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Free- ranging

Posted at 6:23 PM on August 12, 2008 by Paulette Thompson (4 Comments)

I have been here and there over the past few weeks. My first trip was to Bainbridge Island, only a 35 - 40 minute ferry ride away. My friend Barbara, now a San Diego resident with her husband and son, is from Bainbridge Island. She often brings her son Theo to visit her parents for a few weeks in the summer.

I had not been to Bainbridge in over a year. I get surprised each time I go there. The one thing that has not changed about the town of Winslow--that's where the ferry docks--is that there are still no Starbucks there! Although Bainbridge Island has become more of a bedroom community and gets more and more developed each year, Barbara's parents still live out in the rural parts.

Barbara's youngest sister, Suzette, lives nearby her parents with her husband and two children. I was looking forward to getting vegetables from Barbara's brother-in-law's garden while I was there. I can tell you that the incredible vegetable garden he kept at apartment building in Seattle. Michael has a gift for growing vegetables--and cooking them, too! He makes an incredible cilantro pesto that he puts on zucchini. I want his recipe. Unfortunately we didn't get to that garden. Michael (her brother-in-law) wanted us to pick vegetables around 8 in the morning--I don't like to see the world at that time unless I have had coffee.

Barbara's parents are retired. Her mother has chickens now. Unfortunately a raccoon attacked and killed one of the chickens at 6 a.m. on the day I arrived. As a result they were not ranging!
I got to take eggs back to Seattle with me. Now I have eaten free range eggs before. The color of the yolks is just so rich. These fresh eggs taste incredible. And I know exactly where they came from!

Comments (4)

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On Bainbridge Island the Starbuck's is in the Safeway grocery store.

Posted by Kathleen Sullivan | August 13, 2008 10:17 AM

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I haven't been in that Safeway's for a few years.
Oh well...
Paulette

Posted by P. Thompson | August 14, 2008 6:30 PM

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Real eggs! A friend gave me a dozen 16 years ago. They were amazing, bright orange yolks that really stood and they tasted like EGGS. I had Egg over easy on top of rice for a week. Then I got chickens. At first they free ranged but then there were predators.. particularly neighbors' dogs. But even in a coop they are great eaters of weeds and kitchen waste. Two legged pigs with feathers, biological garbage disposal units.

Very useful. If zoning were not an issue a lot of city people could keep a few birds and have better eggs IMO than store bought. The lady across the street told me that people called the bright orange high flavored eggy eggs "strong" eggs. Store bought feed raised were called "pale" eggs. She said most preferred the "pale". Not me.

Posted by Naomi | August 17, 2008 11:30 AM

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Naomi, I'm with you. Free range eggs do taste like eggs!
Paulette

Posted by P. Thompson | August 21, 2008 3:49 PM