I've also been getting eggs from Valentine's Country Bakery & Meats. They taste a little better than supermarket eggs, but what really jumps out at you is the color - a brighter yellowish-orange compared to pale yellow factory farm eggs - and I'm far from the only one who's noticed. Research shows eggs from chickens with a free range & varied diet may be healthier than chickens locked up & fed a diet of cheap processed feed.
Some Arlington residents are taking it one step further, with the Arlington Egg Project pushing the County Board to allow backyard chickens. Tonight the Arlington Committee of 100 is making the issue the topic of its monthly dinner.
I've visited a home in DC with chickens in the backyard & barely noticed the were there - they pecked around one corner of the yard until the sun went down, then climbed into their small wooden roost on their own. No smell (and this was a hot summer day), no mess that I saw, and very little noise, just a few clucks when someone ventured too close. On the fridge I found this note about what leftovers NOT to feed the chickens.
From today's morning notes on Arlnow (http://www.arlnow.com/2012/01/11/28971/):
ReplyDelete"Group to Discuss Backyard Chickens — Arlington’s Committee of 100 will take up the issue of backyard chicken raising at its meeting tonight. Among the speakers are an official from Albemarle County, where urban chicken keeping is allowed; the founder of the Arlington Egg Project, which is pushing the county to change its restrictive poultry ordinance; and an Arlington resident who lives next door to a neighbor who raises chickens."
Seriously? Your neighbor raises chickens and that qualifies you to be a speaker on the issue? Did you at least stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night? I feel like there's a South Park quote that should be appropriate here.
But ... but ... I'm an expert because I shop at the Farmers Market! (Cue this music.)
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