07/17/2026
UPDATE 8/3: Resolved! It was a misunderstanding, as we initially suspected. We appreciate y'all making it right!
Hi, folks.
At 8:18 this morning, an older man in a white Honda CR-V wearing knee-length shorts, sneakers, and a dark t-shirt stole 5 dozen eggs from our roadside stand. Earlier this week, the same man stole 3 dozen. On both occasions, he took every dozen we had available from our hens that day.
When we saw his car pull up this morning, we went outside just to confirm it was the same person. We wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he had forgotten to pay the other day and was coming back to make it right.
He didn't.
He walked to the stand twice, emptying it. I'm sure he saw us watching, but it didn't matter.
He didn't steal one dozen because he was hungry—he stole 8 dozen because he was greedy.
The money we earn from selling eggs goes right back into caring for our flock. There isn't any overflow or extra profit sitting around. But beyond the money, it's the complete lack of respect for the time and care that goes into producing these eggs. Every day, we gather, inspect, and hand-wash each egg. We purchase, inspect, and stamp every carton. We monitor our cooler temperatures. We do everything we can to make it easy for our customers to stop by and pick up fresh eggs. Then someone like this comes along and ruins it for the people who do follow the honor system.
Our stand does not offer free eggs. We have signs explaining how to pay and ask that payment be made when you pick up your eggs.
If you're in need of food, there are resources available, including the pantry on Acker Street, the Linda Tutt High School Grocery Store, and several local churches. Please don't steal from local farmers who are working just as hard as everyone else. These eggs don't magically appear, and neither do the feed, water, and other necessities our flock requires.
We don't usually post about incidents like this because, unfortunately, this is far from the first time it's happened. We wanted to share this as a PSA in case anyone else with an honor-system farm stand recognizes this person.
If anyone knows who he is, please talk to him. We'd much rather see this behavior stop than have it happen to someone else.
EDIT:
Thank you all so much for the overwhelming support! We genuinely appreciate every comment & message we've received across our platforms. Some of y'all have shared some truly creative solutions & we appreciate them all!
We'll definitely be adding a camera with a live feed to our stand.
We also wanted to address a few things that have been mentioned elsewhere!
We wanted to confirm that this was, in fact, the same person who stole the 3 dozen from us earlier in the week instead of just assuming. We wanted to see if he would do the right thing. People make mistakes; good people make it right.
Now that we've confirmed it's the same person, we'll be waiting to have a discussion with him & have him trespassed from our property if needed.
Our stand is at the end of our driveway, not right outside our front door. We wouldn't have been able to make it down the driveway in time & felt that it was more important to confirm if this was the same person who stole from us earlier in the week.
We accept cash & Venmo, so we don't always get an alert when someone pays. We didn't know that he stole 3 dozen earlier in the week until we checked the stand that evening. We immediately checked for cash after he left on Friday & found none.
We also aren't going to confront a stranger without protection. I didn't have my CCW on me at that moment, but will take the necessary precautions if & when he returns.
