Eggs Galore!

Every night, no matter what city I am at, I call home, and to Charlie's chagrin, ask about how many eggs he found in the chicken coop that day. For some reason, that one piece of information, is important to me. The numbers hardly matter. It is my connection to the farm, the animal life there, and to my own sanity.

Collecting eggs when I am at the farm has become a ritual. And I know it peeves Charlie, since he feels all I am interested in are the chickens and their eggs, and ignore the goats and alpacas and our geese.

Of course that is not true. The animals at the farm, each kind, captivate a different part of me. And are each as dear to me as the other.

Eggs though, and the girls laying them, have a way of distracting me. They have me smitten and charmed. They keep me hungry and also sated.

And chickens and their eggs were the reason I agreed to consider a life in a rural setting. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to raise chickens and feed on farm fresh eggs.

Depending on the day, the mood of our girls and of course the weather and the light, we get anywhere from 30 to 42 eggs. 42 being the most we have ever seen in one day.

The colors vary, and it is wonderful to note that by end of day, we have more colored eggs than white. In fact, I sometimes miss having more white eggs, just to showcase the brilliance of the colored ones. Is that not funny? The rest of the world wants colored eggs, and here I am complaining that we have too many green, blue, pale pink and brown eggs.

There are eggs and then some. I can spot the eggs layed by some of our chickens just by the color and the size. We have two ages of Araucana hens, and their eggs are different. The first batch we have, lays blue eggs. The second group we got, lay green and pale green eggs. Of course the newer batch still are laying small green eggs. Still pale in color, but growing in size and intensity of color as they age.

Our Penedesenca hens lay a very chocolatey-brown egg. You can see one in the photograph here. It looks much lighter due to the light. What is brilliant about these eggs is their very smooth color and sheen. Think of glossy paint.  Of course we also have beautiful green eggs, as you can see above the chocolate penedesenca egg. And then the speckled eggs we get daily. These are always captivating. The patterns change, and one is drawn to check out all sides of the egg.

Color aside, the sizes of the eggs vary. Between medium sized ones to extra large.

And every couple of days we get a JUMBO EXTRA LARGE egg and this seems like it belongs to some dinosaur. A friend suggested that it might have two yolks in it, and of course it did. It truly is double the size of an extra large egg and the yolks are brilliant in size and shape.

Cooking with our own eggs has given me, a major egg fan and connoisseur a new appreciation of eggs. The yolks change color depending on what the hens have been eating. Sometimes brilliant orange, at other times yellow and if they have eaten alfa alfa, the yolks take on a green tinge. The white of the egg is always very different from any you will find in supermarket cartons. These are vibrant, white, fresh, lacy, and plentiful.

The shell of the eggs is another story. Our egg shells have a wonderful thickness. They also have more strength it seems. And work better if you want to show off your egg cracking skills. It is as if farm fresh eggs were made to be used at Culinary Olympics. The protective layer on the shell is thick and pliable. And one can understand how eggs were meant to be stored at room temperature and without worry of salmonella. Of course we refrigerate our eggs and follow all safety standards one ought to, it is interesting though to note that nature did not fail eggs in giving them all it took to keep their shelf life naturally long.

Joshua Thomas, our sous chef at Devi, came to visit the farm and at night, he made his mom's famous recipe for Roast Eggs. We had neighbors visiting, and that night, all were sated and indulged by this dish.  We each wanted third and fourth helpings, and luckily, with an abundance of eggs, Joshua made a big portion to begin with, so we all felt spoiled by end of the meal.

Fried Pie, something I had for the first time in Austin, became dessert at the table last weekend. Lisa Smith our friend from Austin (who creates recipes for Central Market) was visiting, and we tried recreating the Fried Pie recipe she had spoiled me with at a restaurant in Austin. Of course eggs went into the pastry dough. We also tested one dough without eggs. Without prejudice, all agreed that the egg dough was better.

These days, Charlie has to keep finding new ways of enjoying eggs. For we have them everywhere. And we have them in such brilliant colors and shapes, that it would be a tragedy to not enjoy them.

PS: For New Year's we made Egg Nogg and it was AMAZING! Of course we added Cardamom in addition to Nutmeg to it. And Charlie offered me Grand Marnier as well. We devoured many glasses each, not worried for a minute about the calories or cholesterol.

Comments

[Curtis]

absolutely wonderful. yeah, having fresh eggs is definite one draw for me to move to the country at some point. grew up eating fresh eggs and the ones in the store just don't compare, although the organic/free range ones are getting close.

[GG Mora]

Those are just gorgeous, Suvir. I've been trying to persuade my husband that we should keep chickens – we certainly have the room, and TJ eats eggs for breakfast nearly every day. With good local eggs running close to $4.50 a dozen, it sure would make sense. I feel his resolve breaking down...maybe these pictures will help.

Nice to see you posting again.

[Suvir Saran]

Curtis, where are you based? Free range I believe is the key with eggs... organic feed is not everything. We do give our girls organic feed, but they also eat scraps from the kitchen and in the warmer parts of the year, when they can be out and about, they eat any and everything nature can send their way. It is amazing to see their eggs change according to what they consume. Country life is quite wonderful. And it has it's challenges. Charlie my partner, does all the tough work that makes the farm run, the girls (our chickens) happy and lay happily, and also taking care of our geese, goats and alpacas. It is nothing to scoff about or belittle, it is a HUGE change in life, and something one has to consider with gravitas. It is life altering, and absolutely a delight once you begin to live it. But be warned, it is quite a change.

GG, how wonderful to find you here. I owe NW and you a meal at the farm. Life has been hectic, crazy, full of drama (good and challenging) and in the midst of all that, I have been absent. The girls and their eggs keep me happy. Every couple of weeks, as I come back home, it is a joy to come home to their magical gift to us. Charlie really takes great care of them. And they are so beautiful and lively, and their eggs, dreamy!

Come get some eggs from the farm. The first couple of dozens are on us. Bring TJ along, so he can enjoy the girls... maybe once Spring is finally arrived in our Northern locale?

Just begin with a handful of girls, just girls. And you will get more eggs than you need each week once they girls start laying. It is an easy number to take care of and nothing too laborious to handle. And the eggs, more than make up for any effort you put into raising the birds.