My husband and I have decided that we are going to live on the outskirts of where ever we are moved to (by his company) next so that we can have... chickens!
It all started with my usual annoyance with the FDA and their slack regulations about what exactly "cage-free" and "free-range" mean. Basically, those cage-free eggs we have been shelling (LOL - so many puns, I'm sorry) out for could just mean the chickens are living the same shitty (pun!) life they would have even if they were caged. It means beak-clipping is still allowed, it means they can be sitting around in a dark barn on a concrete slab, "cage-free." Same with "free-range" - it could mean they HAVE access to a door that leads to the outside, too bad they don't know how to work a door.
Now, I did find a farm that promises 108-square-feet of outside space per bird, which seems pretty generous. Only after researching the company did I find out that they feed their animals soy. Now, I don't think soy is in their usual diet and we already get so much soy in every other area of our lives - must we really get it in our eggs, too? Over 90% of American soybeans are GMO - not something I want in my house, labeled or not.
A lot of people think chickens are dirty, loud animals. They're dirty when you have thousands of them or don't let them roam freely. Chickens will always return to their coop at night so the daily maintenance is really just opening the door to their coop, that protects them from nightly predators, and shutting it after dark. Oh and the collection of their eggs - yum! Noise wise, roosters are always loud but I'm not really looking for fertilized eggs anyhow so I'll stick with owning classy ladies... who do make some noise around egg-laying time. Forget a dinner bell - that sounds like a breakfast-is-ready bell!
I also think it would be a great way to show my son how to take care of the planet and our animals. I think it would be really neat for a kid, instead of having a dog to feed, walk and bathe, to have chickens he checks in on and (probably, I mean he is a boy) chases around.
Nothing would make me happier than to know I'm eating food that's truly sourced locally (feet from my door) and treated humanely (no slaughtering of them once they stop baring eggs - then they can just be our feathered friends!). This got my husband into the idea of getting honeybees but I shot that down quickly - anyone that knows me knows I can't handle anything that buzzes, not even a butterfly that goes zipping by. I immediately run away, flailing my arms, which usually results in me getting stung. I can't control it at all...
Before I go from my random chicken post, I wanted to post a smoothie I made in my Vitamix yesterday for a mid-morning snack. It was oh-so-refreshing and my son enjoyed it as well - you cannot get any fresher than making your own!
Fruit Salad Smoothie
- 1/2 cup grapes
- 1 orange, peeled
- 1/2-inch thick slide of pineapple, core included (if using a Vitamix or other high-power blender)
- 1/4 cup of cucumber, peeled
- 4 ounces of carrot, or one medium carrot
- 1/4 of an apple
- 2 cups of ice
Combine ingredients and blend! I was able to fill almost two 16-ounce bell jars with this recipe so expect about 22-24oz of smoothie and adjust accordingly.
I thought the cucumber was a bit overpowering so I will probably omit it completely next time but I know a lot of people find cucumber refreshing so I thought I'd leave it :)
Let me know what you think - or what kind of recipes you'd like to see!
No comments:
Post a Comment