The best egg 'vacations' -- different yolks for different folks

Add a Comment

September 19, 9:57 AM

by Mary Choate, Denver Gardening Examiner

 

 

 

One ingredient that at first seems easier to decide upon than it actually might be is eggs. There are so many kinds of eggs! Chickens, quail, pigeons, geese, ducks, even lizards and fish lay eggs!

Some eggs are more popular than others. Are you selling the eggs? Are you eating them? Are you eating what you can’t sell? You should always be ready to eat what you don’t sell (though more often than not you ought to be ready to keep a little for yourself because you’ll have much more demand than you can supply – fresh eggs are wonderful).

Each egg tastes different. As you potential customers their preferences and uses for eggs. If you don’t have customers, ask you family cook.

Chicken eggs are an all-around favorite. Great for everything, they are the most popular egg in all the world. But quail eggs, being somewhat more yolky, meaty and dry, are better for baking and frying up with vegetables that will keep them moist. Goose eggs are fatty and moist, and are great either by themselves or in rich French pastries. Pigeon eggs – once one of the most popular egg in Italy during Roman times – are similar to quail, but are especially desired hardboiled as a garnish on your salads. Duck eggs are similar to goose eggs, but have the rich flavor of quail, and rival the chicken egg for versatility – they’re excellent fried or steamed with rice. Fish eggs are typically used as a spread (like egg salad), and lizard eggs are so rare that they are used more as a novelty than as a food staple (though they are typically served hardboiled).

It is important to try out new foods. Every animal naturally seeks to vary its diet, though preferring a standard regimen – much like how animals will usually go on a vacation once every year.

New foods ARE like vacations! During a vacation, an animal will explore new territories, study how other animals solve the same problems encountered everywhere, enjoy the beauty and wonder of the world and indulge in a season of play to hone and improve its mind, spirit and body that it might be more able to do what it needs and wants to do when its vacation is over. Vacations give animals a moment to reflect and refresh, to think about things in a new way and do their jobs better when they return. And, their travels identify new potential resources – during emergencies (such as forest or grass fires), animals will often seek refuge in the lands they vacationed in during years past – they are vaguely familiar with the territory, and know its advantages.

Trying new foods identifies new potential nutritional sources, sometimes better ones than are currently enjoyed as staples. New foods excite the senses, and make us more aware of ourselves and our world, exciting our mind’s imagination. Good food leads to good conversation, and enjoyment of life. We reenter our daily work after a meal of new foods refreshed and ready to look at things in a new and better way. Trying foods from other cultures teaches us more about human nature, and allows us to see that all our species shares similar tastes, and how the different environments of the globe require us to use different staples and preparations.

Since the first person robbed a nest of eggs, or gutted a fish to find those dainties inside, people have enjoyed eggs. Recently, however, for nutritional and ethical reasons, some people do not eat eggs. New foods are being discovered to replace this long-time staple, and new ways of preparing old foods (especially soy beans) are being experimented with. Soybeans have long been used to make a kind of cheese – now, the humble beans are being used to replace the egg!

Eggs and beans are similar: both have similar physiology and metabolism. It is interesting to think that animals and plants would find the same solution to the same problem of reproduction through external ovaries. More than enough to mediate upon as you try some of the many different eggs and egg-like foods you can grow in your garden.

To raise beans is easy, to raise birds, lizards or fish is even easier...even for an urban gardener. These animals take up little space, and are cheaply fed. Though most gardeners are more used to raising beans than eggs, it is a worthwhile experiment to try out this alternative food. Why not grow both?

Each animal requires its own environment and foods. Chickens and pigeons need the least care, geese and ducks somewhat more (including water to swim in). Lizards require advanced understandings of their native environment, heating and cooling, sometimes complex water supplies too. Fish require a large enough pond, with proper pH and heat.

Egg gardeners who are beginners ought to start with chickens! Provide them a chicken coop either by way of a used “Tuff Shed” or of your own construction, making sure that it is large enough: a 10 x 12 room is generally large enough for 25-40 birds. Give them perches and egg boxes, something to drink from and something to eat from and away you go! Let them wander through your garden, and they’ll eat the pests your crops hate while reducing their own feed needs. Let them scratch and roll in the dirt and you’ll have less veterinary costs. Give them wholesome whole grains to supplement their diet and you’ll get lots of delicious eggs.

We always keep at least 1 rooster for every 4 chickens, but sometimes even 1 rooster per chicken. Roosters help their hens more than you can! They herd them from place to place where there is lots of good food, they keep them safe from predators, and will even care for chickens not feeling well by singing them a song and making sure they get extra food and heat.

The rooster’s happiest song was once sacred to the Romans, and has made its way permanently into Western music’s themes. It is a beautiful song (CGEGC). The rooster’s assurances against danger that promises the hens all is safe has been made into the ubiquitous “car safety alarm” (“boop-buip!”). If you have more than one rooster, they’ll occasional “battle,” and jump up and down at each other without hurting each other. It is a favorite rooster activity when the hens are well fed and there is little else to do. Two of my roosters are best friends (Crook and Goober) and they will always help each other with everything they do. They are inseparable, and share everything.

Roosters can be very friendly to you and your family, and ferocious to any enemies that threaten their hens or you. They are devoted pets and more than worth their feed. Some people raise roosters for meat, but on my farm we keep our roosters for the help they provide to their flocks.

Each breed of chicken has its own habits and character, and each individual has its own personality. It is hard to suggest a breed for everyone. Try a few, and you’ll learn which ones are easiest for you to work with! Animals, like plants, are your gardening partners, and just as you find solace in your lush and verdant beans, you’ll find infinitely more pleasure in the songs and company of your garden animals. Just as you started off with easy plants to grow and then developed the skill to enjoy more difficult plants, you'll begin to experiment with ducks, geese, quail, pigeons, fish, lizards and even other egg laying creatures!

Have fun!

   Subscribe   Feed

Include other special offers from Examiner.com
Terms of Use