Caroline Murphy of West Cork Eggs has a daily goal to do two things – keep her hens happy and her customers happy. “So far, I believe we are doing that,” she says. “We have been very busy on our family farm, just outside Rosscarbery and since our four kids have been off school, its been even more of a family business, with everyone either collecting the eggs or packaging them or indeed, some days, both!”
Although lockdown has been hard and obviously tragic for some families, it has also brought some good things to our lives. Families spent more time together and we all learnt new or resurrected an old skill, such as gardening or baking. “Our customers – and us too – loved using our delicious fresh eggs to make golden sponges, tasty omelettes and a good ol’ fried egg as part of the Irish breakfast!” says Caroline.
Thankfully, the hens at West Cork Eggs were oblivious to the pandemic and lockdown we all had to deal with and they continued to enjoy the good food, freedom and fun in the green fields of West Cork. “As a family, we got a chance to truly appreciate the beauty of where we live and the abundance of good food available to us,” says Caroline. “To be so close to the beach and have open, fresh and green spaces certainly helped us deal with lockdown. We hope that our customers in less rural areas could taste that in our eggs.”
Caroline would like to say thank you to the loyal customers who supported West Cork Eggs during lockdown and continue to do so. “Your support is so appreciated. During these last weeks, the importance of supporting local food producers and businesses has become really apparent. We can all help each other and the environment by buying local goods and services. It has also shown how much we all need to connect with others and it is so easy to do this with local businesses rather than sometimes faceless, more corporate businesses.”
So, as we look forward to our new normal, Caroline looks back on lockdown and says “don’t give up the baking and remember to still stop every now and again, take a breath and appreciate all that we have!”
