POULTRY FOR THE PEOPLE. Amanda's Eggs, founded by Amanda Bohl – shown here making a turkey call – has been serving locals farm-fresh eggs and poultry for more than a decade.

When you think of locally-produced goods, Wisconsinites are quick to point to an area farm whether it be dairy, produce, or poultry. If you’re in the Chippewa Valley thinking of the latter, one name often pops up above the rest: Amanda’s Eggs.

What began as a love for chickens sparked by her grandma’s own fancy-feathered animals grew into a business, and a thriving one at that. Amanda Bohl, founder and owner of Amanda’s Eggs & Pasture Poultry, turned a passion for chickens into a farm when she bought 36 hens of her very own in 2009. The Chippewa Falls farm is now home to thousands of birds.

Within one year, there was enough demand for the local eggs and poultry that 36 hens were simply not enough. “Then it grew into a couple hundred, then 500, 800, and just kept growing,” Bohl said.

A pivotal moment of that growth was spurred by Menomonie Market Food Co-op, which about 10 years ago expanded its building in Menomonie. The co-op let Amanda know they’d be in need of significantly more product if she could handle it. Growing to meet their demand, she started branching out, and now Amanda’s Eggs are in served in restaurants and schools and sold wholesale. That’s on top of her sales to individuals and residential deliveries.

“(It’s been) a big learning curve,” Bohl said. “We failed forward, just like nature.”

Perhaps the largest hurdle wasn’t born on the farm at all, but required a similar kind of tenacity and perseverance: marketing. “At first, it was just marketing myself and my product directly to people and businesses,” she recalled. “I did not want to go through a distributor. … I would just go into random places with a dozen eggs and tell them who I was.”

While today it’s common to see “shop local” signage and hear conversation about supporting small area businesses, it was a tougher sell in the early 2010s. “I got rejected a lot,” she said. “But they say it takes five to seven years to establish yourself, and in those years the (local food movement) started to grow, too. … Customers wanted different, they wanted local.”

Amanda’s genuine devotion to her work – and to the small farm community - is impossible to miss while she speaks. She still does her own marketing, and the farm is operated by the Bohl family and just one additional hand. What’s more, her larger plans and future goals are more for that community than for herself.

“We hope to have a washing, packing, and distribution facility (in the future) so that we can take local eggs and provide that service to not only individuals, but small farms to wholesale in the area,” Bohl said. “Eggs in the area may get produced in the neighborhood but then they travel hundreds of miles to get washed and packaged elsewhere and then travel hundreds of miles back. … It’s like, why would you get your eggs from further away or send products far away if you can support the local food system right here?”

Unlike commercial farms that are relatively “locked down” to the public, with visitors unlikely to view the animals up-close or hold them, Amanda’s Eggs encourages folks to do just that on its grounds.

Chicks and chickens as well as turkeys roam about during fair weather, and the farm often hosts area 4-H clubs, poultry clubs, high school classes, and folks interested in how the natural farm operates.

“This is what I love to do, this is where the reward is: educating the local community and teaching people who come here to see what I do, and show them it’s possible and it’s natural,” Bohl said.

That sentiment rings true for her family as well, with her four children growing up familiar with farm life and practices as she did. Over the years, Bohl has mentored many teenagers, too, including neighbors, kids from in town, and those looking for a summer job.

She pointed to the obvious importance of farming – food is a basic need and the knowledge and skill of it is rooted in survival – and beyond, including education around sustainability, animals, and the Earth itself. Plus, farming is no easy task, physically or otherwise. It teaches perseverance.

Emery Bohls workin' with the chickens gathering eggs before washing, sorting, and boxing them.

And while Amanda’s Eggs has proven to be a lucrative business over the years and she has no plans of stopping, money has nothing to do with Bohl’s passion.

“There’s always the allure of becoming bigger and things getting easier and making more money, but that’s not where the reward is for me,” she said. “This kind of business, it’s so important. It’s like a legacy. We have to pass this knowledge on. … The more these kids can be exposed to this the better.”

Amanda’s Eggs completes hundreds of residential deliveries each month on top of wholesaling and supplying restaurants and other businesses. Plus, the public is invited to pick up products from the on-site farm store or order online.

I suspect Bohl's “why” behind running her farm and growing the business will remain the same as it is today: “I just feel strongly about supporting the local food movement and small local farmers." 

Visit Amanda’s Eggs & Pasture Poultry (9359 100th Ave., Chippewa Falls) website to learn more or order online • Follow the farm on Facebook for updates • Amanda’s Eggs products are also available locally at Menomonie Market Food Co-op, Rump’s Butcher Shoppe, Klinger Farms, Down to Earth Garden Center, The Coffee Grounds, and elsewhere.