I am at somewhat of a loss as to why some of our local co-ops (Madison Market?) don’t stock eggs from the same people that sell at farmers markets. That would be good for me!

I have never had to return anything to a farmers market, and in all honesty I wouldn’t have a problem doing so. I would maybe go when they are just setting up however, so that it doesn’t effect their running of the stand at high-time. A friend actually wanted to go back to a seafood distributer at a farmers market and say how dissapointed he was with some oysters he bought, but I don’t think he ever has done. So far I have been lucky, everything I have got from a farmers market has been top notch.

One trend that could be seen as good or bad is that supermarket eggs have been getting way more expensive for the last two years, which means the price difference between farm eggs and battery eggs is getting slimmer.

Kathy raised an interesting topic. What do you do when you get something bad from a local farmer and have to look them in the eye if you want to return it? Anyone here returned something to a farmers market stand?

I find all the different labels on eggs complete rubbish to be honest. I think the larger egg companies are just looking for new ways to get a market share. “free range” eggs from battery hens really taste no different to eggs from a regular battery hen. So the cage is a tiny bit larger (so they can turn round..) - it makes no difference, they can still hardly move.

I would love to see a photo of a chicken farm that labels “access to pasture”.. I picture this tiny tunnel that a chicken could squeeze itself down if it ever wanted to - or some complicated gate that it had to figure out how to open - but it does technically have acess to pasture, once it is has figured out how to get there.

At the end of the day, I want an egg from a chicken that has done what a chicken does. Walk around, peck at grass, eat the odd bug (a proper chicken is NEVER vegetarian), lay an egg where it wants to. Shame this is actually bloody hard to find.

It’s fun to stick your hands under a laying hen! It’s warm!

I’ve sworn off Trader Joe’s eggs, even though they’re hand blah blah omega blah free blah blah organic blah, they suck. Eggs.

I often get mine at the farmers’ market, but they’re eight freaking dollars a dozen, surely a record? Has anyone heard of more expensive eggs than that??

Check out this article: http://www.skagitriverranch.com/pictures/Better%20Eggs.pdf

Eggs from true free range chickens (as opposed to the bare minimum required for free range, which is something like a door that the chickens can potentially use to get out but never do) can have up to 10X the beta carotine, 4X the Vitamin E, double the Vitamin A, 3X the Omega 3, and 100 mg less cholesterol per egg.

I do notice a difference in how the eggs perform in a recipe. I can’t say that the taste in a single cooked egg is much different, but I do believe that if you can get eggs that are from completely pastured chickens, they are a lot healthier.

i’ve read that eggs from chickens who live regular chicken lives—walking around outside, scratching and pecking, eating plants and bugs—have tastier (and better for you) eggs than the superstressed “factory” birds, whose terrible lives we’ve all heard all about.

though i reckon being a chicken in a living history museum could also be stressful, what with being chased by entire field trips of fourth graders, and all.

Sorry, this was my big ha ha for the day. All I keep thinking is, “That chicken did eat her Wheaties.”