Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?


For centuries, this age old question has stumped the world's greatest minds, from Galileo to Einstein, but today folks I've finally solved this puzzle...

But maybe we are asking the wrong question all together, maybe it's supposed to be "why did the chicken taste so damn good?"  

Well, on the other side of the road lies a beautiful pasture, perfect for satisfying a large group of hungry chickens.  Not all chickens are created equal and there is a reason why industrial grain-fed chicken will never taste as good as local pasture-fed chicken.  It's always important to remember that everything we eat is a product of what it eats.  So a chicken's taste is only as good as what that chicken was eating while it was alive and the same goes for vegetables, a carrot is only as good as the soil it is grown in.  On this farm, they use a rotational grazing system which means that many different animals will graze these pastures depending on the season and life cycle of the grass.  You can see the mobile hen houses in the picture below.  These are moved on a regular basis so the chickens can't overgraze any one patch of grass on the pasture.  Overgrazing inhibits the grass from regrowing.  Moderation is the key.

Chickens, like many birds, are good scavengers and grow strongest when following grazers such as lamb and cattle.  Once those big meaty animals finish mowing down the delicious, fresh grass, the chickens come in and eat the rest of it along with all the bugs and grubs left behind in the prior animal's manure.  It's a cycle and as we always say, there is no waste, only potential.  With each cycle, the chickens spread their own manure, adding essential nitrogen to fertilize the pasture so new grass can grow.  Once the grass grows back, the bigger animals can come back in for their turn to enjoy the newly grown grass.  Everything works together, just as nature intended and the result is some outrageously delicious chicken, eggs and meat.  I highly recommend you all do a taste test of your own.  I guarantee, no one will choose the typical unknown supermarket brand chicken over these healthy locally grown chickens, but if you do, please let us know.

Learning all this was great, but Matt still had to learn a few things the hard way...never stare directly into a chickens eyes.

See, you have to sneak up behind them like this.

It's not about saying what's right and wrong, but about gaining as much knowledge as possible to make the best decision.  Everyone is not going to have the same principles when it comes to food and that's okay, but it's not okay to ignore the truth.  When we are all faced with questions of what we want to put in our bodies, I feel it is best for me to at least know the whole story.  

And off he goes, the journey continues...


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