My parents exposed me at a young age that this is life, you should know where your meat comes from, what work is put into it and how it makes it to your table for you to eat. When I was younger my mom's family was all still in Pakistan, including my grandmother. Anytime we'd visit my grandmother would go to the animal market and get the 4 of us chickens, parrots, parakeets, goats (if we were there for Eid) and we would take care of these pets (with her help) for the 3 months we were over there for summer vacation.
In Pakistan/India they dye the chicks to make them fun for children.
She didn't sugar coat anything. If an animal died, she told us. Tried to find the reason it died. For example I once gave the baby chicks ice cold water from the fridge instead of lukewarm from the sink. It killed one of the chicks, my grandmother told me it was my mistake but it's okay. I learned my lesson right then, because my mistake killed another creature. On another occasion my sister took the chicks to run around on the rooftop. (In Pakistan the rooftops are flat and that's usually where you go to hang clothes to dry after washing). She took them out in the daytime, alone and couldn't keep track of the 4 chicks and one got eaten by a crow. My grandmother told her next time, take someone with her to watch the chicks so that when her back is turned someone is there to scare the crows away. These lessons you learn as a child and you never forget them. I loved caring for those animals and I'm so thankful to my grandmother who taught me all these little lessons.
My grandmother and I, she was my best friend.
Any life skills I have, taught by her.
I also went to a private school, Al-Huda located in College Park, MD. It was a great school. The curriculum was based off of the Arab style. I remember we went on a field trip one time to a farm. We had a picnic in the fields next to the sheep and then the farmer picked one of those fluffy happy faces and showed us all how to butcher it. I must have been in 3rd grade at the time. It was a very memorable trip, I loved the picnic in the grass under the sunshine, petting those fluffy creatures and then watching them die with a blessing thanking God for providing us with meat and learning how to cook that sheep and eat it. :)
(pic courtesy of google)
There's so many rules and regulations in the United States of what you can and cannot have. How many of a certain animal you can have, what you can do in your backyard and so on. I've always wanted to have my own farm, even if it's a little one on 1 acre of land. That's plenty for me. I would love to have chickens, ducks, goats, maybe some lamb. Fresh milk is the BEST. If you haven't had raw milk I don't know if you'd like it but it's amazing. In Pakistan, in the early morning the milk boy would come making his rounds selling milk door to door that was freshly milked that morning. I used to love getting milk in a bag from him. I'd watch my grandmother pour it into a pot and heat it on the stove. All the fat would rise, in urdu it's called "malai" and we'd each get a spoon to eat. You can use it in lots of different desserts, I know I've said this but it was one of the best things.
(Shatto Milk is the creamiest milk I could find in Missouri)
I keep getting off track reminiscing, my point is, where I currently reside in Lees Summit, Missouri, you are allowed 6 chickens in your backyard. No roosters. The coop has to be 10 feet from the property line and 40 feet away from the neighbors. Must remain in a constant clean environment with no odors. That one is ridiculous. How do you control poop?! How many times have you driven by cows and smelled the manure a mile away? The wind will carry it. You cannot have more than 3 cubic feet of manure stored (if you're composting). And slaughtering? Has to be out of pubic view, so you have to have some sort of shed away from prying neighbors binoculars from their 2nd story window to go about your business. So many rules!
You, reader, may be one of those people that goes to the supermarket and buys a dozen eggs, come home and use that for your family. Well have you ever looked at your egg yolk? It's probably yellow right? Yellow means grain fed. It means the chicken that laid this beautiful little egg was probably cooped up in horrible conditions and fed grain and only grain. Is that what Chickens eat in nature? No. It's not. Free range true natural Chickens eat BUGS, they eat seeds, they scavenge around like little vultures gobbling up anything they can find, scratching and pecking on the grass now dirt path. What they SHOULD be laying are eggs filled with orange colored yolks. You'll taste the difference. It's much richer in taste, healthier too.
(pic courtesy of google/pinterest)
Now I've bought chicken eggs from the farmers market and was disappointed, the yolk was yellow and it didn't taste all that great. So for this duck comparison I bought eggs from Vital Farms. They provide their chickens with the bugs and the fresh air to produce orange yolks. Jeff likes to buy a dozen eggs for $2-3, I'll pay $5-6.
Side by side comparison. I think duck eggs were $4 for 6.
I've heard people say duck eggs are bigger than chicken eggs. Not by much.
I buy the large brown chicken eggs so next to the duck they look the same.
The duck egg is much thicker of a shell.
You can see the difference looking at the edges.
The egg whites is where you notice the biggest difference. Duck whites are much thicker, it actually looks like its from a commercial! Jeff can only eat egg whites, he's allergic to the yolk. I feel like he will get more whites by choosing the duck egg. The difference in taste? The duck egg tastes creamier than the chicken. However notice the color? These ducks aren't being fed the most natural stuff. Imagine if they were, not only would they be creamier but tastier too. I wonder what the farmer is feeding them. Not enough duckweed! :P
In conclusion, I want my own farm, so I can feed them and know what is going in their little bodies so whatever they are producing for me, eggs, meat, I know what is going in my body and my future children's bodies.
