At the egg farm

I haven't bought a supermarket egg in over 20 years! This 17th century Brabançon-style farm is where our eggs come from, and they are the freshest, best-tasting eggs I have ever had.

We discovered the place by accident when we got lost trying to find a place that made artisanal ice creams. The good thing about being a terrible map reader like me is finding these wonderful places when you lose your way to somewhere else.

When I stopped by the egg farm this morning, Mme Flamend had just finished sorting the day's eggs. Her free-range hens eat grain from crops that her husband grows. They sell their organic eggs mainly to local shops and to customers like us who come to the door to buy them. She's fastidious about the quality of her eggs. Monthly test results on the safety of their eggs (to monitor for salmonella, etc) are proudly posted on the bulletin board by the entrance. In the 20 years I've been buying from her, I've never had a bad egg. Not one. Mme Flamend shyly agreed to be in my photo as long as she didn't have to be in the centre looking straight at the camera.

Supermarkets are rich enough. I like buying food direct from the grower whenever possible. We're lucky to have many farms in our area who sell their products direct, so we get our eggs, meat, butter, potatoes and other produce from them. Over the years we've become friendly with the farmers who grow the food we eat. We've met their cows and pigs and chickens and walked in their orchards and fields. They've come to know us and watched our children grow. As a farmer's daughter and a passionate eater, these connections mean more to me than the few Euros I save from buying industrially produced food and standing grumpily in a queue.


Ferme de Frocourt
rue de Frocourt 26
5310 Éghezée

Tel: 081 - 81 17 79