Real Eggs, Wild Eggs

Most of you know that grocery store eggs are lacking in so much, and yes, I'll even add in the organic AND cage free eggs if they're coming from the grocery store. While we were living in our camper and traveling around the country we sometimes had limited choices for food - including our beloved, precious eggs.

Eggs found in the barn

Organic means that the hens were fed a diet of organic feed. That's it. They can still be packed into the chicken batteries that we've all seen photos of (if you haven't, Google chicken factories for the images). Cage free means only that all those hens are not put in those batteries, but in HUGE!!! covered buildings that will hold 100,000 plus hens and then can choose to jump up and lay their eggs in a "nest" but it's not what you're thinking, when you and I think of the meaning of cage free. Watery whites and flat, or simply easily broken yolks were standard fare way too much of the time from those eggs. Yuk.

I've often wondered what wild bird's eggs look like. What their white would be and what kind of color the yolks would be. Today, I had the opportunity to see first hand.

Going out to feed, I found a freshly laid set of 14 quail size eggs in the mornings hay. Momma would not be coming back and I had to feed. I scooped up the eggs with my seemingly once in a lifetime opportunity to truly see the inside of a wild bird's eggs. While it shouldn't have surprised me, they looked like miniature versions of our own pastured hen's eggs. Thick, firm whites and gorgeous, golden yolks that stand up nice and firm. WOW! While we do feed the hens commercially prepared feed, they also get to eat the grass in their enclosure. They get to scratch for bugs and peck at the natural minerals found in the ground. They are also doing their part to give back ... as they poop, they are fertilizing the ground that they will someday again feed on, only next time, it will be even better.

If you haven't yet found someone close by to you with a pastured flock or even a backyard flock, start one of your own. They are not hard, you don't need many and who knows, you may end up with a healthier backyard and a little income to boot!

We Adopted Chickens

Interim stall area for the hens

We adopted 4 chickens. Well, sort of. We bought them from one of the local hatcheries, who yes, raised them in large batteries. They did not know how to be chickens ... We put them in a stall to begin with and they just stood there. We tossed a little food on the floor for them and same thing. Nothing. Eventually, they walked over to an area where we tossed in some greens on the floor and once one started, the other three came over and started eating. They are now starting to scratch the ground in their new portable pasture pen looking for goodies.

Pastured pen that will travel along behind the cows and their patties

We feel like we're giving them a new life with fresh air, sunshine and love. They, in return, are giving us eggs NOW! I will say though, those first few eggs in their system were really quite gross. A pale yellow in comparison to the eggs we've been buying from one of our neighbors that has those amazing orangy, golden yolks. It will come though.

We have another dozen 6 week old chicks that we'll be putting out with these hens in the next couple days. For those who are introducing new chickens to an established flock, the best time for introduction is just past twilight. The flock will be more receptive to the new ones if they are added in while they are in that sleepy mode. In the morning as they all wake up together, it's like, "Oh. Hey. I think you're new, but since you're here welcome to the flock." Add them in the middle of the day and you've got fighting for days trying to decide where the pecking order is.

The next time you crack an egg open, think about how the hen that laid that egg was raised. Then think about getting eggs from a local who actually lets them have green space.

City Chickens - Raising Chickens Workshops

Scott loves his chickens. He loves teaching others about them almost as much. It never ceases to amaze me at how farm life can become so addicting. Not only are we addicts, but we know there are many more folks out there that have picked up our addiction. Did you know that Farmer Scott has been speaking at the local food co-ops and the farm about raising city chickens as well as suburban chickens?

Scott started last summer giving informal, educational lectures about raising chickens. They went over so well, that we had a couple people share the information with their local food co-oops and now Scott has been speaking and teaching about raising chickens - the good, the bad and the ugly parts of all of it.

Apparently he's done well and people have been learning as he's been asked back a few times now. If your group is interested in more information about raising chickens, please drop him a note at scott at willowsedgefarm dot com or call 425-402-6781. We will be traveling in different parts of the US, so even if you think we're out of the way, drop us a note - we'll see if we are going to be in your area and when.

Heritage Breeds

It seems like the chickens have been the topic of many of our conversations here at the farm recently. More particularly, the Freedom Rangers chickens that we have added for our meat production. In comparison to our other meat breed, the Cornish Cross, these Rangers are up and active - they have actually been seen on many occasion actually chasing the larger Cornish chickens around. They are lively and peppy and we are so much happier with this fantastic breed.
The Freedom Rangers are a more traditional breed in that they take longer to grow naturally and are France's only breed accepted for their Label Rouge free range program. They don't have the Cornish's famous "double breasts", but they are also have less leg problems as well as heart attacks (not one so far!). We all know the expression, "It tastes like chicken", but really what most people are saying is it's simple and will do well with various sauces, herbs, etc. The older, more traditional breeds really do taste like chicken though. And it's not just the meat, but the fat and the bones that make truly amazing chicken broth. One of those mouth watering, drool coming out of your mouth, broths.
Now don't get me wrong, the Cornish birds still have a place here on our farm. The produce a larger quantity of white breast meat and are fast growers making them more "affordable" for most. They also have the taste and texture that we are more familiar with - although ours still have more taste and texture, it looks the part.
If you have an interest in farm fresh raised chicken, locally produced, drop us a note. Or you can find our order form on our website at: http://www.willowsedgefarm.com/chickens-and-eggs.html
Up and coming: Pastured Pigs ... pigs raised naturally, here on our farm in Bothell.

Open Barn - WEEK!

Well, I can't believe it, but Open Barn Week is almost here. It seems like just yesterday we were picking out what day/days would work for the farm and our family. Well, Monday, March 29 - Friday, April 2, from 10am to 3pm each day we will open our farm.

Why do we do this, you ask (we get that a lot). We want to be able to open our farm and share it with others who may not have the opportunity to go visit a farm. Horse farms are notorious for keeping their barn doors shut to the public. Unless you're willing to drop those big bucks every month, they really aren't interested in sharing anything with you. What a shame! We love to teach about our horses, how we manage them, their personalities...on and on we go. We also love to teach about chickens ... both their egg management as well as pastured poultry and how all that works and why it's different. Has Tyson Foods ever invited you to their farm? Probably not. I've never been to one of their "farms", but suspect I would leave in tears seeing all those birds in cages for their entire lives.

We really feel fortunate to have been blessed with what we have here on our little farm. Come on our and enjoy yourself. While we do not have a charge to come, we do, kindly ask for your generous donations. The donations are what help make our Open Barn and other events even possible.

Want more info? Visit our Open Barn page on the Willows Edge Farm website.

The Future of Willows Edge Farm

We have spent a lot of time in the last few months discussing the farm's future. In the last weeks, we have spent some time putting it all down ... writing out what it is exactly that we are wanting to accomplish with the farm, where we want to go and how we'll get there.

From 2007-08 we saw our little farm grow by leaps and bounds - 1211% to be exact. 2008-09 saw triple digit growth of 266%. 2010 will be another growth year and we are expecting our numbers to hopefully double again. While the growth is good, we will be bursting at the seams come fall.  In this exciting year, we will be adding farm direct sales of pastured poultry as well as more fresh herbs. The first set of broilers have been ordered and will be ready for pick up in late April with the second set ready mid June.

Our parties and tours are already booking for spring and we are looking forward to large growth from these areas of our farm. Finding something new and different is always a great find for parents and we apparently have something they are looking for. It also falls in line with what we love to do: teach about the farm, animals and work with children.

We're also looking at adding one other of our dream livestock animals ... pigs. Don't laugh, they are gentle, kind and highly intelligent animals. They are also easier to raise on a small farm (easier than Corinne's other dream livestock: The Irish Dexter Cattle) and are good breeders. Pork is gaining popularity as a healthy meat protein; recent studies - in comparison to the "old" studies of the 1950's showing pork as highly fatty - show the new breeds as lean, mean working machines. Many studies compare them as BETTER than chicken in terms of fat AND protein! I will guess that they weren't comparing bacon to chicken breast though ;-)

Further into the future, Willows Edge Farm hopes to grow into a larger facility. We are actively searching for that perfect piece of property along with a few sponsors who want to see farming activities, like we offer, be expanded and grow in Western WA. Small family farms are rapidly disappearing - did you know there are more people in prison than farming in this country? We want to be one of those farms that is around for the long haul and continue on for generations to come!