The folks are here, so its been a fun weekend. Saturday was a busy day as usual. Mom and I went to the Bisbee Farmers’ Market, to see what we could sell. It’s a bit difficult to unload “inventory” when almost every booth is selling eggs. But I think we have the corner on the market for “interesting” eggs. We’ve had a repeat customer looking for the Bantum eggs, which I only started taking on a whim, but she’s been seeking them out now a couple of times. So, I’m hoping that she is a customer for life now 🙂 . And we garner a great deal of interest with the Goose’s eggs. Not too many people are brave enough to try them, but sometimes the kids can talk their folks into getting them. I’ve started taking little cartons to box up the goose eggs, one at a time, if they sell. Came in handy at the Neighborhood market, one young man was quite excited to try the egg. (A quick side note about the Neighborhood Market: Friday I stated that I wasn’t sure if we made enough to cover our booth fee, but what I found out is that the first time was free – so everything we made there was profit. Nice!) We also have the only Welsh Harlequin Duck eggs around and people have been seeking them out lately as well. People who have baked with the duck eggs know how good they are. Maybe I should print up some recipes to hand out with the duck eggs so people who are curious will have something to try.
I’ve been sharing booth space with a really neat lady who makes beautiful aprons and potholders – have actually purchased a few of her neat creations for gifts and for myself; I think Mom did too while we were there. Sharing the space really helps to cut down on the costs; if I only sell three dozen regular eggs, then we’re still making something – not a lot, but at least covering our expenses. And I think it’s important to have a consistent presence, so people get used to seeing you and count on you to have your eggs. Plus, our eggs are GREAT! And they are beautiful, tasty and nutritious. If people take time to read our card, they are pleasantly surprised that we give 10% of the egg production to a local food bank. That alone sets us apart from all the others. We just need to keep working at getting the word out.
Sue stayed to work on the RCW. There are just so few calm hours that let her paint. It is so very close to being done. Just a few more finishing touches and then we can get it set up. I think we’re thinking of putting them out in the depression. There will be so much for them to eat up out there. Sue read where they really like the Coyote Melon bushes that we want to get rid of. They will probably always be there because they grow from tubers deep in the soil. If you try to pull them up, they stink like crazy, but chickens are supposed to really like them. So that would be a great benefit for having them there. plus they’d be able to really work that soil up and add to it. The depression would also afford some small bit of protection from the winds.
We have a bit of an update on Duck-Duck. We think she is all better, but we are keeping an eye on her. We brought her in for her exam and bath time. She still really enjoys being able to bathe. This time, when Sue took off the wrappings, it really did look like everything was gone. But, we’ve thought that before, so went through all the motions. A good bath in the tub, a long soak in the Epsom salt water, then some prodding around with the fingers to make sure there weren’t any hard spots remaining. Sue gave her the all clear. We did go ahead an wrap it up one more time with some medicine to make sure – but we let her out of the isolation pen that night. However, when Sue went back in on Sunday morning, she was still in there. We think she may have grown accustomed to the easy meals and cushy bedding. She eventually did decide to come out, and has now reintegrated with the rest of the flock. She seems to be walking quite well, so hopefully we are done with bumblefoot for a while!
Other than that, all things progress as normal. We water the trees and the vegetables on almost a daily basis. Sometimes twice a day because it is warm and windy – things just dry out in no time. Just how it’s going to be. Every day we keep praying for rain. We know it will come, just not sure when. Any day, please. You’ll be the first to know when that happens. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading!
Today’s Weather: Warm and windy. In the last hour we’ve had 36mph winds, slowing down to 7mph. Really strong and gusty. Right now it is 80° at 6:39 p.m. My folks were hoping to head home tomorrow, but they may be stranded due to high winds. We certainly don’t want to send them out to fight the wind all the way home. We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings.
Egg Report: We haven’t had a goose egg in a number of days, so I’m not going to report on those until they show up again! Saturday: 1 duck, 40 chicken eggs. Sunday: 2 ducks, 42 chicken eggs. Today (Monday): 1 duck and 19 chicken eggs. We are in such low numbers because I dropped the bucket the layers’ eggs were in. We lost four completely and there were four that were cracked beyond saving. I had it when things like that happen.
Wing and a Prayer 