Friday, May 24, 2013

The Problem With Farm Eggs

We live in New York.  No, not The City.  We live in New York state, about as far away from New York City as you can possibly get while still being in NY state.  I know from experience that a surprisingly large number of people think that all of NY is like NYC, but I can assure you it's not.  As a matter of fact, the area we live in is very heavy into agriculture.  This area is the largest producer of concord grapes in the world, and our dairy farms produce more revenue than our vineyards if that tells you anything at all.  We have three large Amish communities in our county alone, and there's lots more across the border in PA.  Our dinky city of 30,000 is the largest city in our county.

So it might shock some of you to find out that it took us a while to find a source of farm eggs.  The problem is that we're city folk, and we really had no idea who to contact to find out where to get eggs.  Just because we're surrounded by farms doesn't mean we know anything about them.  But by chance, I saw a carton of eggs in my mom's fridge with a little tag attached with the name of the farm she bought them from, and I was all like OMG TELL ME WHERE YOU GOT THESE!!!  Lol, down the street from where she lived.  Somehow, in all the times we'd been to my mom's house, Chad and I had never seen the sign that read "FRESH EGGS $2.50 A DOZEN". 

We immediately went out and got two dozen.

I love that green-egg-laying chicken.  Now I just need some green ham.

They're so so so so so good.  I'll admit that when we first started buying them, they weren't really that different from the eggs we buy at the store.  I've decided that it's because it was the dead of winter then, and of course chickens can't really forage in two feet of snow.  But now that there are bugs and grass and other delicious things for the chickens to eat, their eggs are so awesome. 

The egg in the middle is a store bought egg, which, by the way, is from a brand we really like because their egg yolks are a lot darker than other brands we've tried.  So that should tell you how seriously dark the yolks of the farm fresh eggs are.


I even got to meet the guy selling the eggs the other day.  He was amazingly friendly, and seemed so chipper and happy.  I bet he eats lots of eggs himself.

But there's a problem with farm fresh eggs.  Yes, a real problem that can't be ignored.  The problem is.... availability.  Because farm chickens aren't machines.  Because there's a limited supply.  And because demand is going way up as people become more aware of how the happiness of their food affects their own well being.  We went about two months without farm eggs because, every time we went out to buy them, there weren't any there.  After a while, we just stopped bothering to check, because it is a little out of the way now that my mom has moved to a different house. 

My mom and I recently went out to the farm at an off hour, and to my delight, they had eggs!  Chad and I checked again last weekend, and managed, after checking at two different times, to get the eggs we so desired.  I really don't want to bother the farmer with our problem because it's a first-come-first-serve kind of deal, and we shouldn't get any special treatment, but I do wish our supply was more consistent. 

I guess I just have to wait until we move to the country and get our own chickens.  I have to find out what kind of chickens lay green eggs...

9 comments:

  1. I raised chickens for many years and the problem with egg layers is they don't lay much in the winter. Having your own chickens won't necessarily solve that problem. Some breeds produce more than others though.

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  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araucana is the "Easter egg" chicken.

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  3. @Dave: OMG That's the cutest/ugliest chicken I've ever seen! Thanks! I'll keep them in mind when we finally get our own chickens.

    @Suzie: I was actually thinking the exact same thought right after posting this. After all, chickens aren't machines :)

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  4. Fresh eggs are also harder to hard-boil and peel smoothly! Regardless of the kind of egg I get now, I usually wait until I'm down to the last three or four eggs (a couple of days) to hard boil.

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  5. Mine laid all winter (east TN) even though they had no artificial lighting. Other years/breeds and it's tapered off dramatically, even with lighting--which is supposed to help.

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  6. You know, if you have a back yard, you can have a few chickens. Check out backyardchickens.com .
    Some breeds are better winter layers than others.

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  7. If you are interested in aqua-shelled eggs, go for the ducks! Their eggs are larger; although you may not want to use their eggs for straight egg dishes like omelettes, scrambled or poached, they are wonderful in baked products because they give such an extra kick of flavour. However, ducks are pretty stupid critters, so you'd have to be very careful to protect them from predators.

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  8. I would totally raise chickens in my yard, but unfortunately, it's not legal to raise farm animals in the city I live in. But someday we'd like to move to the country!

    As for such eggs, that's a fun idea! I've heard ducks are interesting to keep.

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  9. Chickens with green legs produce green colored eggs. My daughter has several chickens and that is what she told me.

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