Breathing In and Out

I finally made it to the farm. I turned on the fridge and hopped out, so happy to have made it without further delay. I was not feeling safe in the city at all. So much foot traffic by my RV, people touching my RV, and I was not feeling like I should be outside around so many people. Now I am parked between my daughter’s two gardens. She has a big dahlia garden with other flowering plants as well, and then on the other side is her vegetable garden. Garlic is coming up, daffodils are in bloom, and there is much to be done for the growing season ahead. My daughter is working on another farm in the morning and then when she gets home we will be diving into the gardening. Her partner is working from home tomorrow, so we will spend our day over by me, Their trailer is among the chicken and goat pens. 

I have taken on egg collection and preparation for sale. My first stop is at the purple coop where far too many Ritas are laying their eggs. The purple coop flock has been naughty lately and often lays out in the woods in one of many nests. We are always coming across yet another new wild nest, often too late to save the eggs. Naughty chickens. I blame the ayam cemani. She is the wildest one and I find her eggs the most. She is corrupting them all. I have decided to keep the out of date/date unknown eggs in a few different colours and dry them out. I get maybe a half a dozen or so Rita eggs in the first run. 

Then I am off to the school bus where the Ritas are supposed to be laying their eggs. There I find a couple dozen eggs, and some hens are still in on the piles. They are used to eggs being collected now and I can fumble around any of them to get what they are laying on. I think they like the warmth of laying on the eggs. No one pecks at me as I slip my hand underneath to collect. I take a look around to see if there are any eggs on the floor or other strange places. They will literally drop one as they walk across the floor sometimes. They will look around and give you a look like - oh, sorry, did I do that? 

From the school bus I head over to check the goat shed as some of the Ritas have also taken to laying in the hay of the goat shed, right under the feeder, or on the feeder. Naughty. I chase one hen out of there and take the egg underneath. Clean out a broken on that tumbled from up on the feeder to a rung of the lower. Naughty. Then I am off to see the Serama chickens. They are the miniature chickens. I forgot to check their nest for eggs. They don’t lay daily like the other girls. From here I take what eggs i have and head back to my RV. I cook up a few eggs for my salads today and tomorrow. Fresh as you can get them. Still warm when I put them in the pot. 

Time for breakfast and then for another collecting tour among the nests. I might get a few more at the purple coop, sometimes from the purple coop flock. Someone laid a very lovely blue egg, Aerie I believe. Thank you. They are so very pretty. A few more from the school bus and back here to sit down and clean them. I turn on the tunes and cut myself a few dozen pieces of paper towel. Each egg gets minimal dampness on a new piece of paper towel to avoid cross contamination. Mostly it is mud on the eggs from the girls dirty feet this time of year. Sometimes it is poop. They poop all the time. I got pooped on tonight when we were giving Cruella her nightly bath for some extra care. I had to take off my vest that she pooped on as I was gagging to vomit right there. I can take the smell of farm animals pretty good, but fresh chicken poop comes with its own pungent hum.....

Then I have the eggs ready to go. Three dozen are for a pre order who paid by e-transfer and one dozen for sale in the cooler. I pack up the prepaid order into a paper bag and label them with the woman’s name and stable the bag closed. Hoping that will deter any lookie loos. I pack the eggs into my big shopping bag from the Grand Canyon trip in 2016 and head for the farm stand. Not wanting to go close to the farmhouse where my daughter’s partner’s brother and his wife are expecting child number two any day now, I skirt by and duck across the creek and in through the gate to the parents side of the creek where the main house is, sticking along the fence and through the deer fence again towards the farm stand. 

Once through the last gate (all opened and closed with gloves on) I trekked the last leg through the woods to the farm stand. A quick cleanup of notebook pages that was blown about. People leave notes such as IOU or over paid, or will e=transfer etc. Pop the extra carton of eggs into the cooler and shut the lid. An open lid means they are sold out while a closed lid means there are eggs in side. 

That sorted, time to hoof it back towards my RV and take a break. Check in with Facebook and the rest of the world. Before long it is time for another tour to see what is going on with everyone. Treats for all as the eggs are laid for the day. Hang out with the goats for a bit in the pen. They LOVE banana chips. 

Then time to come back to the RV for a rest and to make dessert for tonight. I am on solar charge right now in the middle of the field, so have to use my mixer at 30-40 second intervals as I try to whip up the mousse. Thought I did enough but it was not moussey when we had it for dessert. Didn’t really matter, yummy anyway. I put together supper and have it good to when when everyone gets home. 

We stuffed ourselves, caught up on each other’s day and then they retreated to put the ‘kids’ to bed and went home themselves. Now I am ready for bed! It has been a busy day, but I was happy to be out in the fresh air most of the day. A whole new day tomorrow.