What came first....

My love for sustainably raised chickens, or my love for their eggs?

It's the age old question...

I love sustainable agriculture and good, clean, and fair food. I think we all knows this about me by now.

And one of my favorite animals of all time are chickens.

(Cows obviously are near the top of the list, and goats are fascinating too...)

But chickens are fantastic creatures.

Not only are they very self-sufficient and extremely low maintenance, but they produce eggs and meat...and also a little entertainment if you have time to observe them.

In the state of New Hampshire I'm pretty sure you can only buy chickens a dozen at a time...so my friend Jess and I have already decided we'll buy the dozen and split them as soon as we're able to have a place to house them.

And I wait for that day with baited breath. 

I'm so incredibly excited about the availability and accessibility of Farmer's Markets all over Dijon -- the nearest, and coincidentally the largest, happens to be about 50 yards (or meters, whatever.) away from where I live!

I'm smitten.

I'm talkin' fromage (cheese) for DAYS, all the types of meat and game you could dream of, and the SEAFOOD...It's a spectacular sight to behold. The shrimp are massive, the salmon steaks are luscious and the scallops make me want to skip and twirl around just at the sight of them.

And the produce?

Fa'getaboutit.

It's so beautiful! I've never seen leeks this big before. Or Bok Choy this lovely.

And the bread and the pastries?

It truly brings tears of joy to my eyes just thinking about it.

This ain't a hyperbole folks, talking about this stuff makes my heart go pitter-pat.

But back to the eggs.

Being on my student budget, and innately being a frugal Yankee, I can only afford to buy products that will keep the longest and that I will be able to stretch out for a week to two weeks.

Eggs are one of those products.

And baby, (may I call you baby?) I'm sure glad they are.

The eggs from these farms are like no other eggs I have eaten. Even organically grown eggs from NH, or Pete and Gerry's compare to these eggs that I bought from the sweetest old farmer couple. 

And in case any one was wondering "La dozen" does not translate into French as much as I wanted it to.

I know, Danielle, I'm trying...I'll get there eventually. 

But she understood my request after a little pantomiming, and with a smile and a "merci, mademoiselle-- bonjourne!" I was 12 eggs richer and 2.50 Euro poorer.

Will I ever tire of people calling me "mademoiselle"?

I sincerely doubt it...

I cracked my first two eggs today for breakfast and whisked them together with a little farm-fresh milk I bought that same day.

Dark, rich, almost-orange yolks looked at me as I smiled back at them.

I've been waiting to find these color yolks for so long.

The darker the yolk is, the more nutritious they are.

How do you get a chicken to lay eggs with dark yolks, you ask?

You let a chicken be a chicken and eat like a chicken.

This means letting the chicken exercise, walk around in fresh air, see the light of day, and EAT what it is SUPPOSED to eat.

Chickens are omnivores and SHOULD consume both plant proteins and animal proteins of insects and larvae.

NOT corn.

Don't even get me started on corn...

Chickens that consume a diet rich in proteins will produce eggs with darker yolks.

This has been a known fact for hundreds of years.

In fact, in the Middle Ages, Tempra (not Tempura for all you sushi fans out there) was a popular medium with which artists used to paint. It was created by mixing egg yolks and pigment from plants and flowers to create different hues of paint.

Well artist back then knew to use "city eggs" if they wanted to create lighter colors, and "country eggs" if they wanted darker, richer hues. Country eggs have darker yolks because the chickens are eating a bio-diverse diet and eating more proteins than the city chickens.

We should all be grateful chickens now-a-days can't form unions...

Bottom line, these eggs were not only beautiful, but yummy too.

Here's what dark yolks look like!

Okay.

I'm disappointed that these photos don't capture what a deep, deep yellow, almost-orange color these eggs were.

Looks like you'll just have to take my word for it!

...or at least until when I can find some proper lighting...