Sunday, August 12, 2012

The Mother Lode

I have 6 pullets.

2 have been laying eggs for a month.  Several others have recently started to lay eggs and are learning to use the nest box.  However, I know darn well I should be getting at least 5 eggs a day, and I have not.

Mavis and I have been searching the bushes all around the property and have found nothing. I have worn a path down in my daily egg hunts to no avail.

Then the other evening Mavis was doing a dance on the front lawn, so I followed her......

and just 18 inches from where my path is around the wooded area, I found the Mother Lode of eggs!


17 well hidden, well stacked pullet eggs were sitting in the cool soft earth under the ferns.



I carried them into the kitchen like a groom carries a bride.  I was thrilled because I knew what I was going to do next.

Scrambled eggs with Vermont cheddar cheese.

I cracked 17 hard shells to get 17 bright orange and yellow small pullet eggs onto my favorite skillet.

This was enough to feed 2 hungry farmers and one egg -finding pullet dog.
 


As the eggs got comfortable on the stove I went out to the garden and picked some nice banana peppers, a few tomatoes, 2 ears of corn and found 4 more eggs in the nest boxes.

I love fresh local food and it don't get any better than this!



The only disturbing element of the entire food adventure was seeing the leaves are changing on some of the trees.....



However, my Mabel gerannium is having the best summer of her life. She has 10-15 blooms at all times.

Probably because I scrape my boots off right next to her on the boot scraper.....


Whats your favorite plant in the garden and in your flower bed ( or pot)?

Are the trees changing color where you are?  ( tell us your state)

Whats the most eggs you ever found in a "hidden" nest?
~

2 comments:

  1. I live on the Downeast Coast of Maine and I can see a lightening of the Maples. There have been a few here and there that have changed and fallen. The trees in the swamps are starting to change.

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  2. I'm gardening in window boxes currently, due to living in an apartment, but my favorite plant would be the lemon thyme that's taking over.
    There are some trees turning here in central Massachusetts, but it seems to be due to drought stress. We've had a pretty dry summer here--not record breaking dry, but still pretty bad.
    When I was growing up we had chickens (and I hope to again at some point in the next couple years) and although they left eggs in normal places there was some trouble with a couple bantam hens. Because they were so small, they managed to squeeze into a corner of the henhouse and effectively lay eggs under a wooden platform. When we pulled up the platform to clean things out, we discovered a number of really old eggs which quickly ended up on the compost before someone accidentally broke one.

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