Lots have been asking me recently how the ‘Honesty Table’ is going. Well folks, it is over a year since I started leaving the eggs at the gate, and it is going really really well.
You wouldn’t believe the excitement when I made that first sale! You’d think I was on my way to being a millionaire 🙂
Some days we are completely sold out of eggs, and I am practically wandering around after the hens waiting for them to lay 🙂 (You think I’m joking???)
I’ve even got to know some of my customers. During that extremely beautiful and hot summer we had, I felt it was too hot to leave the eggs out, so had to leave a note for people to call up to the house…. and they did.
One local farmer comes every single Monday evening – brings back his empty egg box and takes his fresh eggs. Another man drives a 30 mile round trip every second week to buy a couple of dozen. I have met people on the street that I didn’t know before telling me how delicious the eggs are!
So if you’ve ever thought about having an ‘honesty table’…. my advice ‘go for it’! We are on a very rural road with hardly any passing traffic and it works. Mind you I did have to put a sign explaining the concept of the ‘honesty table’.
I have thought, but not been brave enough to add other things to the ‘table’….. yet.
Would people go for excess herbs or vegetables? The ducks egg haven’t sold at all which I found strange as they are wonderful for baking.
A Year In Redwood 
You may have given me an idea there…
Bridget, you should give it a shot. We are really off the beaten track. We do have a tiny school (21 students) beside us, but I’ve never noticed any of the cars stopping during school runs. And you’d have lots of lovely plants and veg.
I put eggs, veg, rhubarb, soft fruit and honey on our little surplus stall – if I have surplus out it goes and it’s gone in no time. Go for it Margaret!
Thanks Fiona, I might try it this year again, as we always have a bit too much, so I am under pressure to freeze or preserve it! 🙂
I love that it worked! I totally think you should add other things to it.Certainly veg – and what about cake 🙂 (I’d buy it!!)
I shall put cake out as soon as I know you are on your way!
I have a farmer friend who puts out an honesty box at his farm stand every summer, and he says he’s rarely stiffed. I love that it works so well for you. I’d drive for good eggs, too. That the duck eggs haven’t sold mystifies me, too. I love them – that great, meaty yolk. I may have to make a trip over to pick some up. Hey, I just had a thought. What would you think of us doing a joint post about them – nutrition, ways to cook them and with them. Does that sound interesting to you?
It certainly does! Would love to do something along those lines. Do you have my email address?
I don’t. DM it to me from Twitter and let’t get this ball rolling!
I would love your duck eggs. One of my boys can’t tolerate chicken eggs but he is fine with duck.
Not sure that they would survive the journey… otherwise I would certainly send some over to you! 🙂
Its so heartening to hear that an Honesty Table works! I am curious to know, of course, if you’ve had any unpleasant situations with anyone not paying though.
No never! Despite all the doomsdayers that said it would be robbed…. never.
I think you should give veg a go. I’m sure I’ve said it to you before but when we’re visiting my grandfather in rural Denmark you can’t drive for 5 mins without hitting some sort of honesty table selling eggs, spuds, fruit and veg. I always stop in the summer when I see a sign for raspberries!
Thanks Joanne, I just might give it a shot again. It surprises me that only one other neighbour actually has a veg garden, so maybe there is a market 🙂
I came across a great honesty farm shop in Wexford, not too far from Rathnure. They stocked 10kg bags of potatoes as well as lots of loose veg, eggs, milk, jams, bread and “posh” bacon. You wrote down what you took on a slip, added up the total, put the slip and your cash in an envelope and put the envelope in a big metal box with a postal slit on the top. There was even a cash register tray of change! It seemed to work well. You did have to go up the drive and into the yard, which might have inspired a bit of honesty. But the system meant the shop could be open long hours. A smashing idea! How foes your egg system work?
June, maybe that’s what I should do with the veg… set a table up in the yard. What I find with our own veg if you harvest it, it must be used that day, it just doesn’t stay fresh for very long.
At the moment I just leave the eggs with a box of change at the gate and folks stop and do their business. I love the fact that they now also bring me back the empty cartons…. recycling working all along the way 🙂