Cackle Fruit

 We currently have an embarrassment of eggs.  This is due in no small part because last spring I went a tiny bit nuts when I beheld the cuteness of fuzzy chicks under a heat lamp in our local feed store.  So I brought home seven.  And then, about a month later, I went to different feed store for something totally unrelated (perhaps dog food), went bonkers yet again and came home with another box of fuzzy cuteness. They all joined our elderly bunch of biddies (turned nine years old this year) and it's been a feathered mob in the coop ever since.  This is even after I gave away four of the youngsters to friends and three of the older girls died this spring.  Right now, we are getting an average of ten eggs a day.

With so eggs coming in, I've developed an assembly line sort of routine to deal with them.  I collect them every day and keep them refrigerated until I have about a week's worth to wash. They get a quick rinse, air dry for a while on the counter and then are boxed up.

* I must add that I do not generally sort my eggs by color.  One day it just seemed like a fun sort of thing to do, so I did it.  The simple joys of retirement...

Our outdoor fridge looks like this right now -- this is about two and a half weeks worth of eggs.  We give most of them away.  People in our church love to see us coming on a Sunday with our tote bulging with eggs.









I also boil up a batch every week for Bruce to include in his lunches.  Plus we might use an additional half dozen or so for breakfasts and general cooking.  So we have twenty-odd hens for the pleasure of eating a dozen eggs a week -- and then giving the other five dozen away.

So, the question is: Is it worth it?

In a word:  Yes!