The Eggsperiment

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Meredith

A few weeks ago I hinted at my son’s science fair project and showed pictures of farms we visited. Now that his project is finished, I thought I better follow up and actually tell what the experiment was all about!

Nolan wanted to do an experiment involving eggs, so he decided to see whether there was a notable difference between eggs laid by caged hens and eggs laid by free-range hens. Because we didn’t have the means to test nutritional values, he decided to look at eggshell strength. He tested the strength by seeing how much weight each upright egg could support before collapsing.

I won’t go into all the details about the experiment here, but the results were clear. The average eggshell strength of the free-ranged eggs was far greater than that of the caged eggs. Because caged eggs are typically laid by Leghorns (white eggs), Nolan made sure to test eggs from free-ranged Leghorns as well, and he also got brown and blue eggs from other chicken breeds. The living conditions and diet of the hens did seem to have a profound effect on the eggs. As my son said in his project, “I hope that people will see the difference in quality of the two egg types and make wise choices when buying eggs.”

The Eggsperiment was a great project, and I’m so proud of my son! He researched the difficult topic of the stressful living conditions of factory chickens, interviewed farmers, and studied egg structure — but what really thrilled me was the life lesson he learned from the whole project. We’re still trying to eat all the leftover eggs, though — lots and lots of eggs.

The Locally Grown Boggy Creek Farm

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Meredith

This week my family and I had the pleasure of visiting a most delightful organic urban farm in East Austin, Boggy Creek Farm. I’d heard many great things about this farm, and let me say that they are all true and then some!

Boggy Creek Farm offers fresh organic produce at their popular on-the-farm market stand twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9am to 1pm.

In addition to gorgeous and tasty veggies, fruits, fresh eggs, and other yumminess, they sell locally produced honey, yogurt, goat’s milk, and meats, as well as chocolate, sauces, books, and more. They also offer produce grown on other local organic farms, so that you can always choose from the freshest and largest variety of seasonal produce. During the year, Boggy Creek grows more than 100 kinds of vegetables and fruits.

Owners Carol Ann Sayle and Larry Butler bought their farm and its historic 1800s farmhouse in 1991, but they first began farming back in the 1980s. The farmhouse itself is white and quaint, and lots of delicious seasonal recipes are born there.

Boggy Creek Farm is about 5 acres, though Carol Ann and Larry also have another farm where they grow even more veggies, those that need more space. While some rows of veggies are green and growing, other rows are being prepped for the next planting. Off to one side of the farm is their large compost area, a source of rich organic matter that revitalizes the soil before each planting.

Though I didn’t get to meet Larry, I can tell you that Carol Ann is a gem among Austinites — her passion for organic farming shines through as she shares stories of her hens and of life on the farm. She was kind enough to give our family a personal tour, including a meet-and-greet with the chickens.

The Hen House is quite large and has many different sections.

The chickens are family pets — all 80 of them. They live the good life, right up through their old age. The oldest hen on the farm, shown below, is a remarkable 17 years old!

There are lots of different chicken breeds at the Boggy Creek chicken haven, and Carol Ann can tell you every one of them, along with names and various tales of their personalities. Breeds include Auracana, Ameraucana, Leghorn, Production Red, Polish, and more.

All the chickens are beautiful, healthy, and happy, and they have a safe home long after they stop laying eggs.

Many of them roam the farm freely, searching for bugs and worms and whatever else looks tasty. They are given leafy green veggies and other organic goodness straight from the farm (sometimes they even try to sneak some straight from the fields).

To complete their well-balanced diet, the chickens are fed a locally-milled superior soy-free laying mash.

And in the afternoons they get a treat — chicken scratch, which includes cracked corn, milo, and other grains.

They love it so much, they’re happy to jump in the container and eat it right from the source.

Of course, the chickens’ incredible diet means that their eggs are equally high in nutrients!

While we were there, a few of the Leghorn hens were in the nesting boxes. I hope they didn’t mind me taking photos.

This next one might have minded a little, but I couldn’t resist capturing that ~~glare~~ stare.

In the photo below, you can see one hen gathering an egg and tucking it under her body. It wasn’t even her egg, as Leghorns lay white eggs.

We left Boggy Creek Farm wanting to reignite our plans to have a chicken coop and to become regular Market Day customers. I highly recommend you plan a visit, too. Be warned, though — produce can sell out fast!

Which Came First? The Chicken or the New Year

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Meredith

Happy New Year! We’ve started our year with my son’s really cool science fair project, and while I can’t tell you anything about it yet — it’s a SECRET — I can tell you that it has prompted us to visit a couple of farms. So we drove out yesterday to visit my aunt’s farm and had great fun visiting with her, my uncle, and all their very spoiled pets — I mean, farm animals.

The chickens have the run of the farm, but they also have a very nice chicken coop my cousin built, and it gives them a place to roost, nest, and stay protected from predators.

I’m very jealous because neither my cousin nor my husband has built me a chicken coop yet. What is up with that?!!

Well, perhaps some day, at least — I’m newly inspired again. Anyone want a husky? (Just kidding — It’s sort of an ongoing joke that we need to find our very high-maintenance monster dog a new home, and the subject comes up again whenever we talk about dogs and chickens).

Mostly, though, the hens seem to delight in pecking, scratching, and taking dust baths all day long — and figuring out what other exciting places they can lay eggs in around the farm, giving my aunt and uncle a sort of Easter Egg hunt all year long.

That’s my Aunt Marilyn there — absolutely one of my most favorite people in the world. Kind, sweet, thoughtful, and inspiring — she’s just amazing. And she’s about the only person I know who can rival us in numbers of pets — she’s cheating, though, because she has livestock. But I have FISH.

The boys enjoyed feeding the donkeys and goats. Marty is the donkey that looks like it tried to eat out of a white paint bucket, and Judy is the mostly gray one.

The goats, Fudgy and Elmer, are the cutest, fattest goats I’ve ever seen. The brown one, Fudgy, looks at you with these big puppy-dog eyes, and your heart just melts.

We were so caught up in all the animals that I completely forgot to ask my aunt and uncle how their garden is doing. We’ll have to go visit again in the season of greenness, just a couple of months away.