Owner of Caribe United enjoys her daily search and recovery of free-range eggs
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Tamita Brown throws non-GMO feed to chickens on Caribe United, her farm in Crawford in March. She and her husband Gabriel own about 1,000 birds on pasture and produce around 300 eggs per day, which she sells at markets in Athens and Atlanta. (Photo/Basil Terhune for The Oglethorpe Echo) -
Tamita Brown collects eggs hidden around Caribe United, her farm in Crawford. Brown and her husband Gabriel own over 1,000 birds, which produce around 300 eggs per day. She sells them at markets in Athens and Atlanta. (Photo/Basil Terhune for The Oglethorpe Echo) -
Tamita Brown holds her favorite chicken Honey, which is blind in one eye and smaller than the other chickens. Honey is the only named bird on the farm and will often hang around Brown while she does chores. (Photo/Basil Terhune for The Oglethorpe Echo) -
Tamita Brown, co-owner of Caribe United Farm, brings non-GMO feed to the chickens on pasture earlier this year. Brown raises chickens, guinea fowl, pigs, ducks and geese on her five-acre property. (Photo/Basil Terhune for The Oglethorpe Echo) -
Tamita Brown washes and sorts eggs in her kitchen on her farm called Caribe United. She learned about farming while growing up in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. (Photo/Basil Terhune for The Oglethorpe Echo) -
Tamita Brown shows a customer the quality of her chicken eggs before a purchase at the Athens Farmers Market in March. Brown owns Caribe United, a farm in Crawford. (Photo/Basil Terhune for The Oglethorpe Echo)
WATCH: See the owner of Caribe United Farm on her daily search and recovery of free-range eggs
EDITOR'S NOTE: This multimedia package was produced in conjunction with UGA photojournalism professor Mark E. Johnson and the Woodall Weekend Workshop, a photojournalism event that was held in Oglethorpe County in March.
Tamita Brown’s fingers dig into the grassy thickets skirting her property, pushing back blackberry vines and plume grass until her hands reveal a clutch of matte brown shells.
A caveat of raising free-range chickens is that they are free to range, and thus nest, wherever they feel comfortable, including the flowerpots outside Brown’s window sills and anywhere along the perimeter of Caribe United, a 5-acre farm in Crawford.
Although this freedom grants the birds a healthier lifestyle, the responsibility of hide-n-seek falls upon Brown’s shoulders, a burden she carries happily, and even enjoys most out of all her chores.
Brown grins as she places the clutch in her basket.
“It’s like an Easter egg hunt every day,” she said.
Brown and her husband Gabriel own and operate the small-scale poultry farm that prizes itself not only on its products, but also on its use of non-GMO feed and traditional upbringing of livestock on pasture.
Born and raised on a farm in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, Brown learned about crops and livestock from an early age, although she said the island’s farm culture differs greatly from that of northern Georgia.
Caribe United is home to around about 1,000 chickens — 700 egg-laying hens and 300 meat birds — along with a handful of ducks, geese, guinea fowl and pigs. On average, Brown finds 300 eggs per day and often processes over 1,000 at a time.
They are all individually washed, sorted and candled in her kitchen.
The 2,000 or 3,000 eggs handled weekly, in addition to cuts of pork and chicken, are sold to customers at farmers markets in Athens and Atlanta, although the couple hopes to expand their business and begin shipping out of state, once they can invest in a walk-in freezer.