I vote for eggs
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Some of the other people participating in the Dark Days Challenge raise their own chickens. My mother, whose morning chore every day growing up on the farm was feeding the chickens (a chore she detested), would laugh derisively at me for saying this, but I’m a little envious. While I have no particular fascination for chickens, I do so love the idea of having fresh eggs. I live in a highly zoned neighborhood, and the township would freak if I tried to have my own little flock of chickens. It’s annoying, but then I read stories like this and think maybe it’s all for the best.
With fresh eggs available from Meadow Run Farm (this is a mix of their brown and blue eggs), I can’t get too freaked out about not having access to a couple of hens in the backyard. I know people who say they can’t tell the difference between store bought, factory farmed eggs and fresh, pasture raised eggs, but those people are crazy. The difference is huge. The eggs taste completely different and the yolk usually looks pretty different, as well, having everything to do with what the chickens eat.
Last year my husband and I went on a vacation to Greece and Turkey. While on the island of Rhodes, we had breakfast that included the most amazing eggs. The yolk was practically dayglo orange, and just fantastic. We briefly considered moving to Rhodes just so we could have those eggs every morning. Meadow Run Farm eggs do stop us from giving up our glam lives and becoming Greek citizens.
All this talk of eggs, just to get to my Dark Days dinner for this evening (my second this week)! On election day (after voting, of course), I made a delicious omelet of Meadow Run Farm eggs, local cream, a red onion from the CSA carmelized in local butter, a chopped tomato from my garden (I still have a pile of tomatoes on my back porch!), and some raw milk cheddar from Green Meadow Farms. The only things not local: salt and pepper.
On a vaguely related note, I recently got into a discussion with someone regarding eggs from vegetarian chickens. My friend maintained that these would be great eggs, coming from a farm that claims to pasture their chickens (this is store bought eggs, I might add). I say the eggs couldn’t possibly come from pastured chickens because no farm could pasture their chickens yet keep them from eating grubs and other bugs...unless maybe the chickens are pastured in a very artificial way. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
A lot of the “free range” eggs at the store say that they feed their hens a vegetarian diet. But all you can do is sincerely hope that they’re lying. Hens are by nature omnivores and they need at least 16% protein in their diet plus plenty of calcium to lay. I suppose they could survive on all vegetable proteins, but I’m sure they wouldn’t be nearly as healthy.
My hens like nothing better than left over hamburger, cheese, yogurt and even scrambled eggs. And the fights that erupt over worms and grubs - you just wouldn’t believe it. Of course they’re also all molting right now, so no backyard eggs for us at the moment.
Fabulous DDWELC meal by the way!
I agree, the taste is completely different. I am lucky to have a good friend with some chickens and hens and we trade: I make her bread and she gives me eggs....works for me.
is she confusing cage-free with pastured? as i’m sure you know, cage-free can mean not in a cage, but in a large barn or whatever. i have no other insight or info on this. you could email nina planck and see what she says?
i would LOVE to find real pastured eggs. i guess i have to go to greece. my parents are going in january. maybe i will go in may.