Hello!

We are Dani and Jonathan. This is not our story, but one that has affected our family deeply and is very close to our heart. It is a story about the worst kind of tragedy and the birth of a healing space for us all to come together and to grieve, Lil’s Yolky Dokey Egg Farm. 

On February 10 this year the lives of our very close friends, Jacqui and Gab, changed forever. They received a call that no parent should ever have to receive. A visit from two local police officers delivered the news that Jacqui's beautiful daughter Lily Grace, was killed in a tragic 4WD accident in Torrumbarry, Northern Victoria at the young age of 20. On May 13 this year, Mother's Day Lil would have been celebrating her 21st birthday with family and friends.

                                                                                                      Our Lily Grace

WE ARE DOING IT FOR LILA

Our Lily Grace was a sensitive, passionate and funny human being who was just starting to blossom and find herself. She loved spray tanning, makeup, eyelash extensions and all things beauty, but equally enjoyed her PJ's, fluffy dressing gown, going bush and living in the outdoors.

In the long grief-stricken days that followed the accident, a vision was born out of the deep love that a mother has for her daughter. On Lily’s bucket list was a dream to own her own bush block, raise pasture-fed hens, sell their free-range eggs whilst operating a beauty salon on her farm. Within a few weeks of Lily’s death, Jacqui and Gab found a perfect 50-acre property for lease in Somerville on the Mornington Peninsula. Lil's bucket list was underway.     

BUILDING A DREAM

With a combination of love and grief and an outpouring of ongoing support of family, friends and agricultural mentors, Lil’s Yolky Dokey Farm became a reality and has evolved in to so much more than just a business idea. It has offered a cathartic process that keeps everyone moving forwards as they grieve. It’s an outlet for Lily’s family and very wide circle of friends to create something where they can feel close to her. It has become a healing space for us all to pour our love for Lily into something meaningful.  

"I feel close to Lily when I am at the farm" one of Lil's young friends told me.  "All the hard work and effort that Lil's tight friendship group has contributed to the farm is a reflection of how much Lil means to us all".

IT'S A CHICKEN AND EGG BUSINESS……

Lil’s 50-acre Farm includes 6 paddocks which will eventually house 1450 hens in 6 chicken caravans. The caravans will have automated doors enabling the chickens to roam free during the day and close them in safely at night time. As a second line of defence, four alpacas and two Maremma dogs have been brought in as livestock guardians to protect the brood. 

Jacqui and Gab want the number of chickens to remain around 100 hens per hectare. They passionately believe this plan for low stocking density is the key to both sustainable farming and providing a happy and healthy home for their girls to enjoy a dust bath, flapping their wings in flight, lying in the sun and scratching and foraging for bugs and grubs till their little hearts are content, the girls will live in the best ever conditions out in open pasture.

LIL'S YOLKY DOKEY FARM BELIEVES IN…..

- Pasture raised, grain fed, free range happy chickens

- Grazing rotation for best practice land management 

- Absolutely no trimmed beaks or clipped wings

- NO hormones or antibiotics

- Chemical-free farming because we love the earth

- Ample roosting for all the girls to sleep safe and sound at night

- Aspiring to be local, friendly, ethical, family run business

HOW WILL YOUR FUNDS BE USED?

To start, we would like to raise $10,000 which will ease the financial pressures of this amazing act of love in bringing Lil’s dream alive. To follow the dream, Jacqui and Gab stepped out of their previous lives in the health and education sector and away from the financial security of being employees. 

These funds will go towards the building of amenities, outdoor kitchen, composting toilet and running water for Lily's friends, family, and volunteers who come to spend time on the property to help and heal, 

Once we hit our first target of $10,000, we would like to continue to raise funds of $15,000 for farm equipment including a tractor, ride-on lawn mower and 4WD for the farm.

With our third target of $25,000, we can help Lil's Yolky Dokey Egg Farm grow. This amount will go towards the purchase and servicing of six second-hand mobile chicken caravans. 

We would very much appreciate your help to make Lil’s dream sustainable and for it to live on in honour of her for many years to come. Any contribution is welcome, every little bit counts. We would love you to come along for the journey with us in any capacity that you can. If you decide to pledge to the fund, we would like to gift you something in return through our rewards!

We thank you for your time in reading this story. It means a lot to us. Every contribution will allow Lil’s Yolky Dokey Egg Farm to grow and continue to provide a space where we can all come together to remember her, feel the love and share memories of her laughter, her sassy attitude and her beautiful soul that we are all missing so dearly.

To follow and find out more about this amazing story of this family run business please check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.

https://piknu.com/u/yolkydokey

https://www.facebook.com/Lils-Yolky-Dokey-Eggs

https://www.instagram.com/yolkydokey/

Blessings 

Dani and Jonathan Pritchard

#doingitforlila

The first $10,000 that we are aiming to raise will go towards easing financial pressures and into the basic infrastructure of the community areas on the farm.

A further $15,000 would cover the costs of the farm equipment i.e. tractor, ride on mower and a farm car.

A further $25,000 would cover the cost of an additional mobile chicken caravan and 450 chickens.

The biggest threat to chickens are the foxes and birds of prey.  The mobile chicken caravans will be automated to close at dusk to keep the girls safe at night. The security team of two Maremma dogs and four alpacas will guard them during the daylight hours. 

The other threat is chicken related diseases. All of the chickens will be vaccinated. They will have nesting boxes which they are trained not to poo in during the day. At nighttime, they will be closed in on roosting perches, which means that their poo will drop through to the ground and become fertiliser.