a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • The End of Darkness

    Jizo

    Today marks the end of darkness. Starting tomorrow the days lengthen and the nights shorten. For me, tomorrow seems like the beginning of a new year.

    On this, the darkest day of the year, some of the chickens are on the roost for the night before 4 p.m., like the mother and chick below. The chick is too large to fit between its mothers feet, so it snuggles as close to her as possible. In a few more weeks, it will have the confidence to roost on its own.

    MotherChild141221
    SolsticeEggs

    These are solstice eggs, the last of the old season. It won’t be long before the lengthening days brings new life to the hens and they start laying eggs by the basketful.

    Speaking of eggs, I wrote a letter to Gabrielle Johnston, Public Affairs Specialist at USDA-FSIS, asking about the USDA-FSIS statement “many eggs reach stores only a few days after the hen lays them”. I had a pleasant phone conversation with her on Friday, and she is looking into how that statement got placed on their website. I’m looking forward to her response, and will let you know what she says.

    This is what I emailed her today:

    Dear Gabrielle,

    I hope you had a pleasant weekend. It’s nice to reach the winter solstice and have days getting longer again.

    Back to the claim on the USDA website that “many eggs reach stores only a few days after the hen lays them”, I did a little research recently and this is what I found:

    On December 12, I looked at the eggs at Haggens, a supermarket chain in this area, and found eggs packed from 6 to 39 days ago. The average on all the egg cartons was 25 days. When you add in the 2 to 3 days minimum it takes eggs to be trucked from the farm to the egg processing plants, the typical egg at Haggens was laid 28 days, or 4 weeks ago.

    Here are the results of stores I checked on December 21:

    Bellingham Food Co-Op: 4 days to 25 days, an average of 20.3 days

    Trader Joes in Bellingham, WA: 8 days to 12 days, an average of 10.7 days

    Fred Meyer in Bellingham, WA: 5 days to 17 days, an average of 11.1 days

    Those are the packing dates, so a typical egg in those stores is 2 to 3 weeks old at the least. The USDA allows eggs to be packed up to 21 days after being laid, so on the outset the eggs could be up 5 to 6 weeks old, not likely, but not impossible.

    I called several Whole Foods stores in Seattle and asked their grocers if they had any eggs that were just a few days old. They said no. They told me that even though they get a few eggs from Pacific Northwest egg producers, the bulk of their eggs come from Wisconsin and Texas. Based on that, it sounds to me like their eggs are easily 2 to 3 weeks old. The next time I am in the Seattle area, I will check their eggs.

    So, I’m baffled as to how the USDA decided to put on their website that “many eggs reach stores only a few days after the hen lays them”.

    I hope you were able to find out how this statement was posted on your website. Maybe some one at the USDA can provide a list of supermarkets that sell these mythical 2 to 3 day old eggs. According to the USDA, there supposedly are many of them on store shelves. I’ll keep looking. If I find any, I’ll let you know.

    Sincerely,

  • Poo Power

    CompostHeat

    It’s midwinter, and baby it’s cold outside. Cold, windy, and wet. But poo never rests. Mixed with straw and, in this case, shredded paper, it is generating heat. Actually it is all the bacteria feasting on the chicken poo which is creating the heat. The compost pile is coming alive and getting warmer by the day.

    Done correctly, a sizable compost pile will keep an unheated hoop house from freezing. Place thick pipes in it, and a steady flow of warm air will flow from the center of the pile. It’s amazing what poo will do.

  • The Swans Beckon

    Swans141219A

    The skies are infinitely gray. The darkest days of the year are upon us. We are greeted with darkness upon waking up. The light doesn’t last as long as supper. It is easy to close your eyes and sleep. But the swans beckon. In vast flocks they trample the sodden fields, honking and telling us to cheer up. “Look at all the wonderful mud!” they honk as they splash their way back and forth on big, webbed feet. We’re kinda of luckier than them. When we run through mud, we can feel it oozing between our toes. When swans waddle through mud, their webbed feet keep the mud from squishing between their toes.

    Swans141219B

  • Lining a Path

    PathMakingA

    It’s time to use the alder tree that fell down in last week’s storm. It doesn’t take long to drag the pieces of the trunk to the sides of the path to line them. As the wood deteriorates, moss will cover it, creating a soft, green border.

    It doesn’t take long for the dogs and chickens to use the new path, though most of the paths are ones the dogs made first. I’m just widening and lining them. When you walk through the woods, you see myriad paths created and maintained by dogs, deer, coyotes, and many other animals. It makes you wonder how long it will be before Google sends out dog sized robots to map and photograph all these animal trails. Or perhaps they could be mapped at night using silent drones with infrared cameras to trace where the deer and coyotes go. Then during the day, the little robots could zip along photographing the animal trails.

    PathMakingB
    PathMakingC
    PathMakingD
    PathMakingF

  • How Fresh Are Your Eggs – Most Likely Not Very

    YesterdaysEggsA

    Yesterday we went shopping at our co-op. It’s where we do much of our shopping. I was curious as to how fresh their eggs were, and the freshest eggs I could find were those packed 8 days ago. There were also eggs that were packed more than 30 days ago.

    According to the USDA: “Many eggs reach stores only a few days after the hen lays them.” Hmmm, I’ve yet to encounter such fresh eggs in a supermarket. They typically are two to six weeks old.

    YesterdaysEggsB

    The USDA has no legal definition for the word “Fresh” when it comes to eggs. It does have a definition for “Fresh Poultry” which is:

    FRESH POULTRY:
    “Fresh” means whole poultry and cuts have never been below 26 °F (the temperature at which poultry freezes). This is consistent with consumer expectations of “fresh” poultry, i.e., not hard to the touch or frozen solid.
    In 1997, FSIS began enforcing a final rule prohibiting the use of the term “fresh” on the labeling of raw poultry products whose internal temperature has ever been below 26 °F.
    The temperature of individual packages of raw poultry products labeled “fresh” can vary as much as 1 °F below 26 °F within inspected establishments or 2 °F below 26 °F in commerce.
    Fresh poultry should always bear a “keep refrigerated” statement.
    (USDA – Meat and Poultry Labeling Terms)

    I’ll keep looking for these phantom, a few days old eggs, the USDA claims are on store shelves. If I find any, I’ll let you know. Tomorrow, I’m going to have a chat with Karen at the USDA. I was going to chat with her this morning, but she doesn’t chat on Thursdays. I wonder what she does on Thursdays. I’m going to find out what the USDA thinks consumer expect when they see phrases like “farm fresh” on eggs.