This week

[gailmom.livejournal.com]

Kids have been doing a whole bunch of weeding along with GS. I've scraped together a bit of cash, so it is off to the feed store and co-op tomorrow to pick up:

two more water barrels
some flex hose to install them *properly* (the other way works, but makes it hard to clean out the catch screen)
chick feed, heat lamp, and 6 more baby chicks (we need five, I presume mortality happens)
If they have magpie ducks, I bet I can talk GS into letting me get some, if not, I have to wait and keep negotiating...I've almost got her talked into letting me have a pair though! (woohoo! always wanted ducks)

next month's budget scraping (knock wood) get roosts in the chicken coop, and a new roof for it (since my temp one is...sad)

meanwhile, all but Spot (the black and white chicken) are giving us daily eggs now!

Happily, should we ever find ourselves with more eggs than we can eat/sell (hasn't happened yet), I found instructions for how to freeze extra eggs for use during the winter less-egg times:

From StillTasty.com
To freeze whole eggs 1)remove eggs from their shell 2) pierce yolks and gently mix in 1/2 teaspoon of salt for every one cup of raw eggs (for using eggs in main dishes) or tablespoon of sugar (if using for baking or desserts) 3)place in covered airtight containers or heavy duty freezer bags and freeze

frozen eggs will last for about a year in the freezer, which is a lot longer than the 2-5 weeks for a refrigerated egg. (yard eggs last longer if you don't wash them, so as to retain the bloom which protects the egg)