Our kids sing along with "The Farmer In The Dell" to learn about farm animals…
The concept of mainly eating locally sourced food – or the 100 mile diet – is not a new one, but, it can be a challenging one. When you pair the eat local focus with other food ideals you may have; whether that means organic, non-GMO, or grass-fed, it can make the shopping experience overwhelming and stressful!
Moms really don’t need more on their plate, amirite? So often I feel overwhelmed when trying to choose local, healthy food to feed my family. There is a lot of misinformation, and half-truths circulation that really make it hard to be confident in your choices!
One of the ways to combat this stress is to go straight to the food source for information, and we are so lucky here in beautiful BC to have amazing farmers that are completely transparent and open with where our food comes from. This allows us consumers to make a fully educated, conscious decision about what is best for our families, instead of one based on half truths and fear mongering.
My family and I love eggs, they’re healthy for you and taste great, but I had never really explored how they were actually made. I decided to take a peek into the lives of several different BC Egg farmers that operate around the province, and found it to be a really eye opening experience.
I learned about what the day to day difference is between the labels we see on our shelves; free-range, caged, organic, non-GMO etc, and it was truly eye opening.
I loved hearing the stories of many BC Egg farmers, including third generation egg farmer Mark Siemens. You can tell how passionate he is about his chickens and producing food for consumers. He grows free range eggs, meaning that the birds get to go outside and play outside in the grass and enjoy the sunshine! It proves how much he deeply cares about the birds and their health, well being and comfort.
Another free range BC Egg farmer, Jeremy Vaandrager, uses an aviary system for his birds – essentially a jungle gym for chickens – how cool is that?!
Chicken gymnastics aside, there were 2 big takeaways from my exploration.
Firstly, it’s really evident how much the farmers care for their chickens. The farms are almost all family owned, and many of them have been in the farming business for 2 or 3 generations. They’ve grown up with these animals, and that inspires a love and respect for them. Regardless of the type of eggs they’re producing, the health and wellness of their chickens is their primary concern. They are even happy to produce any type of egg consumers want. For instance, farmers will switch to producing more cage-free, organic or omega eggs if consumers want them! You can hear it come through in the way they talk about each aspect of the farming process. They want to have eggs that they’re not only happy to feed their own family with, but also proud to share with the province.
The second takeaway for me was that eating local doesn’t mean always shopping at a farm stand or farmer’s market. As much as I love to do that, as a busy, working mom, it isn’t always possible. It’s great to know that BC Egg is supplying our grocery stores and even big wholesale stores with their amazing, local product, that gets to the store surprisingly quickly! It’s reassuring to know that wherever I shop, I can be satisfied knowing that I’m choosing a healthy, happy, local product to feed my family!
I highly recommend you not only watch the rest of the BC Egg videos, but also to use this amazing resource to educate learn more for yourself!
I think this is something worth celebrating, and I did it by creating a recipe for my FAVOURITE meal of the day – breakfast! There are endless ways to serve eggs for breakfast (or lunch and dinner), so I experimented with something new to me, a dutch baby pancake. Enjoy!
- Zest of 1 Lemon
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/3 cup Raspberries, Fresh
- 3 BC Fresh Eggs, Large
- 1/2 cup All purpose flour
- 1 Icing sugar
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp White sugar
- 2 tbsp Butter, Unsalted
- 2/3 cup Milk
- Icing Sugar, for dusting
- Put eggs, milk, flour, lemon zest, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract in the blender & blend until smooth.
- Let blended batter rest 15 minutes.
- While the batter is resting, preheat oven to 425 F with cast iron pan in the oven.
- Melt the butter in the hot pan. I swirl around to cover the edges. Pour batter into the pan, give it a swirl, and place in oven.
- Bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes.
- Top with lemon juice, pile on raspberries and dust with icing sugar.
Lemon Raspberry Dutch Baby Pancake
Ingredients
• Zest of 1 Lemon
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup Raspberries, Fresh
• 3 BC Fresh Eggs, Large
• 1/2 cup All purpose flour
• 1 Icing sugar
• 1 pinch Salt
• 1/4 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp White sugar
• 2 tbsp Butter, Unsalted
• 2/3 cup Milk
• Icing Sugar, for dusting
Instructions
1. Put eggs, milk, flour, lemon zest, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract in the blender & blend until smooth.
2. Let blended batter rest 15 minutes.
3. While the batter is resting, preheat oven to 425 F with cast iron pan in the oven.
4. Melt the butter in the hot pan. I swirl around to cover the edges. Pour batter into the pan, give it a swirl, and place in oven.
5. Bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes.
6. Top with lemon juice, pile on raspberries and dust with icing sugar.
All on the table disclaimer: This post has been generously sponsored by BC Egg, the opinions and language are my own and in no way do they reflect BC Egg.