(Updated on October 18, 2020)
18 months ago, we had a sudden and unexpected increase in the population of hens on New Fadum Farm. We were down to 5 laying hens so Deborah ordered six more chicks from Agway. Soon thereafter our daughter, who was teaching kindergarten in Brooklyn, decided to hatch out some chicks in her classroom and asked us if we could provide them a permanent home at the end of the school year. We said yes. Long story short, when COVID-19 hit last February, we had 14 hens who all started to lay at once. We were getting 8 to 12 eggs every day – and that was way too many.
When an overabundance like this happened in the past, we enlisted one of our daughters to feed the hens every day and collect the eggs. In return, she got to take all the extra eggs to church on Sunday to sell for one dollar per dozen. This turned out to be a win-win situation. This year because of the pandemic, we couldn’t use this solution because church wasn’t meeting in person on Sundays. Instead, we set up an “Egg Club” consisting of 9 families trusted friends all of whom were sheltering snuggly at home. Whenever we had a spare 4 to 7 dozen eggs in the refrigerator, I would organize an egg drop with my two granddaughters. Wearing our masks, we would drive around town visiting members of the Egg Club, delivering eggs and pausing to share a few moments at a safe distance. As spring wore on, the visits might include a quick, safely distanced garden tour. We never went inside their houses; we just left eggs on the stoop.
My new idea is to convert this Egg Club, a pre-existing network of friends who know each other well, into a COVID-Safe Trusted Network. I envision such a group as able to meet for some limited purpose while observing a well-defined protocol. This protocol would be an agreed upon set of rules that everyone in the network has studied and agrees to follow. If protocols are tight, these groups can be quite safe.
I think that we can use the same six principles that structured the protocol for the contractors who have been working on Deborah’s new wool room back in the tractor shed:
- Defining the Egg Pick Up Activity: To deliver farm fresh eggs to friends of New Fadum Farm.
- Trusted Responsibility for COVID19 Safety during the Egg Pick-Up: We are all responsible for each other.
- Social Distancing: No shaking hands, no hugging. Follow the rules—six feet distance and masks.
- COVID-19 Testing for Members of the Egg Club: If you have a temperature or don’t feel well, stay home.
- Quarantine: Observe all official quarantine regulations.
- Out of Region Travel: Be careful not to bring back the virus and spread it if traveling.
The well-defined activity for our Egg Club will be to deliver/receive eggs, chat while keeping at a safe distance and maybe take a garden or barn tour. We could establish additional trusted networks for other purposes—walking dogs together, weeding and sprucing up the church gardens, or just having safe face-to-face conversation.
Addendum
The first version this narrative ended right about here, but in real life the story continued. Here’s what happened:
I asked my daughter – the kindergarten teacher – to review this story. “Dad”, she reported, “the Egg Club principles are fine, but they aren’t a protocol. If we tried to have my kindergarten class carry out this so-called protocol as you wrote it, 22 kindergarteners would come up with 22 different ways to do it”. She added wryly, “I suspect your adult friends aren’t much better at following directions than my kindergarteners!”
Based on her feedback, I understand that we need to add a few sections to fill out the written protocol:
- Describe the physical layout.
- Define who is involved in the Egg Pick up
- Set out in detail how the whole activity will be carried out.
- Describe in detail the food service and hospitality options, including use of toilet facilities.
- (Optional) Activity worksheets or checklist.
My daughter’s last comment was that few people, whether trusted adults or kindergarteners, can make sense of a protocol and go on to change their behavior just by reading it. It will require motivation, discussion, clear guidance, and practice to turn protocols into safe behavior. To acknowledge the vital importance of this point, I add a preamble to the whole protocol.
This Story Has a Lesson
COVID-safe Trusted Networks, like the Egg Club described here, perform limited purposes that can enhance life for group members by creating safer in-person interactions that meet or exceed all safety standards set by public health authorities. The key is to define a specific and limited set of activities that will conform to a detailed and agreed upon protocol.
New Fadum Farm Egg Club
Pick-Up Protocol
Draft Date: August 1, 2020
