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This is a story about a community egg cooperative formed by a group of volunteers, bringing chickens to a working urban farm, and managing the production of eggs for themselves and a local CSA. View the video here. Download Show: MP4 | WMV | iPhone Post a comment Recipes from the episode: Garden Greens Quiche; Barley Eggs Director s Journal I’ve been wanting to do a story on eggs for quite awhile, so when Deborah Kane, of Ecotrust Food Farms, told me about the Eastside Egg project, I almost became giddy. Yay! Chickens and eggs! It’s very cool how serendipity played into this coming together. Patrick and Holly, previous chicken owners themselves, belong to a local CSA which had recently lost its egg supplier. Patrick suggested the idea of a cooperative to Laura Masterson who knew of a local urban farm which had a Heifer International grant for small livestock. And voilá, the Eastside Egg Cooperative of Zenger Farm was hatched, er, born. There are so many benefits to raising chickens. They are a great addition to any garden, they clear out whatever area of land defines their boundary, and they also leave their nitrogen rich manure for the next round of plantings. The eggs from these naturally raised chickens are higher in the good omega-3 fatty acids than eggs produced from factory farms, not to mention being fresher. Typically, eggs from the supermarket are at least 2 weeks old before they even reach the shelf. Craig Clark, another co-op member and one who also raises his own chickens at home, said taking care of chickens run somewhere between a cat and a dog. If you have the right set up, and as long as they have access to quality food and fresh water, he says they can be left for up to 3 days. Please note: this is only on occasion, if you have to leave home for a few days. I recently discovered a website put together by another filmmaker, Patti Moreno, whose passion is living in a sustainable way. She shares her knowledge of gardening, cooking, crafting, and more, on her website GardenGirlTV. The one that tied in beautifully with “Community Egg Co-op” is her upcoming 6 part series “How to Build a Chicken Tractor”. If you’re interested in building a coop for a raised bed, check out Patti’s video here, and check out her website too! If this is something you think you’d like to try, find out if chickens are allowed where you live, and if yes, like Patrick says, make it happen! —Rebecca Additional Resources Henwaller (Patrick and Holly’s blog) Chicken Feed: The World of Chickens Greener Eggs and Ham (PDF) ATTRA – Pastured Poultry, an IntroductionLicensing: 2006 Creative Commons 2.5
