The virtues of pastured eggs

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For the last 7 years we’ve had diverse flock of laying hens roams around the land here at Full Bloom and offering us a daily colorful reminder of the perks country life: gloriously vibrant orange yolked eggs.  It turns out that the factory farmed eggs I grew up on with the dull yellow yolks aren’t what eggs are supposed to look like.  Check out the comparison between pastured eggs and those laid by factory raised hens:Eggs comparisonBy having access to a diverse grasses, bugs, worms, and various insects pastured hens are able to concentrate an amazing amount of nutrients in their yolks (particularly caroteniods which is what gives the yolk that amazing color and are thought to prevent cancer and degenerative eye diseases).

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Full Bloom hens on pasture.

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Hens rangin’ in front of the Communal Building on a misty fall morning.

I always get a thrill out of serving up a delicately prepared Full Bloom egg to a visitor and watching their eyes involuntarily bulge in delight, their mouth open ever so slightly in anticipation.  Regardless of the latest nutritional debate about eggs, when one is served to you that came from a hen you can see out the window and prepared lovingly by a cook who knows the value of farm fresh ingredients there’s something undeniably nourishing happening.

hard boild pastured egg

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions, curiosities shoot me an email me at: ryan@fullbloomcenter.com.  Till next time……Ryan

The Great Potato Harvest……

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There’s something undeniably satisfying about getting on your hands and knees and digging in the earth in search of large tubers that will later become rosemary home fries, creamy mashed potatoes, and other comforting fall and winter foods.  Over the weekend we harvested the Full Bloom potato crop which amounted to over 800lbs of potatoes and it didn’t really feel like work, it felt like a treasure hunt in the dirt.

 

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Several Full Bloomers on the hunt for taters.

 

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Mica (a current resident) and myself showing off some of the harvest

As Fall transitions to winter it becomes essential to store properly all the abundance from the growing season so that it can be consumed through the winter and on into the spring.  With proper storage there can be a continued sense of connection to the land as the prime source of one’s life rather than the supermarket.   That’s not to say there isn’t still a lot of food being brought to Full Bloom from off-site, it’s to emphasize the importance of cultivating a deep sense of place.  As we open this place to more and more visitors in the years to come, I hope that sense of place can be enjoyed by all who come.

“It is easy to think of potatoes, and fortunately for men who have not much money it is easy to think of them with a certain safety. Potatoes are one of the last things to disappear, in times of war, which is probably why they should not be forgotten in times of peace.” 
― M.F.K. Fisher, How to Cook a Wolf

A 1 ton piece of Balinese Art arrives at Full Bloom

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A fortuitous sequence of events brought a beautiful hand carved Balinese planter bed to Full Bloom last week.  Our neighbors Avara and Asher had imported the piece from Bali some years ago, then moved to Bali leaving the planter to be moved by the only guy in the area who could: our dear friend and earth mover Roarke Ball.  He took it to his land where it just sat for awhile till one day he offered to bring it over to Full Bloom.  Free Balinese art anyone!?

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Rosie, my land partner on the left, and Roarke positioning the planter.

This is an example of the kind of resource sharing that is happening more and more in our community.  Its a fundamental principle of any sustainable community to move, circulate and put to best use its resources.  It doesn’t serve anyone to stash away wonderful objects whether its art or irrigation pipe.

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Triumphant Victory after much shimmying and exerting.

 

“Whatever we possess becomes of double value when we have the opportunity of sharing it with others.”

Jean Nicolas Bouilly (1763-1842);
Writer, Politician