Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that Noel and I are starting to become concerned about the level of care and health given to farm animals that we get our meat and eggs/dairy from. I've decided to start using soy powder as a substitute for egg in baking (can't taste any difference) and organic certified eggs in other uses. Evidently "cage-free" and "free-range" labels aren't followed up on or regulated, unlike "organic". A good site on the state of chickens in factory farms is:

http://www.eggindustry.com/

And another that goes over lots of different animals is:

http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/index.html

This second site is quite graphic, so don't go clicking on the cute little kittens unless you're prepared. I'm appalled at how the U.S. has hardly any regulations on the quality of care these animals get. I know eventually we'll eat them, but wouldn't it be nice to know that these animals had decent, even 'normal' lives before we ate them? Noel and I are going to be purchasing "grass-fed" beef in the near future, as well. We'll keep you posted on how it goes!