Backyard Eggs - Pasture Raised

Back in September I wrote here about Vital Farm's Pasture Raised Organic Eggs (link here).  At WholePaycheck they have a slightly less expensive (a dollar less per dozen) variant called "Backyard Eggs".  Also pasture raised.  Also raised at Vital farms.  Also certified humane.  But instead of "organic" these are "non GMO verified".  Hmmm...

So instead of organic (which also, by default, means the foods they are fed are not laden with antibiotics, HFCS, and other fake foods) these humanely raised hens are fed non-genetically modified corn and other feeds, while running around their 108 square foot 'pasture' enclosure.  A wee bit bigger than 10 x 10 foot...  sounds like a mighty small pasture.

Then I see that Vital is headquartered in Austin TX (a nice town), but the eggs are packed in Summers Arkansas, by the Arkansas Egg company...   hmmm.  I DO like not having chicken feces on my eggs when I take them out of the carton - something that is NOT guaranteed to happen when you get them from the Farmer's Market, and pretty much guaranteed to be dirty if you get duck eggs at a market anywhere.

Since the Sunday Morning Laguna Niguel farmer's market is a short bike ride away, and WholePaycheck is 4x farther away down a very busy & congested road, I think I will stick with sourcing my eggs from the farmer's market, and only use Vital as a "fall back" contingency.  The Saturday Morning Dana Point farmer's market has 100, 300, and 3000 hen options for chicken ranchers, if I am down near the beach on Saturday morning - just have to remember to take a cooler in the car.