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EGGS! Glorious Eggs!

You would have to be living under a rock not to know about the HUGE egg recall going on right now.  Of course, not all eggs are tainted; just the ones that came from these two particular farms, which rumor has it, are among the worst of these types of operations.

What’s funny, to me, is how the local eggs at all my favorite haunts are suddenly a hot commodity.  I went to Kimberton Whole Foods yesterday, and they were cleaned out.  (Kimberton Whole Foods sells pastured eggs from a local farm.)  As annoying as this was for me, I’m glad people are catching on that there IS a difference between eggs produced in over crowded factory farms and eggs produced by happy chickens raised freely on grass.

In a way, it’s downright funny.  I mean, it takes 1000 people getting sick for people to wake up and realize that maybe raising thousands of chickens in their own DUNG, and in such tight living quarters that they can’t even MOVE, might not be such a good idea???

Of course, when all this blows over, most people will go back to buying the cheap grocery store eggs.  And I get it.  I DO.  Price and the convenience have a way of evening out the playing field. I just wish it weren’t an either/or proposition.  It wasn’t always this way, you know.

Since I couldn’t get farm fresh eggs from my usual provider, I got on the phone and called my new friend at Pikeland Pastured Poultry.  (I almost hesitate to give away my source.)  I lucked out and she had 2 dozen eggs she could spare.

She raises hens that lay these gorgeous “easter eggs” — isn’t that awesome?  The shells are this pale blueish color (and some are green.)  No two are exactly alike, just as nature intended.  (And I always thought the colorful Easter eggs we decorate in the springtime were a figment of someone’s active imagination.)

This morning, when I was making some fried eggs, my son picked one up and said, “Mom, why is it so pointy?”  I explained that when hens are raised naturally, each egg is a little bit different.  To which he replied with his typical 10-year-old nonchalance, “Oh cool.”  And then he went back to his video games or whatever it is that 10-year-old boys do to occupy themselves during the dog days of summer.

Meanwhile, I cracked open a few crisp, hard shells to reveal bright, orangey-yellow egg yolks and watched them sizzle merrily with their egg white companions in the butter-lined frying pan.  Sometimes it’s the simplest things that produce the most joy.

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16 Responses

  1. I get exactly what you’re saying, and so, so thankful that we have egg allergies in our house with our little ones, so we do not get to experience the mayhem of the dreadful egg recall. I do wish we could experience farm fresh eggs, though. Maybe one day… ; )

  2. now I really want to go to the place you linked just to SEE the Easter Eggs and show them to the boys. And taste them, too, thanks to Vanderbilt Wife’s comment. I’m an organic egg (Wegmans) buyer and feel safe about it, but your post was eye-opening since I didn’t do research on this yet. Thanks Jo-Lynne.

    1. It’s great – it’s not a farm, just a private home and she’s a young mom with preschool aged kids. The chickens are right out there on the grass, pecking the ground. It’s awesome to take the kids and let them see. I so wish we lived in a place that would allow us to have our own.

  3. What did you say? I was crawling out from beneath the rock I was sleeping under. LOL! Unfortunately I don’t watch the news and haven’t been reading a lot online so I did actually miss this.
    I really need to see about finding a local chicken farmer so I can get some beautiful fresh eggs like you do. I do try to at least by the “organic free range” when I can.
    Have a fabulous day my friend.
    HUGS!

  4. Thankfully theses eggs weren’t sold to the store where we shop. But I do want to find a local provider instead of buying from the grocery store.

  5. This spring my daughter & her family “ordered” chicks & her husband built a fabulous “mansion” for them. They are almost fully grown, loving their new home & hopefully will start laying soon. They are the “Easter egg” variety, so it was fun to see on your blog what the eggs will look like.
    I’ll be posting on my blog next week about their “chickens-for-eggs adventure”!

  6. Its so funny because I buy two dozen eggs every other week from a local farmer. I was worried this morning because I couldn’t get to the Farmers Market early enough, and I JUST KNEW he was going to be cleaned out with all this egg craziness…luckily, my farmer knew I would be coming, and set aside a couple dozen for me.

    On a side note, I also picked up some local beef this morning, which is the first time I have bought grass-fed beef (we aren’t big red meat eaters in this house)…I bought a roast, ground beef and a brisket. Any recipes you are willing to share?

    1. There may be some under Tried and True recipes – use the category drop down box. I know I posted my basic roast beef recipe. The key with grass-fed meat seems to be cooking at a lower temp. Enjoy!

  7. I have been feeling so thankful that we raise our own chickens, even though the recalled eggs are being sold elsewhere.
    Love your easter egg colors. We just have a range of brown to light tan eggs but the sizes vary, too. Today my 11 yo went out for eggs and he was so excited to see this huge one that barely fit in the egg carton. We’re wondering if it’ll be a double yolker.
    Nothing like fresh eggs in the morning!

  8. Jo-Lynne! I took pictures of my eggs this week b/c I was going to post this EXACT same thing! All 12 eggs were a different color and just gorgeous!

    Yay for REAL eggs!

  9. Most food nowadays sold at everyday grocery stores are loaed with pesticides and chimcals. It is time for people to start growing their own food and only supporting localized farmers markets. People are now beginning to realize that we must revert back to our old eating habbits of the 50s to be and stay healthy.

  10. hubby and i were shopping saturday & as we picked up our eggs in the organic section (locally grown, cage free, huge, beautiful brown eggs) he was saying how this egg scare is going to shoot the price of eggs thru the roof…..sad, because we eat a lot of eggs. we enjoy the fresh brown eggs that i know are free of everything but what God intended. my grandmas
    always had the easter eggs, so pretty! my friend just got her chickens going and will soon have eggs available for us, i am just not sure they can produce fast enough for us. “the incredible,edible egg!!”

  11. When this news broke I thought of you immediately and I thought, Jo-Lynne would say “this is just another reason to move away from grocery stores”. HA! I was right. 😀

    We get our eggs from a local farmer thank goodness so we were not effected by the recall. I’m sad that it came from Iowa…however, it could have come from anywhere these days.

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