Fresh, pastured chickens and eggs: it doesn't really matter which came first, they're both in my fridge

Today brought a new adventure in local food scouting. After the discovery on my morning walk of a neighbor's front yard zucchini garden with a "please take these zucchinis!" sign (I took one enormous zucchini) and another neighbor's offer of homemade peach jelly, made fresh from peaches grown in her yard, I headed up to Vacaville to buy certified organic, truly free range whole chickens and a dozen colorful eggs direct from Soul Foods Farm.

Chickens greeted me as I pulled into the driveway past the hand-made "Soul Foods Farm" sign and another simply stating "PEACE." I parked in front of the garden, where a few more chickens wandered loose. A slew of them were fenced into a large area behind the house, and wire baskets of multi-colored eggs were in the foyer as I was greeted by Morgan, the teenage daughter of farmer Alexis Koefoed.

I had spoken with Alexis on the phone to arrange picking the chickens up, but she hadn't arrived home when I got there and I had a pleasant conversation with her Morgan in their modern, stainless steel kitchen overlooking the chicken yard. Morgan is a vegetarian and was excited to hear that we'd bought a cow but quite startled by the fact that we had a quarter of it at home in the chest freezer (and the whole conversation was held over two bagged, plucked chickens, heads and feet included!)

When Alexis returned we talked about how good real food is and how great it is to raise kids eating it - her teenaged children still prefer oatmeal to processed cereal, so some of those whole food values really do stick - and the importance of supporting local farms. If you have the opportunity, buy from a farmer! They'll be happy to talk to you about the food that they've grown for you, it will be fresher not having spent 7-14 days in transit (the chickens were dispatched this morning), more nutritious, and you'll be supporting an actual farmer who is making a living making real food in your area, not supporting faceless corporate agribusiness. Alexis was recently interviewed for an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about pastured eggs and their recent resurgence among foodies and those who just want honest-to-goodness eggs with the dark yolks, tender whites, and flavor that warehoused chickens just don't produce.

I also visited my parents while in Vacaville and Jax (22 months) had a chance to play in the kiddie pool with his 3 year old cousin, a pool noodle, rubber ball, and a plastic watering can: a guaranteed good time for the toddler set. We had to drag them into the house, shivering and grousing, as it started to get dark. After many kisses and hugs (Jax says "moooWAH!" when he kisses) we drove the hour and a half home, chickens and eggs nestled in a cooler in the passenger seat, and Jax babbling contentedly in the backseat.

A good day was had by all, except perhaps the chickens.