You can meet the hens that laid your breakfast. Coastal Pastures Farms sits on US-441 in west Delray, and the farm store is open Thursday through Sunday, 10am to 4pm. You walk out with pasture-raised eggs, raw local honey, and pasture-raised chicken and meats, and on the way in you can actually go meet the laying hens.

It is about a half hour west of Boca, at 15445 US-441 S. The store is closed Monday through Wednesday. The honey is raw and made without chemicals, and the eggs come from birds living on pasture, not in a barn.

What You're Getting Into

This is a working regenerative farm with a store attached, not a market stand. The three things to come for are the pasture-raised eggs, the raw local honey, and the pasture-raised chicken and meats. The honey is a standout, made without chemicals and the kind of jar you taste the difference in. The eggs come from hens you can walk over and see.

That is the part that makes this a weekend trip and not just a grocery run. Coastal Pastures runs informal farm visits, so the kids can meet the laying hens and you can see where the food actually comes from. It is the rare place in the 561 where the supply chain is about 50 feet long and you can stand at the end of it.

Owner Farmer Jake runs it, and the operation has the feel of a place where the person selling you the eggs also collected them. Come for the honey, leave with the eggs and a meat or two, and let the kids meet the hens on the way.

The Insider Move

The farm store is only open Thursday through Sunday, 10am to 4pm, and closed Monday through Wednesday, so plan it for late in the week or the weekend, not a midweek errand. Go early in the day if you can. This is a small farm, so stock is limited to what they produced that week and the eggs can sell out. Bring the kids and build in time for the informal farm visit to meet the hens, that is the whole point of driving out instead of hitting a regular grocery store. Bring a cooler if you are buying meat for the ride back to Boca.

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