Wednesday, February 9, 2011

An egg co-op in Houston?

Why yes - of course!  Um - what is an egg co-op?

(it's ok, I've never heard of one either)

My understanding is that an egg co-op is similar to participating in a co-op for fruits and veggies.  The benefit is that you know where your eggs come from, and you know about the chickens who worked so hard to lay those eggs for you.  You get to support a local farm and also improve the health and well-being of your egg-eating family. 

The way it works is that you buy a "share" for the specified length of the program.  Your share will be a certain number of eggs each week delivered straight from this farm.  You can also buy half-shares.  The co-op needs a minimum number of shares in order to commence, so time is of the essence.

Here at our local Jewish Community Center, a program is underway to begin an egg co-op to purchase farm fresh eggs.  Now, everyone touts farm fresh eggs, but really, these are straight from the farm.  As in, this farm.  Right outside of town.  Not hundreds of miles away.  I believe this is a fairly innovative program along with the CSA (community supported agriculture) fruit/veggie program our JCC operates.  Not too many JCCs have such programs, so we are very lucky.

Judaism, of course, supports and advocates for humane and ethical treatment of animals.  After all, how can we nourish ourselves if we don't take care of the beings who nourish us?

If you would like more information about this program, contact the egg co-op administrator at the JCC at jhandy [AT] jcchouston [DOT] org.

1 comment:

  1. That is really cool. I found out recently that a friend of mine now has chickens...in her backyard. I thought that was a great idea, but I like the egg co-op idea even better!

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