When it comes to eggs I like the brand Vital Farms because their mission is to “bring ethically produced food to the table.” Basically, the company is a collective of family farms that believes in the humane treatment of animals. Their eggs are sourced from farmers whose chickens range free. A happy hen produces good eggs. I also love their website because it features short clips of hens wandering in open pastures and scratching for grubs. I raised chickens for 2 years, so I appreciate the joy they bring—no, really! The other thing I like is that inside each egg carton is a tiny news sheet, the Vital Times, which, besides needing a magnifying glass to read, always makes me smile. Their latest issue has a story about taking time to give thanks, and Vital Farms is nothing if not thankful for their “girls,” as they call the hens, and for us, the consumer. 

“We hope this season brings you quiet moments of thankfulness and simple pleasures all your own!” they say. Well yes, we hope so too, but sometimes just being grateful for the simple pleasures in life has to suffice. If you’re a hen that means sunshine, grassy pastures, and dust baths. Right now I’d settle for the same if it meant one whole day without being troubled by the chaos in American right now.

On the flip side of their latest little news sheet is a paragraph about the effects of gratitude on our physical, mental, and emotional well-being. If you’re a reader of my blog, you know that’s my jam. I’m a huge fan of writing down five things each day I’m grateful for. Gratitude, it’s what’s for breakfast—quite literally in the case of Vital Farms.

So enjoy their news and also this picture of tree fungus, which I saw on today’s walk. Sunshine and grass but no dust baths because it’s mostly mud out there this time of year.