A Matter of Eggs
I picked these eggs up from one of my favorite places – Urban Agrarian recently.
I love buying farm eggs.
For one thing, they are fun to look at.
You don’t see eggs that look like this very often in the supermarket.
They are not only different sizes, but different colors.
I mean, it’s kind of silly to think that chickens would lay exactly the same size and color of eggs all the time. Buying them locally farm-fresh really makes you see that.
Just take a gander at the difference between these two!
A bit of clarification on eggs that I’ve recently read…
Free range -USDA regulated but not too closely. We don’t know how long those chickens have been outside ranging free. It could be 2 minutes, it could be all day. And little else is regulated on them as well, like forced molting, or debeaking, both practices of making chickens produce more eggs unaturally.
Cage Free – means that animals aren’t allowed to live in cages but the space they live in is not regulated as well as whether or not they are free of antiobiotic or hormone injected diets.
All Natural – perhaps the most evasive of all labeling. Anything goes with this label because it really doesn’t mean anything.
USDA Certified Organic – a better choice by far. Animals are fed certified organic feed, can’t be kept in cages, have to be given time outside, can’t be injected or fed hormone induced things BUT, debeaking and forced molting are allowed, unfortunately.
HOWEVER, many small farmers do not wish to pay the high fees involved with becoming Certified Organic. So…
The best way to buy eggs, is to find a reliable farmer who you know has good practices with chickens. Know the farmer, know the product. I like this practice when it comes to buying produce too. Many farmers will welcome you out to their farms so that you can visualize and know the ways they farm. They will be all too eager to let you know they use organic methods but just can’t pay the steep fees to be labeled as such.
Ever see a yolk from a farm egg compared to a store bought one?
The right yolk is a farm fresh egg. Its almost orange in color, richer and more nutrious in fact because of the darker color. Usually, the whites are clearer than store bought ones as well and most believe richer and better in flavor than store bought as well.
I just think they’re fun to look at.
And I love buying local eggs that taste better as well.
On the flip side, my cousin was telling me that to feed her strapping and growing 3 boys and husband each morning, buying farm eggs or even organic eggs would cost them a small fortune. Each boy eats three eggs, times 4 each morning at $4/dozen adds up to …
Well, a nice expense.
What is your take on the subject? Would you pay? I’d love to hear your comments below!
1 Comments
Rose Marie B
October 8, 2012 at 11:03 pm