animals or someone to plow out your driveway in the dead of winter, our community is always there to help.

I met my husband John in college half an hour away from where we live now (right next to my parents, lol). John is originally from Pennsylvania, but he's lived in Maine since he was three, so I guess we can call him one of our own now. We got married in December of 2020 and started our little homestead, Olde Stone Farm.

Our farm started with six baby chicks: four Isa Browns and two Easter Eggers. I grew up with chickens and having 24/7 access to farm fresh eggs, so I always knew I would want some of my own someday and it didn't take much convincing to get John on board.

Our chickens have given us an abundance of fresh eggs over the past two years. In the summer they lay so often that I started giving dozens away at my work for FREE simply because I couldn't eat them as quick as my hens could lay 'em (that's the nice thing about Isa Browns and a huge reason why we chose those for our first flock; they lay 6+ eggs a week!!). But as with all laying hens, they started to slow down as soon as the cold weather hit. They only lay an egg or two every couple of days, and that's IF we get to them before the below freezing temperatures do (it has gotten down to the negatives quite a bit in Maine this winter). So would you believe I had to start buying eggs when I had six perfectly good hens in my backyard? Freeloaders...

Because of this, and because I decided I wanted to start selling our farm fresh eggs, we decided to add to our fluffy butt hut this year. I bought four Plymouth Barred Rock chicks from a local breeder. If you know me personally, you know how stubborn I can be when I want something very specific, and I very much wanted these Barred Rocks specifically. The ad said "Straight Run," which means they aren't sexed. You get random chicks. I thought how high of a chance is it going to be that I get roosters, really? Apparently, it's a pretty high chance, because I ended up with THREE roosters out of the four chicks I got! Serves me right for being so stubborn.

I asked my husband five days later, "how crazy would it be if we got just a couple of more chicks? From Tractor Supply this time, so I know they will be hens (for the most part)." He bowed his head, sighed, and said, "Let's get in the truck." I'm very thankful he puts up with my chicken obsession. So, after lots of "oohing" and "awing" over all the babies at TSC, we decided on two Starlight Green Eggers and two Speckled Sussex's which completed our flock (for now).

We now reside on our little farm with ten laying hens, three roosters, a couple of raised garden beds, two cats, and our black lab Liberty. We are so happy to be apart of our small town community and raising our own food which we know what it's fed and how it's treated. Our homegrown journey starts here.