Our Hens & Their Brown Eggs

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Our hens lay beautiful brown eggs.  They are really big, more along the extra-large or jumbo sized.  As you can see in the large-sized egg carton below, many don't really fit well into the slots because they're so big.  The yolks have become a beautiful, healthy orange and are full of rich flavor.  Like a pastured, well-treated hen egg should taste.  (It isn't even comparable to a supermarket egg.)  Our eggs are available for purchase at the Freeport Farmers Market (Saturday mornings), the Rockford City Market (Friday afternoons), as well as free weekly delivery to the Freeport area.  If you are interested in purchasing our eggs, email me at wishfulacres@gmail.com.   Hey, did you catch that bit above, about the Rockford farmers market?  I'll be making an announcement soon...

Here they are outside in their chicken run.  It's a large fenced in area behind the coop.  They have access to this area all day long through a small door in the back of their coop.  I was debating letting them free range but decided against it.  Unfortunately, they would tear up our gardens, eat all the growing plants and vegetables, and dig up the seeds I plant.  Can't blame them, that's their way of life, but I have to protect my crops.  I also have to protect the hens from our dog, little boys, and predators.

The hens love it when we share fresh farm greens!

Our puppy is growing fast!  Luckily, we got him young enough to train him to protect the hens (I hope).  We do have a few black-feathered hens, and one of them flies over the fence and free ranges a lot.  Our dog chases her (a lot) and has even caught her (but luckily not harmed her).  It is fun to watch the action here at Wishful Acres Farm, thanks for visiting!

Hallelujah! The hens are laying again. Breakfast skillet recipe!

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Thank heavens!  The hens are laying again, albeit slowly and not yet even at half production, but it's a start!

I made some eggs today, and I noticed how nicely their yolks are turning darker yellow & orange now that they are living in the great conditions here at the farm.  (And just think, they came from a Certified Organic chicken farm, and now they're even healthier!).  Darker yolks=healthier eggs.

They're being fed a great diet of garden scraps (tons of greens), kitchen scraps, and supplemented with an all-natural chicken feed that I special ordered.  This great diet, combined with pastured conditions (having access to outdoors all day long) is leading to the best-tasting, best-looking eggs I've ever had.  Orange yolks, firm whites.  This is the way food should be!

I made a skillet the other day, complete with homemade hash browns (it's easier than you think!).  Here's the recipe, posted on my blog a couple of years ago:

http://all-natural-mama.blogspot.com/2009/03/breakfast-skillet-recipe.html

Enjoy!  Thanks for visiting the Wishful Acres Farm blog!

Breakfast Skillet Recipe

Who doesn't love the skillets served at restaurants?!!
But let's be honest, eating out is expensive. Plus when you make the food at home you can control what good, wholesome ingredients go into it!
Let's make a breakfast skillet, shall we?



The secret to homemade hash browns from scratch is to use baked potatoes. Here's a tip: the next time you're baking something at around 350 degrees, toss a few potatoes on a cookie sheet and let them sit in there as well for about an hour. Don't forget to wash & prick them with a fork first. I've heard potatoes can blow up if not pricked before cooking... let's not find out if it's true! After you've cooked the potatoes just stash them in the fridge. You can use them anytime, microwave a baked potato, dice one up for this or that, whatever!

But this time, we're going to use those potatoes for homemade hash browns. Pull them out of the fridge whenever you're ready to use them (they'll keep for a long time, probably a week or two at least after baking). Then grab a cheese grater and have the kids help you grate them. As you grate, most of the skins will just fall off in one piece. Toss the skins in the compost bin or (cringe) garbage.


Next, get some oil hot in your pan. I prefer cast iron, but any kind will work. When the oil is hot, toss in your potatoes. Every now and then, flip them around. Since they're already cooked (when you baked them), they won't take long to brown a bit. Maybe a few minutes. Salt & Pepper them and put them aside on a plate. Grate some cheese on them while they're still hot so it will melt.

You can use the same pan to cook your eggs. However you prefer them in your skillet. We recently had access to some free-range turkey eggs! Aren't they beautiful?!



Of course, if you want some meat you can do that as well.

I love vegetables, so this time I sauteed some onion, garlic, green pepper, and mushrooms. I put them on a separate plate, of course, so the kids wouldn't have to pick it out or puke on the skillet from looking at them / smelling them / having them get too close! :-)



That's it. So easy. A frugal, healthful, simple recipe.