A couple of weeks ago, I was complaining about eggs piling up in my fridge faster than I could sell them. I actually took a few dozen to the local food bank (where they said they couldn't accept fertile eggs. Go figure.). Now all of a sudden, production has taken a nosedive. It may be because of all the uproar with the new chickens; perhaps everyone still needs time to chill out and settle back into routine. Or maybe it's molting season. Some of the chickens are looking rather raggedy and patchy. All I know is it's seriously annoying; more and more chickens, fewer and fewer eggs. Today I found only five. That strikes me as a ridiculous number. After all, there are sixteen hens out there right now, not counting the new mamas, the setting hens, or the pullets.
And I have such good trade going! My Garden connection is loading me down with so many greens I have to distribute them among friends and family. Today I traded two dozen eggs for six gallon sized ziploc freezer bags stuffed full of kale, collards, arugula, rainbow chard, and romaine lettuce. And when I got home, I saw that my other regular trader had come by to pick up his eggs (and a few little extras like cajeta and rhubarb sauce) and left me: Two beautiful loaves of homemade bread, a large packet of mixed herbs, and a grocery bag stuffed with rainbow chard. I'm not complaining, but my husband will start to soon if I keep serving him kale.
Garden Lady will keep giving me greens even if I run out of eggs: she gardens for the love of it and her goal is to get them eaten, however she can. But Bread Man needs eggs for his fabulous baked goods! Maybe he needs some quality jam to put on all that bread.
