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EGGS
JUNE 2023 | BACK TO CALENDAR
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Humans and other predatory animals have been eating eggs for millions of years. Then, about 5,000 years ago, people in Asia domesticated the first wildfowl. It was so successful that the idea spread worldwide. Later, the Egyptians developed a method to incubate eggs in heated caves, freeing up hens to lay more. In the 1940s, egg farming was industrialized, with larger flocks put in smaller cages. Today, 98% of US eggs come from factory farms, which are cheap for the consumer, but criticized for poor animal welfare, pollution, disease, contamination, unsafe working conditions, and subpar nutrition. In response, the popularity of small-scale egg farms is increasing, and Vermonters, in particular, are at the forefront of putting better eggs back on the menu. |
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Justice & LIberation Story:
As a child growing up in the rainforest of Guatemala, Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin shares that his family did not have a lot of money but always had plenty of food. Many other farmers around his family were slashing and burning the forest to create fields to grow crops. Reginaldo’s family tried this once on their land, and his father quickly saw that the soil was losing its vitality. His father knew they needed to take care of the soil and work with the land to have crops for years to come. His family used some farming techniques that cared for the land to create abundance. This inspired Reginaldo to follow a career in Regenerative Agriculture, a farming practice that focuses on caring for the topsoil, water cycles, and biodiversity. Today Reginaldo believes that “chickens can save the world” because they offer agricultural benefits such as:
- providing natural pest control
- consuming food and yard waste
- naturally tilling the soil
- giving a constant protein-rich food source in the form of eggs or meat
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» Sonya’s Chickens by Phoebe Wahl
» The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington » Wild Eggs: A Sstory of Arctic Egg Collecting by Suzie Napayok-Short » Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones by Ruth Heller » Chickens! Illustrated Chicken Breeds A to Z by Sarah Rosedahl » Chicks & Chickens by Gail Gibbons |
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