OT Why I get organic eggs (2023 Update)

Hmmm, Ruby. What an interesting discovery. I do everything 'but' scrub our salad fixings with a wire brush and boil them in bleach - and still . . . DH's digestive system reacts to a just plain old green salad. Maybe it's not the celery ( or whatever), maybe it's the salad dressing. I'm sure there are 10,000 salad dressing recipes here and I certainly can make one without nasty additives. You just may have made some magic. Thank you. Really, really thank you. Polly

"Ruby" The use of antibiotics (developed for humans) and used in animal

There are millions of salad dressings, but I like this one:

Get a small clean jar with a screw-on lid Crush a clove of garlic into the jar Freshly grind some black pepper into the jar Add equal measures of balsamic vinegar and the best olive oil you can afford

Shake, shake shake! Use within a couple of days. If you put it into the fridge, it will all settle out, so pop it in the microwave for 20 seconds and then shake again just before you use it. Gorgeous, fresh and no strange ingredients!

-- Jo in Scotland

Wow, they're that expensive? DW is carpooling with a woman who raises her own chickens, and we've been getting eggs from her ('cuz I've always liked the taste of corn-fed chickens & eggs better). I know they're a little more than Weggie'$, but I don't think it's 4x... You gotta have some farmers out where you are - are they all that high?

Doc

I never knew there *was* such a thing as store-bought salad dressing until I started eating away from home - (of course I never knew there was any kind of dressing other than the horrible vinegar concoction my mom used to make either...) I think now we use Marie's dressings from the produce section (DW can't keep her face out of the bleu cheese) - I'd have to read the labels, but I 'spect they're not quite as bad as the shelf stuff... Fortunately salad dressings are fairly easy & fun to experiment with!

Yep, here they are that expensive. Mostly because we have to buy them black market. There is a legitimate certified organic farm out in Kennedy, but getting our kiri to drive out there is a problem. She is a big city girl and has a bit of an issue with out of town non-highway driving. None of the grocery stores sell these eggs, so we have to get them under the table from a place that is not a food store. You know what a hassle that can be in this state. They might turn a blind eye in an area like this to a road side stand selling their own eggs during season, but an actual shop would likely get the book thrown at them.

So far as soy, I am really ticked off about that. I know a guy who grows a heritage variety for his own use. The japanese "beer friend" variety to be specific. I have no problem eating those. For years I had no problem eating any kind of soy. Then all of a sudden I ate a soy sausage and nearly ended up in the ER. My throat darned near swelled shut and it felt like I was trying to breathe with a hundred pound weight on my chest. Judicious experimentation has led me to believe that it is the GMO soy that gives me trouble. Since more than

90% of the US crop is either GMO or GMO contaminated that pretty much excludes soy from my diet. I can eat beer friend beans all night long, but a commercial soy burger is life threatening. Grrr!

NightMist

It's all about demand.

Here organic "cage free" (for what that's worth) eggs are $3.50 - $4 a dozen at the market. Same price at the farmers market if I think to go and buy eggs on Saturday.

Pastured eggs from chickens who actually run around a pasture and eat bugs and grasses and seeds - and not sit in a barn with a teeny open door in a corner that they never exit - cost $8 a dozen at the farmer's market and the lady runs out early. People want them, can taste the difference and willingly get there at 9 am and line up to pay that much for generally smallish eggs.

marcella

Mmmmm... LOVE that BUGGY Flavor!!!

My understanding is that they call 'free range' just amounts to opening the door like you say. They are too afraid to go out so they just sit inside. Boy labels can sure be deceiving. I want chickens but we can't have them here in the city. My sis right in town can have them in San Diego. Go figure. I doubt I'd get many eggs from chickens that had to live in the vicinity of Ginger pooch. Sis seems to feed too many hawks out of her canyon lot. It probably is too hot here anyway. I need to move somewhere with a more moderate summer. Taria

On the topic of chickens and "natural bugs" --- One of our neighbors raises "natural" chickens for their eggs. They bring us over a dozen when their chickens lay an abundance for them. We return the favor by sharing veggies from our garden all summer. We got to talking about bugs-in-the-garden yesterday - especially the japanese beetles (which have become a huge pest, devouring the leaves on sunflower, green bean and beet plants). Neighbor said that her chickens LOVE them! So I told her she was more than welcome to come over and "harvest" them.... I usually pick them off and throw into a can with soapy water inside (so they can't fly out - the soap goops up their wings.) (Neighbor just uses plain water. Maine has a motto "ReUse, Reduce, and recycle" --we love it! We both are doing well in that regard! ME-Judy

I buy "cage-free" eggs, but I don't think that necessarily means organic, does it? I feel too sorry for battery hens to buy the other kind. And yes, chickens ought to be out running around chasing bugs and doing chicken things until their poor little necks are chopped off. At least then they only have one bad day. I'm not vegetarian or anything. I just think we *owe* them a humane life as well as a humane death.

Sherry

Night,

I just checked with management. Eggs at Weggie$ are about a buck; Pastel carpool eggs are a buck-fifty.

I expect your middlemen are getting the bulk.

We used to get pastels from a friend in the Finger Lakes whenever we saw her, but that's been years...

Got a good co-op down there?

Doc

Hide quoted text -

We used to have one. They got hit when the legal sweeps hit. Man I gotta say, those sweeps should have been stopped and the people running them should have been fired if not prosecuted. The typical tactic was somebody coming in and nagging or bullying the place to sell them something when they weren't a member, and then follow up with a major raid confiscating everything, and at least threats of charges. Charges were mostly things like operating a business without a license, and failure to pay sales tax and stuff. I still haven't figured out what sales tax they were thinking of since food is not taxed in most places. A few places that did things like buy a couple of cows on the hoof and then split them up were threatened with charges for selling uninspected meat. It was hard for the co-ops to prove anything in their favor since the feds took all the computers and paperwork when they confiscated stuff. Most places they even cleaned out the personal pantry and freezer of the family that was the delivery address. Entrapment followed by unwarrantedly harsh treatment, it scared the bejeebers out of a lot of the co-ops, and they were afraid to start back up.

I keep hoping the current administration gets around to smacking the USDA and the FDA upside the head. They have so many more important things they should be doing instead of messing with a couple dozen co-ops that buy from local farms instead of industry.

NightMist

On Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:17:47 -0700, Dr. Zachary Smith wrote:

Gotta chime in on this...

If you use traps make for gosh darn sure you put them a good long ways from what you are trying to protect. They work because they are baited, and the bait will attract the things. A bag of beetles is a lot less impressive when most of them flew in from the neighbor's yards, and half the ones that flew in blew off the bag in favor of your roses.

I plant garlic and other alliums near susceptible plants, and plant four o'clocks. Japanese beetles are very unfond of alliums, especially garlic. They absolutely adore four o'clocks, which are deadly to them. They come into the yard, steer clear of the roses because the roses are surrounded by garlic, then scent the four o'clocks, decide they are a delight and chow down, and then promptly die. It works. My neighbor has been boggled at how beetle free my yard and garden are. I happily passed on my method.

NightMist

We've got garlic / shallots / onions all around the garden - doesn't help much. BUT I like your idea about the four o'clocks.... will have to look into that (unless my neighbor's collecting for her chickens -- don't want any "bad" stuff in the chicken-feed.) I second your comment on the results of a Japanese Beetle trap. We tried it ONE year - we got bugs from all over the neighborhood! ME-Judy

There are other plants as well. It is just that I happen to love four o'clocks. They are also very easy to grow, and self seed prolifically even in cold climates. A big plus about growing them in a cold climate is you get them from reseeding every year, and if you decide you don't want them there next year, you just deadhead or cut them back before they start to form seeds, and you have them under control. In warm climates they go perennial and are almost impossible to keep reined in.

Larkspur, tansy, and geranium are all reputed to kill japanese beetles. Larkspur makes one of the few good natural blue dyes. It is hard to beat a nosegay of tansy for a stuffed head, or even a chest cold. You don't want to eat the stuff though, and neither should your animals. I have never really fancied geraniums. Dunno why, they can be a very nice addition to a planned garden.

Catnip and rue are supposed to be some of the best beetle repellents. I have those too. Maybe I have been giving the garlic more credit than it is due, or maybe the repellents work better in the presence of an attractant. Makes sense that they would doesn't it?

NightMist