Where to start?

You know where we've ended up (egg obsessed and chick-less) but how did we get here? This post was inspired by Michelle, who asked for recommendations on how to find a farmer to buy her own fresh, local foods from. My advice? Start at RealMilk.com.

Just like the commercial hatcheries are turning out weaker, genetically homogenized poultry, commercial diaries depend on weaker, genetically homogenized cattle. The same business logic is being used in both industries. The animals are bred to produce the greatest amount of their commodity (eggs or milk) in the easiest and most cost-effective way possible.

Farmers who sell "real" milk--or who operate farm shares providing access to it--are outside of the commercial network. Not only do they farm in different ways, but they breed their animals very differently, too. Over the last couple of decades the divide between commercial cows (Holsteins) and traditional breeds has become obvious. In addition to overall poor health, commercial cows are also starting to suffer from increasing infertility, which I see as a huge genetic red flag in any species.

When commercial dairies use sickly cows--and lots of them--they have to assume that their products are contaminated. This makes life easier for them because it means they don't have to be careful--they're going to sterilize everything anyway (even the milk) so why bother? Here's the problem with pasteurizing dairy products. . . it kills all of the natural probiotics and enzymes that make them so good for you to begin with. That stuff that you pay extra to have put back into your yogurt at the grocery store.

Farmers who use healthy cattle don't assume that their products are contaminated--they actually test both the animals and the milk they produce. They also pay attention to their animals and institute policies and procedures that keep their products from being contaminated. That's the kind of farmer I want to buy my food from.

Coincidentally, many of these farmers are Amish. While modern organic farmers like PolyFace Farms are becoming more popular, the best source for experienced farmers who understand how to farm in a truly organic and sustainable manner are the people who have been doing so for hundreds of years.

So my advice to anyone who wants to improve their diet is to start with the networks set up to find non-commercial milk sources. They will help you locate farmers using traditional farming methods and the traditional, fresh foods that they produce. One word of warning, though: fresh, non-commercial foods are inconsistent. If you've only ever had grocery store fare, you may be in for a bit of a culture shock. Farm fresh eggs come in all sizes and colors; meats may be cut irregularly; and your milk will have a faint taste of whatever field the cows grazed on that week. :-)

Hard is good

Hard is good . . . or at least that's what I'm telling myself. It's important to me that my daughter grows up to be the kind of person who takes the road less traveled--or blazes her own path--and that's not easy. I never want her to make important decisions in her life based on which path is the easiest. I certainly haven't.

Compared to some of the big decisions that have defined my life food seems pretty insignificant, but I'm beginning to believe more and more that it's a crucial component in what's gone "wrong" with our western lifestyle. Since I've been trying to address this issue, the sheer magnitude of the problem has become nearly overwhelming. I'm not a gourmet chef and my cooking skills are rudimentary at best. Over the last five years or so I've gone from ordering a value meal in the drive thru (supersize me) to staring down a plate of organic beef and trying to figure out how to turn it into a meal my two year old will eat. (That was tonight, by the way, and I was successful!)

So this is all a very long, draw out way to say that I don't think Round Two of our egg experiment is going to be successful, but I'm not giving up. Having access to real food and understanding where real food comes from--and it isn't a paper bag covered in golden arches--is Really Important. And things that are Really Important are worth doing, even if they're hard.

What do organic, free range, and cage free really mean?

The sad truth is that people who sell us food are no better or more honest than the people who sell us cars, tvs, or credit cards. Not everyone who farms does it out of the love of the land or the animals. In fact it seems like most of those people have been run off with sticks and what's left are the salesmen who used to work at the used car lot. There are still some of the good ones left but it's very hard to tell who's who--especially when all you have to judge by is the gallon of milk or dozen eggs sitting in front of you on a grocery store shelf.

Let's face it, all eggs look the same. You can't necessarily tell by looking at an egg or even tasting it whether the hen who laid it sat in the grass, basking in the sun all day or was closed up in a dark warehouse with thousands of other chickens 24/7. When you start to do research into the farms that produce eggs (and milk and other products) at the large chain groceries, problems start to come to light.

In the worst examples, commercial farms adhere to the letter--if not the spirit--of federal regulations to place organic, cage-free, and free-range labels on their eggs. Those chickens in the dark warehouse are technically cage-free. Of course the farmer has to use a little machine to cut off the tips of their beaks so they don't attack each other in such close quarters. And they have access to the outside, so they're techically free-range as well. Of course, it's a very small door that only leads to a gravel pen and the door is only open five minutes a day.

That's the worst case scenario. Even in the best case scenario, however, there are issues. Michael Pollan talks about PolyFace Farms in this video. This farm is local to me so I've looked into their operations a little more closely. I've found some scattered criticism of their treatment of their chickens but stories from people who have actually visited the farm (which I hope to do) are overwhelmingly positive.

But here's the problem: PolyFace doesn't breed their own chickens. They purchase their chickens (and other animals) from commercial operations, treat them well while they have them, but start the whole cycle again from scratch with each generation. So while they're not treating their animals inhumanely, they are inherently a part of--and supporting--the factory farming model that does.

How is this sustainable farming? I think many people were swept away by Pollan's description of PolyFace and really saw it as an example of what all farming could be. But if we do away with the hatcheries where will PolyFace get its chickens? How will there model have to change so that they're no longer dependent on the very practices they're set up as the antithesis of?

So once more I come back to local--truely local--foods. Local as in my own backyard. Almost any discussion of organic/humane foods comes around to cost at some point. Truely organic foods cost much more--twice as much or more--than factory farmed foods. The consumer's option is to raise the food on their own. The cost then is transferred from dollar costs to labor costs. Your time and effort will be required to raise chickens, plant a garden, milk a cow (or goat).

But whether you pay with your wallet or your sweat, you are getting something of value in return. In this country over the last couple of generations it seems like we've forgotten how precious food is. Maybe because it's been so long since any of us have seen real food. When you can pay a $1 for an egg mcmuffin why would you consider spending three weeks turning three little blue eggs three times a day? Assuming you aren't just a nut, like me. :-)

Why are we raising our own chickens?

Well, the short answer is that I'm willing to try almost anything once and this seems like a good experience for my daughter and the chance to provide her with healthy, organic (and truly local) fresh food. The long answer is (by definition) a little more complicated. :-)

Part of the problem is that Americans see things like the video below every day and while they are horrified and moved emotionally--they're not actually moved. Americans are not moved to act or to make changes in their lifestyles and buying habits that could effect real change. I always shake my head when people say they care but feel like they can't make a change. Because, really, it's so easy.

This is the way that the poultry industry currently treats chickens:

If you aren't okay with that, all you have to do is stop buying your eggs at the grocery store. Almost every urban and suburban community in this country has a farmer's market, every rural route has at least one farm that sells fresh eggs--and other healthy, organic, locally raised, fresh foods. No, it may not be as close as your local Giant or Safeway and yes, you might have to plan out your food shopping a week at a time. No more speeding over to the local grocery store at 7pm on a Tuesday because you've run out of eggs. The good news is that fresh eggs last a while so you can buy a couple of dozen at a time.

Or, you can do what we're doing, and try to raise your own chickens. You don't have to start with fertile hatching eggs--most farms will sell chicks of various ages for just a couple of dollars each. You also don't need to spend a great deal of money on supplies. Our incubator was less than $20 and the cage I plan to use as a "brooder" to raise the chicks was a giveaway from someone's spring cleaning.

So whether you go the easy route and visit your local farmer's market once a week or go completely bonkers like us and try to hatch your own eggs, you have no excuse for buying eggs at the grocery store. You don't need to carry a sign to stage your own protest--let your money do the talking for you. Companies will listen.

Fertile eggs? Check! Incubator? Check!

The pieces are finally all in place. Last night I assembled our Chick-bator Incubator and set it up to monitor the temperature. After much fiddling and rearranging, I finally got it to a steady 100 degrees. This morning our three potential chicks arrived:

Now we're ready for the pieces to all come together. I very carefully marked the top and bottom of each egg and numbered them. (I'm open to giving them names.) I put them in the incubator--which is inside a kitchen cabinet to protect it from drafts--at cats. It happens to be the cabinet in which I keep the dog treats, so hopefully my little organic chicks won't develop a subconscious desire for beef jerky. :-)

And here they are in all of their glory. This will be the eggs' home for the next 21 days . . .

Our hatching eggs have arrived!

Big thanks to Jenifer at Blue Daze Farm for sending out our little future chicks so quickly! The package arrived at the post office this morning bright and early. I called to make sure they would keep it there--instead of driving it around in a hot mail truck all day--and went to pick it up. I loved the little drawing and warnings on the side, but they freaked the post office ladies out a little. They were positive they had heard noises from the box and that the chicks were going to peck their way out at any moment. :-)

Opening the box was like Christmas morning! The inside was filled with pink packing peanuts, which I carefully sifted through to unearth the three very carefully packaged farm-fresh eggs inside. Each egg was individually wrapped in bubble wrap and sealed in its own little baggy for the ride. It looks like all of this care did the job, too, because the shells at least are in perfect condition.

As most of my friends know, I have a hard time distinguishing between green and blue so I won't venture to guess at the color of the eggs, although it's definitely one or the other. :-) The eggs are on the small size but feel unusually heavy--maybe because they're fertile or just because they're organic? I know the supposedly cage-free eggs at the grocery store are often just like the commercial eggs in everything but name and color. We had fertile eggs as a child (my grandmother's neighbor raised chickens) but I haven't really been exposed to them as an adult. I'm so excited that Gus will get the opportunity to (hopefully) see these eggs hatch and raise the chicks. I'm looking forward to one day having access to real organic fresh eggs that we know come from the healthiest--and most humane--environment possible.