How I Used My First Homegrown Eggs

I've been getting an egg every single day from my one hen. After losing track of time while taking my written comprehensive exams, I came to the realization that I had collected almost a dozen eggs from her already, but hadn't used a single one!

So how did I use my first homegrown egg? To make chocolate chip cookies of course! I realize this probably wasn't the best way to showcase my first egg, but my boyfriend and I needed some cookies.

My go-to chocolate chip cookies recipe comes from this book. Yes, it's a children's cookbook. I recieved this as a gift from Mom many many years ago. I'm pretty sure she got it from saving up UPC labels back in the day when people did that. I don't know how many promotional toys and LEGO kits my brother's and I got from my Mom's "refund club".

"C" is for Chocolate Chip Cookie! Notice the smudges of this well-used recipe.

After fulfilling our thirst for cookies, I decided I would do something a little more egg-worthy...fried eggs for breakfast. 

The yolks are a fantastic neon orange color. I'm not particularly a fan of friend eggs, but these were pretty tasty. I noticed that the egg shells were really difficult to crack! I'm not sure if the shell is thicker than grocery store eggs, or if the inner membrane is fresher and stronger. I also noticed that the egg white was firm and gelatinous, unlike any watery grocery store egg I've ever cracked.

Later that day, I made my boyfriend and myself some english muffin sandwiches (egg McMuffin style) with ham, egg, swiss, cheese, and honey mustard. Yum! As you can see, even after scrambling the eggs, the whites are still mostly intact because they are so firm. Can you tell how many eggs I used?

Battle Wounds

Every year around the Fourth of July, wild black raspberries start to ripen in my area. I went picking for about 2 hours and came home with 2 and 2/3 pounds of berries and shredded arms! I never seem to notice how torn up my arms get while picking black raspberries until it is too late! These scratches aren't particularly painful, but they sure look bad. Last year I had two weddings to attend around July 4th, so I had to abstain from berry picking so my arms didn't look terrible in my fancy wedding garb.

And I know what you're thinking...why didn't I wear long sleeves? Well, unfortunately the day I choose to go berry picking was about 90 degrees. I wore long pants so I could easily bust through the brambles, but I wasn't willing to cook myself to death with long sleeves.

Shallot Scapes

I accidentally missed a few clumps of shallots last fall and they have been growing like crazy this spring. I recently noticed some curlycue flower heads forming on them and got really excited. I recently tried garlic scapes for the first time and they were delicious. Could shallot scapes also be good?

Oh my yes! I think they were actually better than the garlic scapes. The half onion half garlic flavor was delicious and very strong.

I sauteed these little gems into an amazing stir fry with carrots, broccoli, and chicken.

Fourth of July Surprise

I had a second chicken start laying today and the egg was blue tinted! It's such a pretty little egg. And this time, I'm positive who laid it because it had to be the aracauna. I can also tell who's laying the eggs because if I pet each chicken, the ones that have started laying eggs squat down and sit still in some sort of blissful mating position. The non-laying chickens just try to run away!

Today I got a nice brown egg (the biggest one so far, and it was still warm) and this little blue guy. The blue egg was laid on top of the next box instead of in the next box. Hopefully Momma Chicken #1 will teach Momma Chicken #2 how it's done. Then again, considering that Chicken #1's first egg was laid outside in the grass, Chicken #2 is doing very well!

These photos don't really illustrate how blue the egg is (it just looks kind of gray), but it's very pretty pale blue.

Here's my very own red, white, and blue decoration for the holiday. Happy Fourth of July!

Homemade Apricot Jam

I went berry picking over the weekend, hoping to make black raspberry jam, but I was about half a pound shy of what I needed (raspberry season isn't quite going full force yet). So apricot instead!

Apricots were on sale for 99 cents per pound at the grocery store. I would have preferred to buy them at a farmer's market, but I have no clue what time of year is apricot season. I really wanted to have some fun and make jam this weekend (partially as a reward for finishing my written comprehensive exams), so I picked up 4 pounds of apricots on the spur of the moment.

Pitting and chopping apricots.

Cooking apricots and pectin.

Adding sugar and boiling.

Filling the jars with jam.

Processing the jars in the water bath canner

The finished product. It turned out a bit runny, but that's fine. It's easier to spread that way anyhow!

My recipe only called for 3.5 pounds, but I feel like I'm always cutting it close when I fill the jars. That's why I got an extra half pound of fruit. However, somehow that extra half pound turned the 8 half-pint jar recipe into an 12 half-pint jar recipe! I had to run around at the last minute grabbing extra jars and lids out of the basement to make room for the excess. I guess I didn't need to worry about cutting it close this time! That said, I think apricot jam is my favorite jam of all (although there are plenty I've never tried) so I'm pleased to have gone a little overboard!

Goldie

I still haven't gotten around to naming my chickens. Perhaps I should name my Golden-laced Wyandotte 'Goldie'? I think that would still fit with the naming scheme I came up with a while back.

Isn't she pretty?

Kohlrabi

I'm really pleased how my kohlrabi are shaping up. I've had a difficult time growing a lot of brassicas and these are doing great! They're still smaller than a tennis ball, so I think I'll wait until they're a bit larger before trying one.