“In the mountains, eggs were almost as important to our diet as milk and bread. Our family ate eggs just about every day. I hated it that the chickens were allowed to run loose on the place. But the alternative was cooping them up and buying chicken feed. There was no money for this, and we had to let them roam around eating bugs, grass, sand, seeds, and drinking from the spring where the cattle watered. But because of the rich and varied diet, they laid eggs with yolks the color of goldenrod, and the eggs tasted fresh and good. There is no comparison to my way of thinking between country-fresh and supermarket eggs.
Because the chickens were not penned in they made free use of our yard. We tried to keep them off the front porch and out of the yard as much as possible. Our yard was bone-hard and only sprouted grass here and there in green clumps. I cherished the grass and yearned to have it grow and look like the velvet-smooth lawns I saw pictured in books-but the chickens always ate it clean.
We gathered green moss from logs and stumps, and lined box nests with it but the chickens, in their freedom, preferred to hide their eggs. I thought it amusing to watch a wily old hen wander about the place, pretending to squat and lay her egg a dozen places until she could wait no longer and quickly trotted to her hidden nest. After she laid the egg, however, she cackled loudly, telling the world of her accomplishment.”
—Sidney Saylor Farr – More Than Moonshine Appalachian Recipes & Recollections
Eggs are one of my favorite things to eat. I like them pretty much anyway you can cook them and I agree with Farr there is no comparison between store bought and fresh eggs from the yard.
Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a used copy of More Than Moonshine Appalachian Recipes & Recollections written by Sidney Saylor Farr. Leave a comment on this post to be entered. *Giveaway ends November 10, 2023.
Last night’s video: Running to Beat the First Cold Weather of the Season!
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TIPPER WE HAVE ALREADY GOT FREEZING WEATHER HERE IN MISSOURI. WEARING MASK TO KEEP THE 28 DEGREE WEATHER OUT OF MY LUNGS. I AM CLOSING IN ON 83. TIME GOES SO MUCH FASTER WHEN ONE GETS OLDER. GOD BLESS ALL WHO RED THIS. TIPPER THANKS SO MUCH 4 LETTING ME HAVE A PLACE TO POST MY THOUGHTS. NOW WHEN A NEW BABY IS BORN WHAT DOES IT NOT HAVE? ANSWER KNEE CAPS. WE ALL HAVE 206 BONES IN OUR BODY. THE BIGGEST ORGAN IS OUR SKIN. THE BIGGEST BONE IS OUR FEMOR. THE THREE SMALLEST BONES IS IN OUR EARS.
Omgoodness, how I miss seeing those hens running about eating bugs.They sure hid their nests good, but we always found them by watching them too.I loved eggs growing up, we ate them everyday, too. How I miss my sweet Mother in the kitchen,singing as she was cooking for us all. She always cautioned me, “now don’t get none of the shells in them eggs when you break them”.
I so loved breaking the eggs and getting to help cook when I was just a little girl.
Wonderful childhood Memories.
Being raised on a farm our chickens wandered about as they pleased but always went in the coop for nighttime. Free-range chicken tastes so much better than store bought for sure.
I have posted maybe once or twice, but I always enjoy reading your posts and have gone back through many of your older ones. Thank you for sharing about your life and Appalachia.
Free range chicken eggs are the best!!
Sometimes an egg sandwich with catsup or mayo is EGGactly what I crave. lol… Kinda like egg salad, too!
Tipper, You’re blog is the best!! Right up there with farm fresh eggs!! Thank you from a northern gal, for bringing the south and these memories to delight us up here! I think I have been a southern gal somewhere along in my heritage!! God’s blessings to dear Granny, Katie’s precious babe on the way and your whole family!
I have memories of stopping on the side of the road in the Tennessee Mountains to purchase farm fresh eggs. You left your empty egg carton(s) on top of a porch refrigerator and got your eggs out of the refrigerator to pay for them. The eggs were different colors but mostly brown.
Being a “youngin” during WWII on a mountain farm, we ate “aigs” as mama called them every morning. Some “meat”, aka home cured pork, biscuits, fresh milk and maybe some cane syrup or wild blackberry jam. Never varied. Well, once it did as the weather was so cold the aigs froze solid sitting in the north side kitchen. Breakfast was slim pickings that morn. After that the eggs were kept in a somewhat warmer part of the thin walled house. My place at the table was far from the wood cook stove. Daddy would pour me a small portion of hot coffee to warm me up. We had a big pine stump pile for kindling. One old hen stole her nest in the middle away from dogs. She came out one day with about a dozen baby chicks!! The future breakfast aigs was assured!!
I’m so sorry to all y’all that don’t have access to fresh eggs! What a joy to have them! I don’t have chickens but a friend does. She shares eggs with all summer! Once in a while even in winter.
Thanks Tipper! Most all of your posts are a walk during memory lane!
We found that boiled fresh eggs do not give you vile gas like the store brand eggs…
We have chickens too and there is no comparison in flavor to any other egg. Our chickens are spoiled. They love leftovers and snacks and treats. Love and prayers to all of you and Granny too.
Great story!!! Home grown eggs are the best. Chickens will sure keep your yard “aerated” from all of their scratching. And fertilized.
Prayers for Granny and all of you.
Late to the discussion. Our hens were really productive all summer, so when I ran out of folks to give the surplus to, I decided to experiment with an old method of preserving eggs called water glassing- mix water and pickling lime in a big jar and place the eggs into the solution gently, making sure the eggs are well covered. Eggs are supposed to keep for up to a year treated this way. Now that the days are getting shorter and the girls are only producing one or two eggs a day, it will soon be time to see if the experiment worked!
We used to get eggs from a family we went to church with. They have since moved to another state where they have a ministry for pastors and missionaries. Those were the best eggs with the most golden of yolks, tasted so good. One time when they were to be away from home she asked us if we would take care of the chickens and cats, someone else took care of their cows. We had such a good time doing that, but, I could not keep these chickens away from the cat food on the deck. This lady also introduced me to butternut squash. She had extra from her garden and gave us one or two little ones and told me how to fix it. Butternut squash is now a staple for us when in season & on sale. If we ever move to a place where we can have chickens that is something I would like to do. A dream for me, maybe someday.
One thing I am thankful for that is new to me this year is this blog and Celebrating Appalachia. I have enjoyed all of it this year and all the things I have learned and read from you and the other readers. Thank you for the give away opportunities.
Like most anything, fresh eggs are the best taste. I love anything fresh (like from the garden) but fresh eggs are the bomb! God Bless All and especially Granny <3
I’ve been wanting a copy of More Than Moonshine for a long time. I’d love to be entered in the drawing for it.
I just read all the comments and noticed many folks wrote about stepping in chicken poop. It is nowhere near as slick as goose poop and neither can compare to the slickness of owl poop. Hunters can testify to that if they’ve ever stepped on a clump of it while looking elsewhere.
This summer I was really getting the feeling of missing fresh eggs. I had already tried and ultimately failed with 4 hens in a city environment a few years ago, but I began to think about trying again because I missed those eggs. On the wise advice of my wife, I decided to check out the local farm ads and found a few folks selling fresh eggs. I got a hold of one old gal and drove out to pick up some eggs from her. They looked fine, big with coppery shells. I drove home, whipped up a skillet of scrambled and eagerly devoured four eggs. About two hours later I got sicker than a dog and spent the rest of the day in the bathroom. I texted the woman and told her I thought her eggs gave me food poisoning. She says, “I’m so sorry, I thought we had got rid of them bad ones. I guess I missed a carton.” That was the end of that experiment.
My neighbors chickens have started roaming over to our place during the day and I absolutely love watching them. Not a huge fan of them leaving their droppings on my porch and getting into the cats food lol but other than that, love ’em. I keep hoping maybe one of the hens will decide to leave me an egg or 2 but so far no such luck. Guess I’ll have to keep eating store bought eggs lol
Our chickens ran free as did the turkeys, geese and guineas. We had a house for the chickens to roost in but the other fowl were on their own at night. It was much easier to find the chicken’s nest that the turkey’s due to the cackling. An old hen turkey is quiet and sneaky. It was near impossible to find the guinea’s nest unless you were mowing hay and found them accidently. Turkey and goose eggs were used in cooking but seemed to strong for the breakfast plate. Two or three chicken eggs for breakfast provided the needed protein for hard farm work. I’m only allowed one each day now but I don’t do much hard work any more.
My Mom and Dad raised chickens I could eat the eggs but not the fried chicken..just couldn’t do it.
Oh Marian, same here! All my grandma’s chickens had names. She told me not to but I did it anyway. I cried like a baby when she chopped Suzette’s head off. I never named them again but I wouldn’t eat them either.
I enjoyed today’s story. I would love to have a few chickens, and I hope someday I can.
We realized neighbors’ chickens had come into our 10 acre woods and laid eggs. A huge clutch of nearly 200. By the time it was discovered, we figured that the majority were rotten & decided to bury the lot. Thankfully it didn’t reoccur.
I don’t have chickens and my folks didn’t raise chickens. We had a neighbor that tried raising chickens but the coyotes keep getting to them. It sure would be nice to have fresh eggs.
I look forward to your blog everyday
This sounds like a delightful read!
This happened many years ago when our son was a little boy. With great delight and anticipation the big white rooster sat on top of the fence next to the barn. As soon as Cary came out to do his chores and feed the animals Big White planned to jump down, run up to the seven year old, spur and flog him. That old rooster did that every chance he got. The only drawback was that sometimes the boy carried a bucket to do the feeding and would swing it hard enough to get him to back off. That rooster could still get in a few good licks and send Cary running to safety.
Big White considered himself cock of the walk. All the hens were bossed by him. His intention was to be boss to all the humans too. Cary was the smallest and easiest so a good start on his project.
Then one day the largest of the humans spoiled his whole plan. Coming home from a day at work, Dad wheeled into the driveway just in time to see Cary running in a panic from around the back of the barn. Big White was coming on fast right behind him. Dad stopped the truck, got out, picked up a rock and threw it at the rooster thinking to just hit and scare him. By some quirk of fate, that rock took off the top of Big White’s head and he dropped dead right on the spot. Dad couldn’t have done that shot if he had planned and aimed to do it. But it happened. Both of the fellows were stunned for a few seconds. Suddenly Cary got a big grin, raised his arms and ecstatically shouted “Yah, Dad”. No more reason for the little boy to be afraid of Big White.
I killed one of our my family’s chickens one time with a rock. The chickens would follow me to the hog pen when I fed the hogs. Mother told me to throw a rock at them and run them back. I also cut the head off of one of them. I thought I would get a whipping but instead Daddy just said take it your mama and tell her to cook us dumplings. There was no way I could have done that if I had been trying
Love this story! Dad was a real hero to Cary that day!!! 🙂
I’m always sad when the chickens stop laying. There is nothing better than an egg fixed about any way. YUM!!!
Oh my goodness, I agree there is no better way to start your day than breakfast that includes an egg from a chicken you know and care for dearly!
I loved Sidney Farr’s recollections on chickens! From what I can tell, they seem to be humorous creatures! I’ve never had fresh eggs before; maybe one day. 🙂
Eggs are a staple in my diet. I am a vegetarian and need the protein. Free range chicken eggs are the best. Prayers for all. Take care and God bless ❣️
Our son has chickens. Someone took a photo of him walking his 2 rescue Grey hounds in the small town where he lives. Right behind our son and his 2 dogs was one of his hens who continued to bring up the rear of that walk around town and down to the stream. ❤️❤️❤️
Grandma Nix used to have yard chickens and I loved to watch the hens with her little bitties running around the yard. It fascinated me to see how the hen would defend her baby chicks from any big dog just walking by. I never saw one of the dogs giving any trouble to the hen and chicks. The part I liked the best is when the hen gave her clucking alarm and squatted down with her wings all fluffed out and all the little chicks would run to her and get under her wings. They made a cute little “cheeping noise and stayed quiet and under her protective wings until the coast was clear. It touched my heart seeing that. As I grew older and started reading the Bible it talks about how Jesus had said to Jerusalem, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” I also loved it when the big Daddy rooster would scratch insects and worms for the little chicks and call them to him and they all would rush to get a bite of what he had found. I love Nature. God put instincts into His Creation. He thought of Everything. We just need look around and observe the Miracles He gives us every day.
My grandparents and my parents had chickens when I was a kid. I tried raising some a few years back and had quite a bit of good luck with them. Sadly, ‘something’ found them when my back was turned, and the next thing I knew, I was losing one a night. I couldn’t ever find what was getting them. In desperation, I turned them all out so they would have a better chance in the wild rather than hole’d up in the coop. That didn’t last long either. I sure do miss my chickens. They all had the prettiest yolks and were all different colors. Maybe I will have some again one day.
I wish I could have chickens, but we live in the city.
I’ve just become acquainted w/chickens this year. My mama & daddy both raised them as children but we were city dwellers when I was a child & later growing up I somehow missed out. They are such a hoot to watch! Keeping them out of my gardens is NOT a hoot! I do love those eggs though!
We have friends from our church who have chickens. They are kind enough to give us egg’s every so often. They are so good we usually eat them in a very few days. My favorite way most often is sunny side up with yolks soft not hard. Slap it between whole grain bread with those runny yolks and have the best sandwich. I like a slice of cheese with it too. Thanks again for these great stories and introducing us to the ways of Appalachia. Have a wonderful day and give Granny love, hugs, prayers and the same to all the family. Love, Jen
That was a great story about the chicken pretending to lay her egg until she couldn’t hold it anymore and ran to her hiding nest only to cackle after she laid it so the world would know she laid an egg…LOL. I’d love to read her story and recipe book!
I remember my grandparents having chickens and finding the eggs. I sure miss them now that they’re gone!
My little five year old granddaughter is as much of an egg lover as I. She will sometimes eat three eggs at a sitting.
We used to have a couple of neighbors who let their chickens run wild. Disputes would arise when Ms F used a bit of bread dough to lure one of Ms P’s chickens to fill her supper menu.
Ms P could tell when Ms F had been on the prowl if she cut up a hen for her supper and when she cut open the gizzard, instead of being full of pebbles and sand, there was Ms F’s bread dough.
I am terrorized by the chance of getting a horrible chicken embryo if there is a rooster around. I have always wanted some chickens but we have so many predators that it is impossible here. If I did have some, there would be NO rooster!
Praying for you and all your family–feel like yall are part of my family.
I love eggs too! We currently have 13 chickens, four are still young. We are only getting one egg a day, because of molting season. I buy from my neighbor who has many chickens laying their first year. They are not molting now. So thankful to get farm fresh eggs! Loved this story! ❤️
I agree, I like eggs anyway you cook’em.
Talking about foxes, our daughter lives two miles from us and she and our grandson was visiting last night. They got home just after dark and found their rooster ‘Sonny’ just near death. He had fought an old fox hard and when they pulled up it must have scared the sly fox off of Sonny, but it was too late. They did get to bury Sonny, but they old fox didn’t get his dinner. Rest assured the old sly fox will be back.
“Yard eggs” were a staple in my Eastern Kentucky childhood and remain so today. A gracious neighbor has provided us with free range eggs for several years. As she has a variety of chicken breeds, we are blessed with a multitude of egg colors ranging from the normal tans, browns, and whites to the more interesting blues and greens which our visiting grands enjoy seeing. And, a bonus is finding a double yolk egg when cracking for a meal. In my household, we have several who enjoy a “good breakfast” for supper. As an “old stick in the mud”, I still eat two eggs every morning for breakfast; usually fried but on occasion scrambled, shipwrecked, or just folded over with a slice of city ham in the middle. Continuing prayers for Granny, you, Katie and all the family ……
What a great post today! I’ve never met an egg I didn’t like. You can do so much with them. Grandmama used to say, “as long as you had eggs to eat, you’d never go hungry. Same was said for potatoes too. Prayers for Granny and safe travels this week.
Thank you , once again , for sharing all that you do with us all !!!:) God bless you all !!! ❤️
I always liked the fresh eggs better than the store bought ones, but since I lost my taste and smell a few years ago I can eat anything, have to depend on my wife Harriett to let me know what it tastes like.
We had a terrible time keeping our chickens away from a bobcat and the foxes so dad built a coop, and as the oldest it was my job to feed them, collect grass and crawly critters for them to eat, haul water for them, and keep things clean the best I could. It was also my job to butcher them as needed (never got used to the headless running). Me and the rooster got into a fist fight because he attacked my sister, and I was routinely pecked by the hens for stealing their eggs. Every morning I eat an egg sandwich with either bacon or sausage, cheese, and sometimes a hot pepper or spicy guacamole if I have it.
They is just no comparison to eggs from our own and raised chicken eggs than the store bought. We have a big round fence and let our chickens Rome around in that big area. We have 25 chickens. We get so many eggs I take 10 to 12 dozen to church and give them away. We love our chickens. I like watching them scratch, roll in the dusty dirt taking their little bath sorta say. They know our voices. When they hear us , here they come running. We can go in and pit up anyone of them. They are very friendly. We need our chickens. I thankful they provide us with food.
Great story! I could eat eggs for every meal.
My aunt who lives in WV used to have chickens. Their eggs were delicious!! Here I thought all eggs tasted the same. I guess that is what I get for being a “city slicker” LOL!
Both of my neighbors have free range chickens and I am the very blessed and thankful recipient of the overflow of farm eggs year-round. I usually have two every morning in some shape or form. I love the excerpts from Sydney Saylor Farr’s books that you post occasionally. Her book would certainly be treasured.
Tipper, thank you for sharing such a lovely excerpt from Sidney Saylor Farr’s “More Than Moonshine Appalachian Recipes & Recollections.”
Yes, chicken eggs are a nutritious stable for many of us. Farm fresh or store-bought, I enjoy eating them the most when they are scrambled, topped with incendiary salsa and stuffed into a warm tortilla. Not for nothing do I live in the wilds of the Texas Hill Country!
P.S. How is Granny today? May God comfort her and heal her soon. And may God give you all strength and joy as you care for her.
I live in town, but my neighbor has chickens. I’m always thrilled when they share some eggs with me. They do taste better!
Good morning, Tipper! I love memoirs of Appalachian people! I’m going to write the name of this book down and if I don’t win it, I’ll look on line and purchase it! I hope Granny is doing well. Being as how we both are dealing with cancer, I think of her often and pray she is doing well!
I enjoy eggs but never had the pleasure of raising chickens or eating them fresh.
For years we kept 10 or 12 laying hens in a fenced run, and had a nice hen house, with nesting boxes. Then came the foxes, which took a couple. We electrified the top of the fence. That stopped them. Next came two feral dogs, which caused a great commotion inside the hen house early one Sunday morning. One dog came out with a hen in its mouth. Two loads of No. 4s stopped that. Next came the black rat snakes, a.k.a. “chicken snakes”. One night, one swallowed a hen’s head and neck up as far as it could, killing her, of course, then backed off. Another, or the same one, ate a whole brood of biddies over several nights. Another snake liked eggs. It even swallowed a golf ball I had put in the nest. First was an egg, then the golf ball, then another egg! I had had enough. Although I study snakes and hate to see them harmed, I did whack the egg thief. We replaced our losses and kept the fresh eggs coming to our table.
Even though we live in the city, there are plenty of people around here keeping chickens, so we always try to buy fresh eggs from them. I love the different colors of the shells, from mint green, to brown, to sometimes blue!
I loved the story and I agree – there’s no comparison between store bought eggs and yard eggs.
Thanks for an interesting story to start my day.
We love our chickens and their beautiful eggs.
Home Raised Eggs are Definitely the Best. Whether pen raised or Free Range, You can definitely taste the difference.
Sidney’s description of life back in the day brings to my mind the grassless yards and free range chickens in my grandparent’s yard. Hoards of grandchildren probably kept the grass stomped down, as the chickens, turkey, and family dog had many acres to roam. Grandma swept her yard, and we could carve hopscotch in the hard packed soil with a strong stick. The predators were kept down by those old farmers, and I see more wildlife in the city than I did on that homestead all those years ago. I remember Grandpa heading outside with a weapon when my uncle warned of a “chicken hawk.” This is a different time and day when many of their survival tactics would be governed by strict laws. I have read this interesting book, so if my name is drawn it can be given to another lucky person.
My mother has been dead several years now, this year her birthday is on Thanksgiving Day 23rd , God bless you friends
I’m thinking but I don’t have much to think with ,that the United States is the only people that celebrate Thanksgiving but lots of people have lots of things to be thankful for ,God bless you friends God bless Granny Wilson with healing and health ,God bless tipper Pressley and Granny Wilson with strength to endure in Jesus name
I get my free-range eggs from a friend who just reposted fresh egg nutrition that was studied and written by Mother Earth. Their study shows a free-range egg has half the cholesterol as a supermarket egg and 2-6 times more beta carotene. Sounds like that’s healthy eating!
Praying for Thankful November to take on a new meaning when Granny’s treatments are over and good news follows.
I run a not for profit food ministry in the county where I live in Florida. I grew up in Canton NC . (Haywood County). A lot of our food is donated. But the donations I look most forward to is our “egg lady” . She raises free range chickens and donates the eggs to our ministry . These are the best eggs I have ever seen. The yokes are so golden and rich. We go through the 60 eggs twice a month in salads , quiches and baking. But the “egg lady” reminds me so much of my home folk in the mountains. She no longer has enough neighbors to give them to and her children have all moved away. Her generosity is amazing.
I’ve always had a small flock of chickens ever since I was married, and chickens were usually a part of my growing up years. I love their various colored plumage and the many different colors of eggs.
Right now we are in the slack season when the chickens have molted and have not started laying again. It will probably be time to get new chicks next spring. I never really know what to do with the old hens, they are usually too tough to eat.
Eggs are our go-to quick meal with so many ways to prepare them.
“More Than Moonshine Appalachian Recipes & Recollections” sounds like an entertaining and enlightening recipe book!
My father was very fond of eggs in his later years and could eat a bunch of them. He said that when he was growing up they had to sell eggs to get enough money to get by and eating eggs was a luxury.
We had a rooster and 3 – 4 hens when I was younger, but it never occurred to me what a difference there was between their eggs and store-bought eggs until I got older and bought my first carton of eggs from a friend who sells them. Oh, my, the difference. We always called eggs cooked over-easy or sunny side up “dippy eggs” because we dipped our toast in the warm yolks, and the egg yolk from factory eggs can’t begin to compare with the richness of yolks from free range chickens.
My Dad ate a fried egg I think every day of his life and never had any cholesterol problems. I love fried eggs too but hardly every make them.
One of my chores as a child was to gather the eggs everyday. Two possibilities scared me: getting pecked by a broody hen and/or finding a black snake in the hen house. Our chickens roamed free during the day, but made their way back to the chicken house toward dusk. I always wondered how they knew to go home to roost every evening.
My granny had chickens, but she also had Guinea fowls. She would save these little eggs for me …..made me feel special!
I hope you do not find this offensive–I guess it could be considered a joke/story about the egg that I should not tell but here goes…imagine the conversation just prior to the first egg being eat “lets eat the next thing that comes out of that chicken’s butt” lol
Your book received a nice mention in the Kentucky Living magazine.
What a great story. It reminded me of the days when our chickens ran around in the yard and you had to be very careful where you stepped. Fresh eggs are so much better than the ones in the store!
For the reasons listed, I’ve always eaten store bought eggs, but now some of them are almost a lemon color, so there’s the two ends of the spectrum. We had chickens loose in the yard too. We had a hen house but they were out during the day. So nasty. One fond memory I have is my moma saying she thought the ginnies were saying “give me something to eat” when they squawked. They were smallest and laid little green eggs. Moma made cornbread to feed the chickens. On the fun side, we had lots of Easter eggs to decorate and find. Sweet memories.
What a fun story! Thank you for sharing.
Eggs are good to eat only if there’s toast and jelly, preferably, blackberry! Of course, I’ve never tasted a free range egg.
Love this blog. With every kind of madness going on in this world your blog keeps me grounded.
Welcome always kept our unwashed eggs on the back porch table and they would keep until they were used. That’s why I laugh at people that trash their eggs when the expiration date on the carton has passed. I did see something new to me recently, while visiting I saw eggs in a large jar , the owner told me if he took the unwashed eggs and kept them in a solution of spring water and canning lime they would keep for a long time. I never had heard of that before.
There’s an easy way to test eggs to see if they’ve gone rotten. Place them in water deep enough to cover them. If they float at all, toss them.
Your eggs were fertile. Cage raised eggs are not. Fertile eggs are “alive”. The hens that laid them has access to a rooster. The eggs on your porch were waiting for a hen to sit on them and hatch them out into chicks. The eggs from hens who are not allowed to be around a rooster have never been alive. Those are the ones that need to be washed and kept refrigerated.
Fertile, unrefrigerated but kept in a cool dry place, will keep a long long time. If they got a little poop on them, wipe them off with a damp rag. If that doesn’t get it all, scrape it off with the edge of a razor blade or a knife. Never wash your free range fertile eggs!
A lady at our church has chickens a child under five and a newborn. One of my friends also from church,watched her kids while the mom and dad went away for an hour or two. When they got back she gave my friend a dozen of her eggs. Oh yeah, they were awesome!
My mother fixed us two eggs and three strips of bacon or two sausage every morning of our lives. I was scared off eggs for a while when they started up the cholesterol business, but I now have at least one egg every day with a mere single strip of bacon or sausage. I look forward to breakfast every day. I owe my good health to eggs, which I consider a serving of stem cells nowadays. I’m 80 and don’t complain too much.
Farm fresh eggs are the best! My daughter has chickens and we get to be the lucky recipients of her eggs when she has extras. Her birds are so pretty and sweet too and I love their personalities.
Growing up we always had chickens running free, scratching and looking
for something to eat.
My favorite is deviled eggs.
For the last 10 years, every fall I tell myself I’m buying chicks in the spring. But…. talk myself out of it b/c they’re like having 3 yr. olds. Can’t leave them alone & out b/c of cats , dogs & coons! Loved my hens.
Good story! I can’t add anything to comment but enter me please in the drawing for the book. God bless
Eggs are one my favorite foods. I can eat them for any meal!
Sounds like a wonderful book! Thank you, Tipper, for the chance to win it!
I love chickens, we have 15 beautiful fluffy butt girls and they lay beautiful eggs. We love fresh eggs and they’re very nutritious, I can smell the difference in fresh egg V store eggs, I have even bought store eggs that were rotten, now that’s a real morning kick when you’re cooking breakfast and then (WOW) have to run out the door with a hot skillet with a rotten egg in it, or am I the only one posting that has had that experience. Geez, so we bought some chickie girls and certainly enjoy nice fresh eggs.
Blessings to all
I love my “girls” and the eggs they give us. Nothing beats an egg from your own hens.
As sad as this seems, I can’t remember ever having an egg that wasn’t from the grocery store until this past spring when we bought a dozen from a Mennonite market. I can’t say I actually noticed any difference but I’m not really an egg lover anyway. Although, I believe eggs were what made me first think about marrying my husband. When we began dating we stayed out late at night to spend as much time together as possible, then I went to work early the next morning but got off at noon. I’d go to his house, take a short nap on the sofa and wake up each time to a delicious cheese omelette that he’d make for me. Even 43 years later, he will treat me to a cheese omelette every so often- the last time was about 11:00 at night after we had watched one of your cooking videos, Tipper. It made us both so hungry, we needed a snack before we could sleep.
I call myself an “egg snob”. I love my chickens and their delicious eggs. I tend to turn up my nose at the store bought eggs. Can’t help it!
Your eggs taste better, my neighbor brings me some from the farm sometimes, pasture raised, have a great day
Both sets of grandparents had chickens. On my mother’s side, they were kept in a large run with a coop, and on my father’s side, they were kept in a coop at night but free-ranged during the day. I do the coop and large run, but turn them loose in the back yard for a couple of hours before sundown.. It keeps the bugs down and the poultry is happy. I haven’t eaten a store bought egg in years.
We had chickens growing up, but they had a coop and fenced in area. I remember having a little pet chick. I called her Blackie. I can remember pecking the linoleum on the floor with my fingernails and she’d coming around the corner sliding on the linoleum toward me.
Free range chicken egg’s cannot be compared to the anemic runny eggs from the grocery store. Something about that deep yellow color gives it more flavor. It’s also fun when a double yoke appears in the pan.
Yes it does taste better
The reason free range chickens scratch around in their and others’ poop is because they are looking for little rocks. Chickens have no teeth so they chew with their craw (crop). They swallow their food whole and then grind it in their craw using those little rocks. Eventually these rocks make it through the chicken’s digestive system and are deposited on the ground along with depleted food matter. When they scratch around in, and appear to be eating poop, it is actually those little rocks they are searching out.
One other thing worth mentioning about chickens and their scratching. Hens need a lot of calcium to build a strong shell around their eggs. The only way free range birds can get enough calcium is from the same little rocks or from bits of bones. Not only do their craws grind rock around with their food, the rocks are ground against themselves. If the rocks contain calcium then the hens get a bonus.
When we raised chickens for hatching eggs we fed our flock crushed oyster shells. Oyster shells are high in calcium and serve a twofold benefit to the chickens.
Roosters need markedly less calcium than hens unless they identify as hens, I guess. Who knows these days?
Tell Katie she needs to dig around in some chicken poop. She might find some interesting rocks!
When I was growing up, we never had chickens but my grandma did. It was always fun to go out to the chicken coop with her and hunt for eggs. Eggs are one of my favorite foods and I like them anyway they are cooked.
My friend had chickens that ran loose, she was so excited when she could actually find an egg.
Enjoyed the chicken story…like most farm kids back in the day, we had to watch where we put our bare feet in the summer or we’d have chicken grease squish between our toes …we just hated that as kids but the eggs were good so we rocked along with the consequences…our chickens ran happy and free…
Carolyn, there’s a family story that my grandmother somehow dropped her upper denture out in the chicken yard, from coughing or sneezing, I guess, and, being more than a little vain about her appearance, she immediately picked up her choppers and popped them right back into her mouth. I always wondered about that chicken-grease angle in her case.
You can’t describe the taste difference that an egg from a free range chicken and one from a commercial egg farm has. Not only do they look different, but the taste is so much better. Wishing the eggs in my frig were home grown instead of store bought. My friend’s chickens usually slow down their egg production when it gets cold and again another reason to look forward to Spring.
We watched “Your Favorite Dishes”, “Cast Iron” and “Utensils” yesterday and enjoyed all of them. Your cast iron collection is beautiful. We’re hoping you run a you tube about caring for the cast iron. We’d love it!
My uncle used to build a big fire out in the yard and burned the cast iron in the fire then my granny would grease it up with Crisco and bake the pan in the oven to coat it and make it usable again God bless you
Getting chickens is one of the best things we ever did. We are able to let them free range during the day and lock them in at night. They are social and almost like pets. I love the description of having yolks the color of goldenrod. That is true of our eggs, and they certainly are delicious! I would not like going back to store bought, “city” eggs now that we have “country” eggs of our own. Would love to read more of this book! Prayers for your family & Granny, today and always.❤️
Tipper,
I love Sidney’s vivid memory of the chickens running loose and the “laying hens” playing Easter all year by hiding their eggs. Our chickens ran loose as well, which made it a must to watch where you stepped. When they “had to go”, it did not matter where they were. They “let it go!”
My Dad loved eggs better than anyone I knew. He would make them taste good just watching him eat them.
Chickens roaming around the yard sounds like heaven to me! I know they can make a mess, but if you ever have had a bird “make an accident” on your car or in your hair, you’ve got the idea of them being messy. I’d give just about anything to have chickens and get my own eggs and I’m honestly a bit jealous of you all who have fresh eggs right at your house-lucky rascals you are! I’ve started buying free range eggs out of NC they peddle at Food City. They’re good and I love the brown shells. Daddy always used chicken manure as his main nitrogen fertilizer, but if you ain’t daggone careful, you can burn up stuff. Now it’s like “oh no! You can’t use fertilizer. It’s bad!” Stupid is as stupid buys into I would guess. I had a GENIUS tell me last night- “oh no you didn’t mulch leaves debris into your yard did you? Nitrogen and carbon TOGETHER is dangerous!” I laughed at his so called science while crowning this 35 year old as the idiot of the week! Does it seem far out that they work together for optimal nutritional delivery to the soil to you folks here? Look around and talk to these young people and you’ll hear the most insane yet ridiculous crap you ever heard that lacks common sense or science. It’s like being surrounded a cult obsessed with its own demise…
Good morning Tipper. In last night’s video, one your hens let us viewers know she had accomplished something also.
Like you, eggs are one of my favorite things to eat anyway their cooked. Good way to get your protein. I bet Sidney Saylor Farr ate lots of eggs also.
I added More More Than Moonshine to my collection of Farr’s books after hearing your readings of Appalachia.
I’m praying your mom has a good week of treatments. Blessings to all.
Chickens are a key ingredient for the start of most civilizations. I think they are a true gift from God and every home should be able to have several chickens, if only for their ability to reduce food scraps we throw out but they devour. Keep warm.
I also think free range eggs are the best but hard to find in my area. Great story.
This story brought back memories of breakfast at my Grandmaw’s house. Thank you.
I’d like to read that book
Good morning Tipper. We love eggs too and enjoy them most every day. My husband is thrilled when I make a big batch of pickled eggs with beets and apple cider vinegar. I have to hide them way in back of the fridge so he will let them pickle for a week. Lol. If we don’t have those, then I will make fried or boiled or deviled. When we don’t feel like eating meat or cooking a huge meal, I make fried potatoes and eggs for supper. Even though the price has went up, they are still one of the cheapest proteins around. I really enjoyed your video last night. Your enthusiasm for the coming winter is how I also feel. I love all the seasons and I am so looking forward to snowy walks and warm cozy evenings curled up with a book. Have a wonderful week. Many prayers and blessings to you and yours! ♥️
Thank you for all you do. Start my day with your blog. As a kid, cleaning the chicken house was not a treat. But yes the eggs were so good.
I love eggs too and my favorite way to cook them is in a good cast iron skillet with lard or bacon grease. Add a few hot biscuits and some sausage or bacon and there you have a nice breakfast.
I love this story! I wish we had room for chickens because I agree that they taste so much better than store bought.
Peeling hard cooked eggs has always been a challenge for me. I’ve tried all the tricks, but the one that works the best is to add a good dose of baking soda to the water. The membrane releases easier. Now my deviled eggs look pretty.
I agree that eggs from free range chickens are much better than store bought. Because of coyotes and hawks in the area, we keep our chickens in a big lot. Their eggs are better than store bought, but still not as good as when they were free range.
Fresh eggs are so much better than store bought. My chickens run free and are in an enclosed coop in the evening. They are a pain in the rump when it comes to my flower beds, but they lay wonderful eggs.
I have to agree with the egg comparison. I am Blessed to have someone close that I purchase eggs from. There is a distinct difference in the color of the yolk. Sometime they are almost orange in color. As far as the manure, it can make stuff grow or burn it up if you are not careful. I had to learn that the hard way. Loved your final, maybe, of the garden yield. Praying for Granny and you guys. God Bless
Thank you for another great story!!
Our chickens ran loose too, it had nothing with none of today’s free range or organic kicks. It was because of not having money to buy feed. The chickens that we ate were kept in an above ground wire bottom coop that was large enough for the chickens to stand and walk around in and fed corn and fresh water each day. I now look back and refer to this coop as death row. This was done because a free range chicken will eat everything mentioned plus some other things, among them deposits left by the chicken running loose in front of them. Sometimes I think if people would get out the city and watch a free range chicken, they would change their minds. You would soon learn why among country folks a chicken is often called a barnyard buzzard. Personally and from an article I read just a few days ago there is no scientific proof that one egg is better for you than the other, the biggest advantage is being able to charge more for the eggs. I joke and tell people free range chickens and going barefoot when I was growing up is the reason I am so big now! Chicken manure is some of best organic fertilizer there is.