Egg Project owner Pip Chrystall and friends.
The Country looks back at some of the biggest and best stories of the past 12 months, including readers’ favourites, news events and those yarns that gave us a glimpse into rural lives and livelihoods across the country.
This story by The Country’s Kem Ormond was originally published on April 13.
The Egg Project, close to Himatangi Beach in the coastal Manawatū region, is an idyllic place to run a certified organic free-range chicken farm.
This family-run business has a pecking order, and owner Pip Chrystall is the mother hen.
Pip has to be one of the most positive, happy and focused people you could meet.
She loves what she does, loves the chickens, her community and the people in it – put an obstacle in front of her and she will learn how to jump it.
Her laughter is infectious; when she is the driver behind the wheel of the Egg Project truck, the run probably takes a few extra hours because she loves to chat with her customers.
This all started in 2019, when a farmer friend encouraged Pip to come out from her peaceful and relaxing midlife siesta, which entailed doing firewood and logging work for her dad.
Pip was also keen to do something about a project she had often talked about – building a coastal retreat with yurts for accommodation, where horses and dogs were welcome and could also holiday.
The retreat has an arena to exercise horses, with access through neighbouring farms to run them on the beach.
This would easily fit in with her Egg Project, something she reckoned would take up only two days a week ... or so she thought.
Having done her research, Pip realised more people wanted to know where their food came from.
She found people wanted local, fresh and ethically produced food.
Having decided she wanted to look at a different way of retailing eggs, the Egg Project was born.
Initially, it was all about fundraising.
Members of the pilot groups could buy one-offs or subscribe and have their eggs delivered to their schools, preschools and the like.
It started with a bang, and then March 2020 brought Covid.
By then, Pip had 290 customers and five groups she delivered eggs to.
With her website still under construction, she manually mapped deliveries to customers, donned her PPE gear and the gate-to-door delivery service was quickly born.
Over this period, Pip also helped fellow growers struggling to sell their products, namely avocados and asparagus, and even helped a local school sell its fundraising corn.
Now, with Covid no longer a major concern, Pip has concentrated on adding other products to complement her eggs.
She doesn’t really want to grow much bigger because she is busy enough.
Integrity and honesty are the two main ingredients in Pip’s business model.
She has learned every aspect of her business by being hands-on and doing podcasts and courses when able.
Pip is always looking for ways to save and keep the cost of her eggs affordable for customers, so you won’t find her delivery vans signwritten.
She has won numerous business awards that are a testament to her hard work.
Teaching older customers how to find their way around the new website has been a learning curve for Pip, but for many of the elderly, that weekly delivery visit is the highlight of their week.
While her staff are the backbone of her business, it feels more like a family.
She has one driver called Jake who does 160 deliveries a day, and now, with over 6000 customers, relief drivers are always sought after.
They sometimes come from customers nominating their retired husbands as drivers.
Since Pip started the Egg Project, thousands of eggs have been given to food banks, charities and organisations throughout the Manawatū region.
While the Egg Project loved making “eggceptional eggs” more affordable for people, Pip said there was something she enjoyed even more.
“Helping people and the community is what I love the most.”