WHEN MY FRIEND JOY, whose name matches her joyful personality, approached me after church last Sunday about buying farm fresh eggs, I hesitated. I didn’t really need eggs. And if I did, I could buy them at the grocery store for half the $2 price Joy was charging.
But I bought the eggs anyway, because, well, Joy is a persuasive saleswoman. She touted the better taste, the yellower yolks, the free-range aspect of her primarily bug-eating and grass-munching chickens, and the reduction in her cholesterol from daily consumption of her chickens’ eggs. Sold. Yes, please, I’ll take a dozen.
I have yet to try the eggs, which come from varieties like Rock Island and Buff. I am certain Joy spoke the truth in her sales pitch. She’s no snake oil salesman. I can already predict what will follow. The farm fresh eggs will taste so great that I will no longer be able to eat mass-produced eggs packaged for mass public consumption.
How about you? Have you eaten and noticed a difference between eggs direct from a small farm vs. those sold by major egg companies?
© Copyright 2016 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
You will find them more flavorful, I’m sure. I like the personal connection. Two degrees of separation from a known food source sounds like a terrific investment.
Agreed.
This is hilarious – I just took a similar photo of some farm fresh eggs. They do taste different than the mass-produced ones; they are likely better for you.
I must quote the old adage: Great (photographer’s) minds think alike.
They were $2???? Around here, the price of $3.50+ is asked (and, I suspect, doesn’t cover feed costs all the time). I luv fresh eggs and the taste, and superior baking quality, really is a “draw”.
Well, then I apparently got quite the deal. I am serving these farm fresh eggs in an egg bake tomorrow.
A big “thumbs up” on that one!
I love the shell colors (blue!) in your box. Yes, I enjoy the taste, but cannot decide if it is worth it for occasional over-fertilised, punctured shells, or “off” eggs. On the other hand – bring on the double and triple yolkers!
Laughing. I really like the colors, too, especially of the green ones (yes, that’s green, not blue, although Joy’s chickens also lay blue).
Omigoodness $2 for farm eggs?!!?
That’s such a reasonable price!
Here in Ithaca, if you want farm fresh eggs they’ll be sold for no less than $4.50 (accounting for the rising cost of organic grain…)
I’ve tried most all of the local farm’s eggs, and I buy them now from a friend & fellow farmer whose hens have free roam & range on their property, so they eat grass & bugs & their yolks are closer to orange. The taste is superior.
I have become a true egg snob.
And I’m happy to pay the $5.50 each week for their efforts in living a simple life raising their daughters up through growing vegetables & keeping hens to share with the community.
(Their eggs are not the most expensive nor the least expensive in town, but the quality is the best, in my opinion.)
I love your reasons for choosing farm fresh. Applause for you, Marney.
I learned on our trip East that food is more expensive that direction than here in the Midwest. Makes sense, I suppose.
I dunno if it makes sense…
It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Midwest, thanks for the perspective & reminder.
(At least twice a year I get strong urges to move back to the Midwest.)
You’re always welcome back in the Midwest.
I buy Locally Laid eggs, a Duluth-based company that has a network of small farms with strict standards of raising chickens the way Joy does. They’re more expensive, yes, but what you suspect will happen to you has happened to me: I can’t go back to the factory-farm eggs. These are tastier by far.
I love the concept of that Duluth-based company.
Have you read the book about the farm, written by Lucie Amundsen (co-owner)? Both highly entertaining and highly informative.
I haven’t read that book, Amy. Thanks for the tip.
We have a few chickens just to have eggs for ourselves and relatives. I guess I just don’t have discriminating taste buds as I don’t notice the difference. I have a sister-in-law who can tell the difference between our eggs, the ones that came from chickens her husband used to have and store bought.
I appreciate you adding your observations to the mix.
I do notice a difference and opt for local eggs whenever I can find them. I even spring for the cage free organic eggs in the grocery store even though they are really expensive. I prefer buying from local folks and our local Whistlestop Market has some beautiful eggs for sale so that is my go to place . I think you might be hooked after you try them.
I’m thinking I will be hooked. It sounds like you have some great local sources.
I grew up with farm raised chickens and eggs and to me there is a difference. At least I knew what we fed our chickens and it was organic before organic was cool. The yolks is where I can really tell the difference though. I love the chicken/egg captures – reminds me of the farm 🙂 Happy Weekend – Enjoy!
Like you, I also grew up on a farm with chickens. Until my parents got rid of the chickens. It’s been so long ago that I don’t recall the taste of those farm fresh eggs.
Farm fresh are the best. I too grew up on a farm where we had all the eggs we could eat and did not appreciate them at the time. I do remember my city relatives raving over the eggs but I think it was more the price. My mother sold them pretty darn cheap. I think she charged them what we got when we sold to the egg buyer.
Anyway they are the best. However city folk are encouraged to have a few chickens in their back yard, especially if you have a day care. I personally have issues with that; I think the aftermath could be a bit too much. Anyway we will see what happens.
You’re right. Often we don’t appreciate what we have because we don’t realize its value until we no longer have it.
Two of my Minneapolis-dwelling cousins have chickens. I don’t know that I would like chickens next door to me. And I, too, wonder about that chicken poop disposal in the city.
Farm fresh eggs are simply the best. We had chickens growing up, and my grandparents were egg producers – the old fashioned way – chickens were free range back then, not raised in horrible crates with lighting systems for high production. My mother-in-law has chickens and we generally have too many eggs to use so FD sells them at his workplace. There is quite a demand for farm fresh eggs!
Just mixed up my egg bake for tomorrow with the farm fresh eggs. The shells are definitely stronger and the yolks a deeper yellow.
How kind of FD to sell your MIL’s eggs at his work place.
I will only eat farm fresh eggs! The taste is delightful! If I run out (and I seldom do – I regularly buy two 18 packs every 10 days or so) and am forced to buy at my store, I’m always disappointed. And at my store I buy the super expensive organic eggs – which are far superior to the “run-of-the-mill” cheap eggs.
I wish Joy lived by me – I’d be a regular at her $2 a dozen. I pay $4.50 for the 18 pack (each).
The deep yellow – I’d call them orange or gold – yolks are delicious! The darker the better. Two basted eggs with a piece of my homemade English toasting bread (toasted) is our everyday breakfast.
The best fat you can have in your diet is animal fat – it’s good for you. Chicken yolks are animal fat! Cholesterol LDL is down and HDL is up.
I hope you’ll turn into a constant customer of Joys!
Barb, thanks for sharing your take on farm fresh eggs. I’m learning a lot from the comments today.
I buy Locally Laid eggs, too, and sometimes buy eggs from the farmer’s market in St. Paul or Minneapolis. They do taste better! And I love buying from the local farmers, supporting efforts to raise chickens in something other than a huge operation where the chickens never see the outdoors. Speaking of Locally Laid, I saw the author who wrote about that, Lucie Amundsen, speak at Hamline University a few months ago. She was a hoot.
You are the second reader to recommend Lucie’s book. I’ll need to check that out.
Kudos to you for supporting locally-grown by buying locally-fresh.
TWO dollars a dozen!? That is crazy cheap. Jump at them. i sell mine for FOUR dollars a dozen. I hope you never eat those factory produced eggs again – if nothing else to support a local grower keeps money local – excellent for the local economy. Plus the eggs will be divine!.. c
I am definitely learning that’s a great price on farm fresh eggs based on all the comments here. I don’t know how Joy sets her price. But knowing Joy, she just wants to distribute her extra eggs and the price doesn’t overly concern her. That said, I’ve seen coolers along roadsides with eggs also priced at $2.
I have a bunch in the fridge. Yum!!! I do “think” that I enjoy them more but I wonder how much of it is in my head. My Cousin gave me about 4 dozen for babysitting her kids for an hour.
Hopefully it was a fair trade.
What a bargain! We buy only local eggs and we pay $4.50-$5.50/dozen. But we would never buy anything else. We not only want to support our local farmers but definitely want to not support big agri in any way.
The higher cost is the actual/true cost of producing food. We have been lulled into the cheaper prices, which keeps reinforces our buying cheap. It’s cheap because it’s subsidized – and inferior in nutrition, quality and humaneness.
We see our financial investment in “real” food as an investment in our health.
It sure you will enjoy your “real” eggs!
Thanks for adding your comments to the egg basket, Kathleen.
I can’t believe that no one else picked up on my comments on over-fertilised and ‘off” eggs. If it is just a dark speck that’s ok by me, but if it is wider than the white tip of my little finger it creeps me out. And the ‘off’ eggs were organic, free-range, local farm produce bought at the big supermarket! At least the eggs in the farmer’s roadside shed are fresh, although rather dirty at times.
I think Joy’s prices for farm fresh eggs are a bargain. I have several friends who raise chickens and they have become passionate about their hobby and spend a lot of time making sure their ladies are kept happy. These chicken friends of mine live in rural areas. I am not in favor of chicken coops in highly densely populated city areas.
I would have to agree with you on chickens in densely populated areas.
Nothing beats fresh eggs. It was a sad day when I had to buy a carton at the store because mine had stopped laying for the winter. And we rejoiced when they started back up again a few weeks ago.
I agree. Nothing beats eggs that are fresh. We have family nearby now who share fresh eggs with us.