Hens and Greens

If you've ever raised chickens, you know that they really prefer to peck around an open yard rather than stay in their pen with chicken feed. I've gotten my best eggs with the deepest yellow yolks, when my hens could just graze in the grassy yard. They were getting their greens!

All of that chlorophyll from the young shoots of grass was making them into good layers. I discovered also that there has been some research on the matter of hens and chlorophyll. It's recorded in a book entitled, "Cereal Grass," put out by the Wilderness Community Education Foundation. A Dr. Charles Schnabel, in 1928, was experimenting with various nutrient supplements looking for one that would increase the egg production of hens. He noticed that when the hens were fed with just 10% of young cereal grasses, their egg production rose from the average 38% to an incredible 94%.

Futher research as recorded in the book, was done by Dr. George Kohler, of the University of Wisconsin. He found that summer milk from cows (grazing in pastures) was much more nutrient dense than the winter milk. Feeding this milk to small lab animals, he found that those fed the summer milk thrived and those fed the winter (grain and hay fed) milk did poorly and often were sick and died. (What does this say about most dairy milk found on super market shelves?! Give me the pasture fed cow milk please. Which means organic.)

Chlorophyll is truly amazing. It has been called the "blood of green foods." Chlorophyll molecules are little energy factories taking sunlight and converting it into chemical energy the plant can use. It has remarkable healing properties. It has been shown to accelerate wound healing, encourage the synthesis of new blood, protects against toxic chemicals and radiation and the list goes on.

Hmm, does it make you want to eat your veggies?