The perpetual peeping of dozens of chicks greets visitors who wander toward the back of the Family Friendly Farm household, located just 10 miles North of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and about 50 miles from Carbondale.
 
For several years, Matthew and Rachel Fasnacht, along with their young son Darrell, have been selling their farm-fresh, free-range eggs to Neighborhood Co-op Grocery in Carbondale, securing a fiercely loyal base of customers who love them.
 
The Fasnachts also sell raw milk and broilers from the rolling expanse of woodlands and grass pastures, the all-important medium that supplies a wealth of nutrients and plenty of room to roam for their chickens and dairy cows.
 
They raise Jersey milk cows, as they produce better on  grasses than Holsteins, who have been selectively bred to produce more milk on a diet of grain. And while the Jersey cows may give less milk than their Holstein counterparts, it is still richer (with just under five percent butterfat) and just plain better, according to Matt.

The Fasnachts use a portable housing unit called an eggmobile, which affords the chickens plenty of room to roam, access to fresh grass and insects, with the added bonus of fertilizing the pasture chewed down by the cattle. Matt is constantly devising ways to increase production through breeding cycles and other means to provide his customers with plenty of fresh eggs.