• home
  • projects
  • design
  • building products
  • interiors
  • the bandsaw mill
  • custom milling
  • barn restoration
  • sustainable harvest
  • recycled materials
  • our farm
  • contact jay
  • jay's blog
  jayibold

more organic than yours

3/3/2012

0 Comments

 
conway washington is in the heart of the fertile skagit valley (known for tulips, berries and scandinavian farmers). a few years back i asked the lady at the conway feed mill for prices of chicken layer pellets, organic vs regular. she paused, raised one eye brow and said "$10.60 pellets, $19.50 organic pellets." another pause while i pondered this price difference and she pondered 'how much of a idiot is this guy?' she seemed pleased/relieved when i asked for 20 bags of regular. she then explained...
Picture
the organic feed is trucked in 1600 miles from central canada. conway feed mills the regular pellets on site with %80 of the ingredients coming from local skagit valley farms. "the other %20 is corn from Anderson's brothers farm in south dakota. no monsanto stuff either. Pete's using the same seed stock his family's been for 200 years."
Picture
Picture
i'm not sure how many hens we have. maybe 25, so lots of extra eggs even though we as a family eat a lot of eggs. perhaps a reaction to being brought up in the 1970's when eggs were not in the healthful vogue. (back then my Oma and Opa were so far out in left field they ate egg whites and discarded the yolks.) our extra eggs we sell out of a cooler at the top of the driveway for $5/dozen. i can say we have perhaps the best eggs on the island because it's true. our hens are free to meander our whole farm during the day. most folks can't do this because of predation. eagles, hawk, raccoon, fox, weasel, mink, ferret. i know because i've had to deal with each one over the years. the key to being able to truly free range your chickens is lots of open pasture (with no hiding spots for lurking fox etc) and well trained dogs. varmint don't like dogs. hence the dogs are on duty 24/7.
Picture
parm, ham, chives, truffle salt, pepper, butter, eggs

Picture
slow cooked scramble with a dirty trick my brother Mark taught me...a little shaved butter to finish them off

when chickens have 25 acres of pasture to scrounge around on their eggs get tastier and more yellow with very dense shells. they love to eat greens, bugs, worms, small snakes, dirt. the golden yellow yolk can be achieved with fenced chickens by adding cracked corn to the diet but the taste of true free range chicken eggs can't be achieved without lots of time on the pasture.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    March 2014
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Categories

    All
    American Cochon
    Bread
    Cao
    Cedar
    Charcuterie
    Chickens
    Chili
    Cooking
    Dipping Sauce
    Dogs
    Farming
    Fir
    Food
    Free Range
    Garlic
    Greenhouse
    Habanero
    Kitchen Garden
    Knives
    Korean
    Noodle Bowl
    Organic Feed
    Organic Veggies
    Oysters
    Pho
    Pigs
    Pork Belly
    Ramen
    Salmon
    San Juan
    San Juan County
    San Juan County Solid Waste
    Siding
    Stain
    Thai

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.