NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A former hospital vending machine is now dispensing eggs by the half dozen. 

 

Holly Zabriskie said the idea for the machine came after people were stealing from her farm stand on West Main Street.

 

"Unfortunately, we get a lot of foot traffic here, and people were finding ways to steal out of the pay box," she said. "During the winter, I have a lot of time on my hands. So I was trying to think of what would be a great way that I could still hold eggs, a fridge, and I was looking on Amazon, or any different way that I could get people to put money into something and not be able to get it out, so I thought vending machine was such a fun idea."

 

Zabriskie finally found one on Facebook marketplace last year that had been used in a hospital. 

 

"It has the rotunda that turns and it was way out in Greenfield," she said. "So I rented a U-Haul."

 

Once she had the vending machine, she spent the winter learning how to operate it. In the spring, she got an electrical permit and she and her husband spent a lot of time outside digging a trench for the electrical wires. Soon after she was able to have a crane come and put the big machine right outside.

 

Zabriskie moved to West Main Street in 2019 and saw problems with drug use. She wanted to improve her neighborhood and make it safer and better. She started the farmstand to sell everyday goods.

 

"It's just about letting the community know that West Main Street is a safe place to walk and I wanted something beautiful for the community and for people walking by, or for our visitors coming," she said. "And so it's very important for me to just to provide a really clean, good product, and I hope that shows in the eggs and how passionate I am with my page."

 

Zabriskie has nine chickens and started selling eggs three years ago as West Hen Farmstand. She got the chickens as a passion project and a way to have eggs for her family, but then the hens began producing more than they needed.

 

"I would read books on chickens, and it was like an endeavor that I wanted to try out," she said. "And so what turned into, like this sort of passion project for the family became, all right, now I have way too many eggs, and let's share this with the community."

 

She also wanted to show her two children that you can do anything you put your mind to.

 

"I want my children to see that anything is possible, it doesn't matter what crazy idea, just try and read and learn about it, and with hard work and passion and due diligence, anything is possible," she said.

 

Zabriskie said when she started the farmstand she wanted to be a local resource, and a place where you could get eggs at a more reasonable price. It's also something of an art project with the machine wrapped in a colorful floral print.

 

"My hope was to kind of be something for the community, because we are sort of like in this desert between Stop & Shop and Big Y," she said.

 

The vending machine — dubbed West Hen Vend — is under 24/7 surveillance and takes cash to dispense the eggs. Half a dozen eggs are $3. 

 

Zabriskie is happy about the support she's gotten on her Facebook page through comments and that people have been saying great things in public.

 

"Sometimes I get people that will comment or say how great the eggs are. Sometimes, I don't get to hear it, but knowing that I strive to put out a really good product," she said. "And people do come back. I'll put out six dozen eggs, and then within the day, they're gone. So I must be doing something right."

 

Zabriskie had hoped to add more products, including energy drinks, but cannot because of zoning regulations. She does hope to be able to one day add more for the community, including mentioning a bike-charging station.

 

You can find the vending machine at 338 West Main St.