It is a modest harvest, but a welcome one. Some eggs for breakfast, and some basil to make pesto, all gathered from the yard.
Modest Harvest
Category: eggs
Morel mushrooms
I went to check the trail cam and found morel mushrooms growing in our woods!
I did a triple verification of identity: I cut one in half length-wise to verify the inside was hollow, I put them on a dark colored sheet of paper to verify the spore was light in color, and I sent a picture to my Dad, who confirmed the identity.
Once identified, I washed the mushrooms and sliced them, then sautéed them in olive oil. I read that morels need to be cooked or risk stomach upset.
To complete the meal I added eggs from our chickens to make a mushroom scramble. Breakfast was provided by items gathered from the yard, which is always neat.
Strange egg shape
This egg is nearly round. I’m not sure what caused my hens to lay a round egg, when I cracked it open it only had one yolk. It also happened on a day that six of the eight chickens produced an egg, which is unusual. My hatchery quality Faverolles usually lay every other day or so.
Egg!
Then hens are laying eggs again! (And I can’t help the sound track in my head of “We’re in the money”, even though the price of keeping the chickens is far above even the current cost of a dozen eggs.)
It has been four months since my hens have laid an egg. I saw one do the ready squat the day before I found this nugget in the nesting box. Admittedly, I do not make them into production machines by giving them more light in the morning, so their winter laying break is a long one. The hens are also going into their third summer, which is past a production bird’s peak performance, and eight hens lay enough for my family and the occasional gift of a dozen. I don’t get enough to sell regularly.
Still, it is nice to have fresh eggs again, knowing where they get their nutrition.
Throwback Thursday
We put up the tree this week. We decorate with ornaments collected over the years, no theme, no ribbons, but bits of memory hung on the branches. So for Throwback Thursday, here is the ornament I made in 2019 from one of the chicken’s first eggs. I actually made three against the ravages of time and accident, but all three are whole and hung.
Critters and Craft 