(November 19, 2009)
This has been a great week for all of us. Pete and the girls are thrilled with the weather and have been out ranging all over the place every day, eating bugs, stirring up all the compost piles, chasing off the stray cat, and producing eggs (many of which must be fertilized). We are averaging seven a day right now. One day with 10, and today there were nine. We have hd two so far with double yolks, and today we got the first blue egg! We are waiting for Keith to get his eggs, then everyone will have had a chance to try the first ones. Some are small, but each day more get bigger. One hen lays on the floor each night, so that egg has to be washed. But we have just learned that it is better not to wash them until right before you use them, as they have a protective coat of some kind that keeps bacteria out. So as of today we only wash the dirty ones. Most are really quite clean when they are laid, and we are now putting them in the frig right away, which is added protection. So, wash your eggs just before using from now on. We are trying to keep the coop and particularly the nest boxes clean. The girls do a good job with that on their own. They immediately throw out most of the straw before laying an egg on the bare wood. We are also collcting several times a day, so the eggs are not dirtied by other hens.

Wendy, Frank, and Jeanne finished digging the trench on Tuesday, and David put in the wiring for the light and the outlet yesterday. We are now really ready for winter. If it should get really cold we can put a bit of heat in there, but most of the time the light bulb should do the trick, combined with body heat. We read that giving them scratch just before bed gives them energy to put out more body heat during the night. So out I go soon to gather them in with some scratch. Peggy filled in the trench dirt and the girls have scratched out their designs on the dirt to show their approval.

Amy has put the blog together, as you already know. It looks great. I have some good pictures but don't have a digital camera, so either someone has to show me how to scan them in or others will have to post pictures on the blog. I also have to learn how to add to a blog. But I will probably continue to also post occasional emails to the group. Amy has offered to host a potluck where we do egg dishes, besides quiches. Sounds like fun. We do like quiches though. Do my chocolte chip cookies count? They use two eggs.

Cheers to all of us. Things are working out really well here on Homestead road, and those eggs sure taste better when you know exactly where they came from and what kind of community labor went into them. What a blessing to live in this community. Peggy