not all they're cracked up to be...

Well, this is the first time I've gotten to cook my eggs. Joi has used several eggs for this and that, but tonight we had breakfast for supper.

Here is my account. I cracked nine eggs that I received by the grace of God from my chickens. I then cracked six eggs that I received by the grace of God from the store. The end result is the picture on the left. I should note that we receive eggs regularly from some friends who have a lot more laying hens, so this was not my first experience with non-commercial eggs.

The first thing I noticed was that the egg shells were very, and I mean very, hard. I have a pretty good single strike and crack in half reputation when it comes to egg cracking. I struck the egg on the metal bowl several times. I noticed that the outer/inner membrane did not break. I literally had to tear this bag like membrane. I know what you are thinking... Is that good? I was talking to Joi, and it dawned on me... It is virtually impossible for me to get part of an egg shell in my cracked eggs... so I believe it to be not just good, but very good.

Joi asked me about the color, and I did notice the color to be very vivid. You can see a distinct difference in color in the picture. Can you tell which side came from the store and which came from the backyard? I'll let you know in the comments which is which.

The last thing that I noticed while cooking the eggs was that when I removed the eggs from the iron skillet there was very little remnant of egg in the pan. When I placed the store bought eggs in the skillet, the remains were absorbed into the uncooked eggs. When I was done, I'd bet there was half an egg stuck to the skillet. To their credit, I was cooking them very hard for my dear wife.

The last step was the taste test. I placed some on the right and the other on the left of my plate. I ate from my eggs, and then from the store bought. I then reversed the order. There was a distinct taste as well. I am grateful that we have made this venture. It has been good... by the grace of God.

It must be the bread...

I could only pick one title. Other thoughts included, "A train a train, could you would you on a train?", "The incredible edible", "Sunny side up", "Chicken or the Egg", etc...

To the left is our first egg. She's on the small side, but that's ok. We've had our chickens for several months now. A friend got them past the baby stage for us. We got them at 5 weeks. I get to go out every morning to feed and water them. When it's really cold, I get to de-ice the water before changing it out. I've been feeding the pup we got around the same time.

My father-in-law started getting eggs last week. Joi suggested we might not be getting any because Lassie (the pup) is terrorizing our chickens. That may be true. Joi mentioned that her dad was giving his chickens day old bread and talking to them.

Since that time, I have been out talking to my chickens. I'd say things like, "If you don't give me some eggs soon, then I'll get me some legs soon". You know coersing them into laying.

Last night we had some rolls. Joi wanted me to give them to the chickens. It was raining horribly, and cold. The chickens were running around in mud puddles. I moved the tractor to a spot that looked better. Once I got it there and looked in, there were more mud puddles. I moved them to a grassy spot under the tree and there was less mud there. Joi reminded me with a knock on the window that we had bread to give them. I retrieved the bread. It had a tin which I was glad to see, because the chickens haven't been eating out of their tray lately. I was able to put the scratch feed in the tin rather than on the wet ground.

So when I went to check on our chickens this evening, to my surprise I found this very special blessing. We took several pictures. Most were blurry. I was getting ready to put it in the refrigerator and wanted to mark it so it wouldn't be confused with the eggs we get from friends. I picked out the crayon, and was just going to put a dot on it. I got inspired.

In the end, we figured it must be the bread... I am sure it will be eggcellent.