This article was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat, a nonprofit newsroom serving Boyle Heights and the eastside.
On a lot next to the cultural Casa del Mexicano landmark in Boyle Heights, Omeatl Tonatiuh and his family raise 18 hens that collectively lay nearly a dozen eggs daily.
“We tried selling them, but we’re like, you know what? I don’t need to be selling [my neighbors] eggs, so I just give them away,” said Tonatiuh, 45, who rents the plot of land to use as a family farm.
With the nationwide egg shortage that has caused prices to skyrocket, Tonatiuh of Boyle Heights feels “there’s a sense of rebellion in raising chickens,” especially at a time when the cost of eggs has become a political talking point about how weak or strong the economy is.
Eggs have been “one of the most affordable things for the most amount of nutrition,” said Tonatiuh. “When something goes up that is such a big part of our daily life, like eggs, it affects us, and that’s the part that politicians and billionaires don’t understand.”