Vital Farms Tour Recap + What I Learned

This post is sponsored by my friends at Vital Farms – they raise happy, and healthy hens who produce some tasty eggs!

Eggs, eggs and more eggs!

More specifically pasture-raised eggs from healthy, happy hens!

If you followed along on Instagram stories last week, you know that I got to spend 3 AMAZING, eye-opening days with Vital Farms touring their farms.

These farms just so happen to be right in Springfield, where I live, so it was DOUBALLY awesome to have such a cool experience so close to home, and to know that the eggs that I eat daily are from almost right down the street!

I am sure you know about Vital Farms. They have DELICIOUS, pasture-raised eggs that come from hens that are treated with PHENOMONAL care. I feel 110% confident saying that after going on this tour and seeing it for myself. They are the REAL DEAL you guys.

They also have DELISH pasture-raised butter, but this trip was focused on the hens.

Our trip started with a fun dinner where we learned a little bit about what we would be seeing the next day, and had a VRY VRY competitive (sarcasm) deviled egg competition. Guess who won?

YOURS TRULY!

I made some Thai peanut coconut curry deviled eggs on the fly and I am now the PROUD owner of a gold chicken trophy. Life goal? COMPLETE.

The next day we got to go to not one, but THREE, different farms and PLAY WITH CHICKENS. Likkke, you guys, I got to sit in fields in the sun all day long and have adorable, happy, fluffy little hens come over and peck at me and say hi. I EVEN GOT TO HOLD ONE.

The most surprising thing about this part of farm tour was that the hens just came up to all of us. They weren’t skittish or anything. Just happy to be social and come up and see what is going on! Just the fact that they weren’t scared of humans alone tells you how well loved and cared for they are by their farmer parents.

The next morning, we got to go “Egg Central Station” which is Vital Farms Headquarters, and take a tour.

The coolest part about this, beyond seeing the whole process from farm to egg carton, was that us bloggers got to cook lunch (breakfast tacos HELLO) for the employees. I thought it was so amazing of Vital Farms to have a sort of “give back” opportunity for us on the trip.

Like I said, REAL deal. They care about their hens AND employees.

The main take-away that I had though was that I learned that “cage free” eggs are VERY different from “pasture-raised” eggs. I always thought that it was a different name for the same thing!

Cage free hens, while not being kept in cages, are still trapped inside a barn, by the tens of thousands never seeing the light of day, and are not able to roam outside in the pasture, eating what they want, like Vital Farms hens!

What I learned about the Vital Farms Difference:

They call their hens “girls on grass” because they enjoy 108 square feet of fresh pasture PER HEN! This means that the number of hens per pasture will never exceed the amount of land needed to accommodate that requirement! Cage-Free hens only get 1 SQUARE FOOT per bird and the conventional hens are kept in tiny cages, as big as they are, stacked in rows on top of each other. They are also only fed until they lay for the day, then not fed anymore for the day to keep costs down. SOO NOT GOOD.

Vital Farms pastures are also free of herbicides and pesticides, with all the critters in the grass that the hens can find. There are no chemicals! Just all the wholesome goodness of nature!

This also makes their eggs healthier as their diets are much higher in vitamins and minerals than on corn-based fed alone.

Since they are also given fresh air and sunshine ALL year ‘round, they live a much less stressful life which translates directly to the health and taste of the egg they lay!

In comparison to a conventional egg, pasture-raised eggs contain:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more Vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more Vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene

Vital Farms eggs are also Certified Humane®, the gold standard for laying hens! And their farms are often audited so that these high standards are maintained.

I’ve been eating Vital Farms eggs for a long time but going on this trip really solidified my choice and made me so excited to support a brand that is REAL and authentically cares for everyone on their team – from animals to humans!

THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY MY FRIENDS AT VITAL FARMS. THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO CONTINUE CREATING GREAT CONTENT FOR YOU BY SUPPORTING PARTNERSHIPS WITH SUPER-FAB BRANDS THAT FOOD FAITH FITNESS LOVES TO WORK WITH! AS ALWAYS, OPINIONS REMAIN 100% MY OWN!