Color Me an Omelet

I try to avoid impulse buying at the grocery store but how could anyone resist these eggs?

Looking at them simply makes me happy.  These delightful eggs come from the Rocking RB Mountain Home Organics farm in Victor where Paula Raines weaves her poultry magic to produce not only these beauties but also duck and quail eggs along with ducks, quail and soon, Thanksgiving turkeys for consumption. 

In a true showing of my chicken ignorance I asked Paula why she decided to dye these eggs.  Silly me. They come out of the chicken that way! What gifted creature I queried can lay pastel pink eggs? The answer is the americauna breed shown below.  I may have changed my mind about having children if they came out a lovely shade of blue, olive, dark olive or pastel pink. 

Paula is a true testament to the dedication of Montana’s organic farmers.  According to Paula, “our chickens eat a well-balanced diet of certified organic mash that is corn free, with Alfalfa meal incorporated in it. They also get meal worms once a week during the winter.” And does Paula head on over to Petsmart for her meal worms? Surely you jest. Rocking RB has the only certified organic meal worms in all of the US! Her chickens also are fed Kelp, certified organic of course, and oyster shells which help make the eggs shells solid.  Paula says, “we love our birds” which is evident when I hear about the devotion she takes in their care. 

As I told Paula, I found it hard to bring myself to actually crack one of these eggs open since they were so perfect in their shell. This morning I finally gave in and made omelets for breakfast. As always, I found that if the main ingredient is good, simple is always better so all I added was a splash of milk, pepper and some shredded smoke Gouda cheese.  The result was divine! The eggs had a fresh taste to them that you don’t find in the mass produced brands. The yolks also seemed larger than what I was used to and had a beautiful pale yellow color.  Paula has provided her own recipe for a Duck Egg Omelet which I have included in the Recipes section. 

I could go on and on about Rocking RB’s organic practices but this post would be endless.  If you’re interested in learning more, you can contact Paula through http://www.localharvest.org/. Look for the eggs at the Good Food store in Missoula or the Bozeman Co-op.