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Eggheads is the go-to podcast for egg industry professionals who are interested in leadership and innovation in the egg world. Host Greg Schonefeld explores the evolving world of modern egg farming, from the latest in cage-free innovations and organic certifications to navigating the economics of large-scale production. Whether you're an egg producer, supplier, or involved in poultry genetics, this show provides the insights and expert discussions you need to thrive in the industry. Crack open the science, strategies, and stories behind the egg industry’s biggest challenges and opportunities.
Greg Schoenefeld:
Man, when I was doing research, I was like, "Okay, I can't really call myself egghead after reading about you." I mean, we're not worthy.
Hey, welcome back to Eggheads. I'm your host, Greg Schoenefeld, and this week my guest journey with chicken spans five generations.
Lisa Steele:
Yeah, that's kind of my claim to fame is that we can trace for sure five generations of women in my family, actually, who raised chicken. Yeah, the tradition kind of runs really deep.
Greg Schoenefeld:
A tradition that began in Finland, her grandparents brought their knowledge of raising chickens, geese, and goats with them when they moved to the US. What makes her story unique is that unlike many families where farming traditions fade, hers didn't skip a generation, although it has adapted, especially with Lisa.
Lisa Steele:
Hi, I am Lisa Steele, founder of Fresh Eggs Daily, author and fifth generation chicken keeper.
Greg Schoenefeld:
Today, Lisa carries on that legacy in a modern context, blending tradition with her evolving passion for eggs through her cookbooks, TV shows, popular blog, product line, and extensive social media presence. Based in Maine, Lisa is a prominent voice in the backyard chicken and culinary worlds where she teaches others how to raise the flock of their dreams and celebrates the versatility of eggs. As a TV host on Welcome to My Farm, Lisa continues to share her expertise and passion with a growing audience.
We're going to get into all that, but first, Lisa's childhood was spent in a rural town. Her grandparents owned a commercial chicken farm with a three-story barn and pasture. She grew up right across the street and helped care for a small flock of chickens with her brother, but her passion for chickens, it didn't start there.
Back then, it felt a lot like chores. Despite this farm upbringing, Lisa sought a different path after high school and she earned a degree in accounting, starting her career on Wall Street, but like many who leave small towns for the big shiny city, she eventually felt the pull back to her roots where her passion for chickens and eggs would truly take flight.
Lisa Steele:
I think everything you do in life, every decision you make, is what dictates where you end up, and no desire to sit behind a desk. It was 2009 and the recession and people were getting into the homesteading thing and all that, and I wanted goats. I thought goats would just be super fun and they're so cute, and making soap, and I wanted to do the whole thing, and my husband did not think the goats would be quite as fun, and he suggested chickens, which having them as a kid, I was like, not really a fan of the chicken, but I said, "Well, you know what?" We actually lived on a small farm. He had horses that he had always boarded and he wanted to have them on our property. We had the horses, we had the barn, we had the space, and so I said, "Fine, we'll get the chickens."
Now, what, 15 years later, people refer to chickens as the gateway livestock, and it's very true. I figured if the chickens can open the door, we could add on after that. Yeah, it was a different experience as an adult because I was responsible for keeping them alive. I wasn't just responsible for bringing them scrap from the kitchen and collecting eggs. I had to keep these things alive. I did a very deep dive into how to raise chickens and what was going to keep them healthy and how to do it naturally, and that whole thing, and just kind of fell into the whole Facebook let me post pictures of my chickens and people ask questions, and it was very much the right message at the right time. I know I was incredibly lucky to be there talking about what people were interested in at that time.
Greg Schoenefeld:
You may have gathered that Lisa's journey into the chicken keeping business wasn't planned. What began as simply sharing her experiences on Facebook grew as she realized just how much knowledge she had to share, and her audience wanted more. Lisa started a blog to answer people's questions, and by 2012, she began to get sponsors, and ultimately, a book deal. Her hobby transformed into a full-fledged business, and all of a sudden Lisa was becoming a leading voice in the backyard chicken world.
Lisa Steele:
I knew really nothing. I mean, I still really know nothing about blogging. I mean, for the first 10 years I didn't even know what SEO was. I wrote in a way that I would as a reader want to read the information and I wrote about things that people were asking me questions about. It all was very organic and just made a lot of sense to me.
Greg Schoenefeld:
Do you have thoughts on what the attraction is to all this, whether it's the homesteading or the backyard birds, do you have thoughts on what drives that?
Lisa Steele:
I mean, some of it is just from my personal experience. Chickens are fun. They're fun to raise, they have personality, and they're small and they're manageable. I mean, people are not going to get a cow for their backyard. Chickens are easy. You can be a soccer mom living in a cul-de-sac, and you can have a couple of chicken. A lot of areas making them legal also, helped out because more suburban areas and even urban areas now can have a couple of chickens, so that helped. I think almost like some celebrities have them, and so maybe you're at a party and someone mentions that they have chickens, and almost became the in thing to do, whether you're a foodie or whatever. I kind of feel like there is a little bit of, like, "I have fresh eggs."
Greg Schoenefeld:
Just listening to you talk it's kind of interesting to me that it sounds like there was one push after a recession, another push during COVID. It's almost like maybe every time we have these big societal events, maybe people start to think, "Oh, man, I wish I was just a little bit more self-sufficient."
Lisa Steele:
I mean, shelves were bare. Then after COVID with eggs getting so expensive, when prices just going up so much, it almost now becomes more of an economical thing. Maybe I should start growing some tomatoes and plant some berry bushes or whatever.
Greg Schoenefeld:
Lisa was one of the most well-known voices in the space, dubbed the Queen of Backyard Chickens. She'd written six books on chickens and how to raise them, but with so much information out there, she started feeling it was becoming overcrowded. That's when she decided to pivot, shifting her focus from chickens to eggs and exploring new opportunities.
Lisa Steele:
I've kind of said everything that I want to say about chicken. Just at the beginning of COVID, it was time for another book, and my publisher said, "What do you want to write about?" I said, "I want to write a cookbook. I really don't have anything else to say about chickens." I have realized over the years that it's really the eggs that I'm passionate about. I mean, I love our chickens. I love animals, but I really, really love their eggs, and I love talking about eggs and promoting the cookbook and writing the cookbook.
It kind of renewed a passion in me that was fizzling out. I had been doing it a long time talking about chickens. Every interview started, "If I wanted to get started with chickens, what would you recommend?" I was like, I can't do this the rest of my life. I need to pivot to something else. Everyone during COVID was kind of pivoting towards chickens. I decided to pivot away, although, the chicken stuff will always be there. My books are out there. My blog is evergreen, so that's not going away. I have started to move more into the culinary world and talking about eggs and all the fascinating things you can do with them.
Greg Schoenefeld:
It's clear, fresh, homegrown eggs have a special meaning for Lisa.
Lisa Steele:
As soon as you crack an egg open, if you're not seeing a bright orange yolk and the white is really thick and ... Like you can tell a fresh egg. When you can tell an egg from a chicken that's been out eating grass and bugs and things, and there's really no faking that. I like to think that all the people that have started raising chickens and are sharing fresh eggs with their family and friends, now those family and friends go to the grocery store and they want eggs that are somewhat comparable. I think it has forced the egg companies to step it up a little bit.
We have a lot of local brands at our grocery store that are local farms and the chickens are out running around the field. I think the quality of store-bought eggs has definitely gone up. I mean, you can still buy the 88 cent flat of 18 eggs at Costco, and you're going to get what you pay for, but there are a lot of options for really good quality eggs out there.
Greg Schoenefeld:
You talked a little bit about the commercial egg industry is doing a little better, or at least there's more options these days, or certain companies that are really working to get a product that's more similar to what you can produce fresh in your backyard. I would be curious to hear your thoughts on cage-free. Is there something the commercial market in general could learn from you? I just would like to get your thoughts.
Lisa Steele:
Cage-free, it's like a feel-good buzzword. Everyone's seen the pictures and heard the horror stories of the chickens and the little 8.5 x 11 cages, no bigger than the piece of printer paper. Now we've let the chickens out of the cages and now they're happy, right?
Well, no. I've actually read studies that mortality rates are higher. Irish chickens, I know, they're mean. They will kill each other. Now you've got a bunch of chickens all milling around a warehouse with no cages. Chickens are bullies. There's a pecking order, so there's a good chance that the chickens on the bottom of the pecking order might not have access to food or water. They're being picked on.
Greg Schoenefeld:
In every flock, chickens establish a social hierarchy known as the pecking order. It's a natural way for them to decide who gets first access to food, water, and roosting spots. Now, you know where that saying came from.
Lisa Steele:
Personally, cages aren't great. No, but I would choose them over a cage-free environment because I think it keeps the chickens safer and healthier, and I just think it's better for their welfare. Yes, chickens should be pasture-raised. They should be let out of the barn in the morning, be outside all day, and then put back in at night to be safe. They should be protected during the day, but no, cage-free is not the answer. In a pinch, if I had to choose, I would choose cage over cage-free.
Greg Schoenefeld:
I mean, you will hear people inside the industry with a similar opinion to that. One thing I'm curious, you said they should be pasture-raised. Any thoughts on how to balance the cost of that? Some of these commercial companies that are doing more on that spectrum, they are quite a bit more. How do you balance all of that?
Lisa Steele:
That's the thing. There was a lot of pushback over egg prices when a dozen eggs went up to five or $6 a dozen, or $8 in some cases, but again, the price of eggs had not really gone up since the '40s. Yes, eggs went up by like 300%, but really a lot of that was just an adjustment that needed to be made. When you look at the price of everything else, a dozen eggs really still was a great deal for the amount of protein you're getting, what you can do with them, the amount of meals you could get out of them for your family.
I did get some pushback because I was kind of siding with the increase in price. A lot of people get angry saying, "Nobody can afford any [inaudible 00:10:55]," but there are also people out there who do sell their eggs from their backyard chickens to try to defray some of their costs. If a commercial dozen eggs cost 88 cents, well, you can't sell your eggs for that. You can barely pay for the carton.
People selling their eggs for two or $3 a dozen on their roadside stand, the prices were being suppressed by the supermarket prices when it's really hard to sell your own eggs and make any kind of profit at that price. People ask me all the times if we sell our eggs. I couldn't be bothered. For $2 a dozen, it wouldn't even be worth it. When you're approaching five or $6 a dozen, now, yes, you can cover your cost of feed, your cost of new chickens, your cost of protecting them, the carton, all that stuff.
Greg Schoenefeld:
Man, it's hard. How do you put it all together? Because, okay, if you want $3 a dozen or, I don't know, $4 a dozen for cage-free or even ... I mean, it is kind of amazing that some of these companies have been able six, seven, $8 a dozen to do free-range or pasture-raised, even the $8. A lot of people are going to balk at that. Maybe part of my belief is, "Well, people really haven't put the thought into that because they want..." What's the word, "The champagne taste on a beer budget," or something like that?
Lisa Steele:
Exactly.
Greg Schoenefeld:
They don't understand all the factors, and maybe the more we talk about it, the more we can reach some better happy medium.
Lisa's passion for eggs is rooted in her experience with farm-raised eggs at her fingertips from childhood to now, but what she really loves, and we definitely share this, is the unmatched versatility of eggs. Sweet, savory, eggs kind of can do it all. Her cookbook reflects this, showing how eggs can be a part of any meal or dietary plan.
Lisa Steele:
I think it's something that's not talked about enough, that eggs ... I mean, I really consider them more than one food. I mean, an egg yolk is completely different than an egg white. You can use the whole egg together, or you can separate it and you can use the whites for meringues. You can use the yolks for custards or Hollandaise sauce. I mean, eggs are so versatile, I think that you'd be hard-pressed to find another ingredient that gets used in as many different ways and as many different recipes.
There's just unlimited things you can do with eggs, and it surprises me that there aren't more people talking about them. When I was doing my research and looking at what was out there, there really weren't a lot of cookbooks that were dedicated to eggs, which is surprising because they fit into a lot of these eating plans.
Greg Schoenefeld:
In making that recipe book, did that just come from years of having eggs and cooking with eggs often? I mean, I can think about my dad, one year, grew jalapenos and he planted, I think, too many bushes and jalapenos would show up in everything, spaghetti, and it didn't matter. I don't know if that's part of your kind of egg recipe guru journey or you've always just been interested in cooking.
Lisa Steele:
I used to take cooking classes when I lived on Long Island, and I've always loved to cook and bake. This first book was, I want to say, kind of easy because a lot of it was family recipes, recipes I've made for years and years and years. I did retest them all, but I felt like I knew they were going to work. I've made them for so long, and then there was a lot of classics.
I knew that I wanted to include things that maybe people don't think about or make anymore, like Angel food cake, or lemon meringue pie, or things that are really egg-heavy, like the classic egg recipes. Yeah, there were very few that I created specifically for the book just because I was using a lot of favorites. My second book that I'm working on now, a lot more challenging, a lot more time, because I'd say 90% of it is brand new recipes that I created specifically for the book. It's testing and retesting and research, but again, super fun and super challenging, and I love a new challenge.
Greg Schoenefeld:
It's almost like you're reaching a new level of artistry here with eggs because you are just creating. I mean, how do you go about that? You said testing and retesting. I guess you probably have a solid concept of what eggs do when you cook them different ways or what they mix with. I would be interested to hear a little bit more about your process on creating recipes.
Lisa Steele:
I did start a food blog in June. I did have some recipes on my chicken blog and I thought, "You know what? Let's just separate those out," because there's a certain group of people that care nothing about chickens, so let's put this recipe separate, chickens in one blog, food in the other. I don't really know anything about all of this. I kind of made it up myself like I do everything in life. It either starts with a photo. My mom, ever since I was writing the first book, she sends me probably monthly an envelope full of recipes she's cut out of magazines that have eggs in them.
"This looks interesting," or some from her own recipe box. "Try this. This is a great recipe," whatever. Sometimes it starts with a photo or a concept, or it starts with, "I have this recipe, I have none of the ingredients really, so what can I use instead?" Then it becomes a completely different recipe. Then for things like classics, I would look and pick five recipes from, say, Martha, The New York Times, really reputable sites. Then because I'm an accountant, put them in a spreadsheet and see how much flour, how many eggs, how much sugar, whatever, and you'd see certain similarities and then certain differences.
I'd kind of pick and choose from each column and put together a recipe that made sense to me from those five or however many. Usually five I'd pick. Try it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I say, "It would be a little better with this or that." Baking is tough because you can't taste it as you go along, so you don't know till you're done and then you got to start over again. Cooking is a lot easier because you can taste and make adjustments as you go along, taste a little more. If you're doing a salad or a soup or something like that, it's really easy to tweak as you go along.
Usually that doesn't take as many tries to get it right, whereas baking, for the first book when I was doing soufflés, I tried everything. Brush butter up the sides, put Parmesan, put cornmeal. I did 18 variations of a soufflé before I hit upon a recipe that I felt was going to work every time. I think I tried the first three or four, and then the chickens ate a whole lot of soufflé that weekend. I was making mini ones. The whole soufflé would be a lot. Yeah, I just kept making one after another after another and bringing them out to the chickens to eat.
Greg Schoenefeld:
Well, I appreciate you and your chickens being the guinea pig, taking the bad ones out and leaving us with the good ones. Really, helping us, you advance our egg recipes here.
On top of working on her new cookbook, Lisa's, also working on the next season of her TV show. While she's active on social media, her real passion lies in creating content that lasts, whether it's her cookbooks, TV shows, or her product line for natural chicken care. What sets her apart is the personal connection she has with her audience. You can see her chickens and ducks and really feel like you're part of her life, which has been key to her success.
Lisa Steele:
I think, to really learn how to do something, and when you're raising animals, it's not hit or miss. It's not, "Well, I tried that and it didn't work." There's no excuse now to raise any animal and not really have a good foundation because there is so much information. I mean, you watch a reel or TikTok and who is this person even? What is their background? I've seen people selling courses on raising chickens whose chickens haven't even started laying eggs yet. That just kind of makes me scratch my head that anyone would pay someone for a course that hasn't even gone through a full year yet. It's mind boggling.
Greg Schoenefeld:
Yeah. Well, and maybe especially a generational thing like you commented, but I mean, some people kind of are interested in the social media first and do the chicken second where you were definitely the other way around and started with the chickens first, and as you said, did the social media just kind of more so as a necessity, I mean, a business necessity as much as anything. I've seen pictures and videos of your farm. It's totally beautiful. Even your coop is a really cute chicken coop. I guess, just out of that necessity to document it and get it out there, you've got this world that I'd love to live in without a cell phone and you almost have to pull it out every day. What are your thoughts on that?
Lisa Steele:
Well, first of all, you don't see the pile of junk behind the barn or it's curated, but yeah, for the most part it is my life and those are my chickens. I've had people claim that there's no way chickens actually live in that coop. I apparently have some other coop somewhere that they live in. It's all dark and dingy and that's a fake one or whatever. Before the TV show, yes, we use paint and we re-wallpaper and we make sure everything looks nice. I enjoy scrolling just as much as everyone else, but it's not, first and foremost, how you should learn. It has its place, but I think it's places mostly entertainment and maybe I post things hoping people get interested and then we'll look further and read some articles, read a book. I think it does have that purpose, but it's mostly like a blingy eye-catching look at me, look at how everything is so pretty. Then you do a deep dive into, well, what does it really take to raise chickens?
Greg Schoenefeld:
Just in your whole kind of business journey and brand journey, what are the most fun parts or some of the biggest challenges?
Lisa Steele:
I think the most fun part has been just the opportunity that it's opened up. I was on an episode of Martha Stewart's show, Martha Knows best on HGTV. Just the weird random opening my email opportunity that I go, "What? Okay." The fact that I haven't had to fit in a cubicle for the last 25 years doing spreadsheets has been really, really great.
Greg Schoenefeld:
I think that's something a lot of people could resonate with.
Lisa Steele:
I think the fact that my grandmother, she did pass when she was 99 years old, but she got to see me raising chickens and doing it not the way she did it. I have not sold really a single egg. That's not my business selling eggs, but I've managed to make a living and a business out of it in kind of an unconventional way, which is kind of fun. I guess the hardest part has been obviously the haters, the social media, the trolls, that, and also, trying to stay a step ahead of everybody else because I don't really want to lose my crown. I want to be the queen of the coop forever. I'm not willing to give that up yet.
It's coming up with new ideas and new ideals because you've got people nipping at your heels with anything you do. To try to stay ahead of all that and stay relevant and do things that make sense and matter has probably been the hardest part. I still feel like chickens haven't gone completely mainstream. When I go into my Instagram and I see that someone who's verified has started a following me and it's like someone from a TV show or something like that, it's really cool, or when they reach out to me with a question about their chickens, I get really starstruck really easily. That part of it's fun. So no, I'm not willing to give that up and let somebody else assume that role.
Greg Schoenefeld:
I love that. How do you maintain the right presence in that space?
Lisa Steele:
Well, and I still do have a big social media following, and I still do post pictures of the chickens. My blog is still there. I'm sharing links. I actually am releasing one of my books in 2026, the 10 year anniversary edition. That's pretty exciting. I'll have a new cookbook and in the chicken book coming out in 2026. Yeah, the nice thing too is that there are a lot of foodies and people interested in cooking who now maybe are thinking about having chicken. It kind of goes both ways. There's people with chickens who are interested in a cookbook, but there's also people interested in cooking who think now maybe I should start raising chickens.
Greg Schoenefeld:
I think that's really cool. You have a wide range of interest and just dive in and take them each to the nines. I think that's one thing that people really love learning from you and seeing the things you do.
Lisa Steele:
I hope so.
Greg Schoenefeld:
Thank you.
Lisa Steele:
You are welcome.
Greg Schoenefeld:
Today may have been the day that Eggheads was toppled by the Queen of the Coop herself. Lisa's story is one of embracing tradition while evolving with the times. Not a bad template for an industry rich with legacy and ripe with innovation. Through her books, her blog, and her TV show, Lisa's inspired budding Eggheads to start their own flocks and rediscover the joys of farm fresh living. Probably even more inspiring, her journey wasn't planned, but it grew organically from her experiences and curiosity.
Now, she's not just a fifth-generation chicken keeper. She's an author, a TV host, and the creator of a product line dedicated to the well-being of backyard flocks. Lisa's found a way to turn her love for chickens and eggs into something much bigger, connecting with her audience on a personal level by showing them what's possible with dedication and a bit of creativity. She's an inspiration on how far a connection to farming can reach.
I want to thank Lisa for sharing her amazing story. Few have deep dived on chickens and eggs like her, and she provides a unique perspective for the show. Check back in for more episodes of Eggheads, and if you're liking the show, please follow Eggheads on Spotify or Apple podcasts, Instagram and LinkedIn. Hey, if you're a true Egghead, show us some love by dropping us a five-star rating on your preferred podcast app. We appreciate all your support. Until next time, I'm Greg Schoenefeld. See you soon.
Lisa, my last question might be a tough one for you because of all your different recipes, but what's your favorite way to prepare eggs?
Lisa Steele:
Eggs Benedict. Not even hard. First of all, poaching eggs is a skill, and it's probably one of the more difficult ways to cook eggs. Once you've mastered the poaching, which I swirl it with the spoon because I just find it mesmerizing and cool and I love that, but then after you've got the egg poached, now you've got to make the Hollandaise sauce, which is kind of like a quintessential ... What better use of eggs and lemon and butter and all that. Yeah, definitely Eggs Benedict.
Greg Schoenefeld:
Okay, I have to ask, so then people get fancy with their Eggs Benedict. Like put it over ham or put it over salmon or crab or whatever. I mean, what about that side of it?
Lisa Steele:
Classic. I am very traditional. I get annoyed if I order a creme brulee out at a restaurant and they stick a cookie and some berries on it. I just want the creme brulee. It's all about the crack of that sugar, right? Same with Eggs Benedict. You don't need the spinach and all that other stuff. Sometimes I don't even use the bread. Just put a poached egg on a plate and pour Hollandaise over it. I'm good.
Greg Schoenefeld:
I'm with you on that. Don't get fancy. Do everything extremely well. The muffins got to be perfect. The ham, the egg, the sauce, I'm behind that philosophy.
Lisa Steele:
It's so fulfilling when you master a technique. I think Eggs Benedict isn't hard. The hardest part is the timing of everything. Getting that muffin toasted so it's still warm when the egg is done, and the sauce on the egg before it starts to coagulate or curdle, whenever. It's really a timing issue. It's not a hard recipe at all to master.