SALT LAKE CITY — Steven Rosenberg needed to figure out how to get more eggs on the shelves of Liberty Heights Fresh, his grocery store in the Sugar House neighborhood.
“Picked up my spoon and clanked on my glass and I basically shouted out, 'If anyone here raises hens and can provide more than 50 dozen a week I would like to talk to you,” Rosenberg said.
It turns out that Rosenberg didn't have to look far.
Roots Charter High School in West Valley City is home to a classroom that is actually a working farm.
“250 chickens, and in the peak summer months we’ll be producing 90-100 dozen eggs a week which we sell to a few different places locally,” explained Nyssa Williams, farm director for Roots Charter High School.
Wilson says all the chickens keep her students busy.
“We make sure the babies are fed and watered, make sure they’re clean as well,” said junior Ariya Hansen.
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“We open it up, we grab the eggs and set it in, what we do is a stacking system," explained junior Ryder Rasmussen, "we always make sure we cover the eggs once we’re taking them back out so they don’t break.”
As the students have been going about their school work, they didn’t realize the impact on local neighbors, like Rosenberg, where the Roots High kids keep his shelves full.
“What they’re doing there is really beautiful and we’re just full of gratitude to them," Rosenberg said. "Those school kids deserve a great shoutout and thank you because everyone in our neighborhood, they’ve been loving your eggs now for 14 months.”
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As for Rasmussen, he's glad his passion could play a role as Rosenberg's backup and able to help out his customers.
“You know cheaper prices, you just have to buy the food and then you get the eggs," he said, "you’ve got to have love and passion for it or else it doesn’t even count.”
