Emu Eggs for sale

3 Beautiful Unique Shells for Crafts, Carving, Painting, & Etching! The emu egg makes beautiful jewelry 

EMU EGGS create wonderful works of art. 

The eggs have three layers. Outside-emerald green, middle-teal green, and inside-white.  

The eggs are approximately 13 1/2" end to end  and   10 3/4" around the middle

They have a small hole at one end. The hole is 3/16 inch. (very small)

These eggs are laid by our own  hen.

These eggs may have one or more of he following: blemishes, such as scratches, white oval stains,

natural blemishes, simply due to the hen. These will get covered up by painting, carving, cut-out work, or decoupaging.

All shells are blown, cleaned, & sanitized.  Colors, textures, & shape will vary.

They are not cracked or broken when shipped; but they are insured, if breakage should occur during shipping! 

For more information go to: Emu Eggs where you can order them!

Chickens

Chickens are one of the first animals people want to get when they are starting their homestead. They are  very easy to keep and raise. They eat very little if they are free ranging. They are great for bug control. In return they provide eggs, meat and feathers for fishing tackle. They are amusing to watch, a little violent in their breeding (for you first timers) and it is fun to hear the rooster crow and the girls talk. The rooster will call his girls over when he finds a tasty morsel. He will crow in the morning just to announce his domain. 

The girls gossip and chat to each other and will brag when they lay their eggs.

When the chicks are fully feathered and grown, you will see the "ear lobes" on the side of their head. The ones with the red ones will lay brown eggs, and the ones with the white will lay white eggs. After the first couple of eggs come, if you are observant, you will be able to tell which egg belongs to which hen as each egg is distinctive to that hen.

Each chicken will have their own personality. I have had a chicken that would always run to me and make her soft clucking sounds as if asking for a handout. She was always the first one to spot me coming out of the house.

    Interested in starting a small flock? In general, you can have 3 hens (no rooster or crowing involved) and easily get 14 eggs a week! That's 2 eggs a day! 

We have 15 hens and have eggs out the ears in the summer. What can you do with the eggs? You can have deviled eggs, quiche, custards,. You can pickle them, freeze them, add extras to cakes and other mixes. Have breakfast for supper at least once a week, and of course, sell them or give them to friends.

Advantages to chickens besides eggs: Chickens will eat ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, slugs, beetles, ants, maggots, grubs, caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles, and even mice. This year I have heard the bugs may be overwhelming because the winter was so mild.

  

  

My favorite chickens are the Americana chickens - not to be confused with Araucanas. Americanas sold by hatcheries are  also called the Easter Egg Fowl. Most of the so-called Americanas in the US are mixes that carry some of the original genes and lay variously colored eggs: blue, green, or pinkish. These birds are sometimes (and more honestly) sold as Easter Egg chickens. The American Poultry Association recognizes a bird called the Ameraucana, which lays colored eggs and has muffs and a beard, not ear tufts, and comes in standardized color varieties, with slate colored shanks.

Easter Egger come in white  and vary  in a wide assortment of colors and types, black, buff, cinnamon, brown, red and white– along with various combinations of these colors. Some may have top knots, some have whiskers, and others have bunches of feathers growing from each side of the head near the ear region. They are good layers, with eggs medium to large in size. The colors vary in shade from pale to deep blue, green, pink, plus a few olive drab and an occasional antique gold. The Easter Egger is a hardy, vigorous fowl, resistant to disease and easy to raise. They seem to do well in all types of climate. A calm chicken, they are very easily tamed to become pets.


I'm sure my flock is a combination of the Easter Eggers and Ameracaunas. I also have White and Brown leghorns in the mix. And I'm excited to say I ordered Auracana eggs and will hopefully hatch out chickens with the ear tufts and blue eggs!

  

Brown eggs, blue eggs, white eggs and even some pink eggs are some of the fun of raising your chickens.

Here is an excellent page of a chicken breed chart to help get you started on choosing the chicken for you! click here

                       

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Emu Egg Quiche

I made an emu egg quiche tonight. I have used our emu eggs in scrambled eggs before, but with left over ham from Easter, and swiss cheese, I had to make a quiche. It was very delicious. The emu egg was rich and light. 


The easiest way to blow an emu egg came from Jim Glick at Backachers Emu Ranch.  http://www.weduemu.com/
Into the small end of the egg, make a 1/8" hole with a drill. Using an air canister (such as the kind you get to blow the dust out of the keyboard of your computer) and giving short bursts of air, blow into the egg. 

 

The yolk will come out in a beautiful stream

One egg will equal about 10 - 12 chicken eggs. 

Blend the egg completely. I add a bit of milk to it (about 2/3) and get it frothy. Then I use a favorite quiche recipe. 


First I cheat with a store bought pie crust. If you get the regular, this quiche will make 2 pies. If you use the deep dish, it will make 1 pie.
Heat the oven to 375*, prick the pie crust and place it in the oven to brown the bottom a bit. 



QUICHE FILLING:


Emu Egg, fresh, or 10 large chicken eggs
Swiss Cheese, 2 cup, shredded 
Mushrooms, canned, .25 cup 
Cured Ham, 1  1/2 cup 
Onions,1/2  cup, chopped 
  2/3 - 3/4 cup milk


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.


Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan and add onions, sauté until they begin to brown and caramelize.
 Remove onions from pan,  Heat mushrooms in same pan until water is released. .
Turn oven down to 350 degrees.
Sprinkle crust with 1 cup cheese, onions and mushrooms, then add whisked eggs.
 Cover with remaining 1 cup of cheese and bake for 30-40 minutes until center is set and top is golden brown.

I didn't have a brick of cheese, just sliced swiss cheese, so I cut it into strips and added it. 

Comfort foods for cold days

It is finally winter here in WV. It hasn't really felt like winter in quite a while... I think that has been the way all over the place. We have been experiencing record highs - in the 50's for most of the past few months. This weekend we had 10 inches of snow and the temps are in the teens. So it is a wonderful weekend to make some of my favorite comfort foods.

We have had beans, (first we had tacos) then the beans were transformed into chili, transformed into spaghetti sauce this past week. One slow cooker filled with beans can be transformed into a variety of dishes that will last a week and cost next to nothing.

Today I am filling the slow cooker with my famous Sauerkraut and Kielbasa! This is wonderful for those of you that do not like the sour-ness of sauerkraut. It takes the tang out. You also do not have to put in sausage. You can add ham, or just not any meat at all. It is a wonderful vegetable.
Being from New York, I have always had sauerkraut on my hotdogs! But I have found, I enjoy this milder version even more.

Start with 2 cans of sauerkraut., rinsed in water then covered in the pot (you can cover it with chicken broth or just water) To save money, I just cover it with water.Add to that 1 tbls of brown sugar and 1 grated apple and 1 grated potato and cook on low for about 4 hours. I then get kielbasa (I like Hillshire the best) you can get the turkey sausage, turkey kielbasa, polish sausage or which ever you enjoy. Cut the link in half and then cut chunks. Place it in the slowcooker, covering and mixing it with the sauerkraut. Cook for another 2 hours and there is dinner!!

Food Waste

I just watched the show "The Big Waste" on Food network. The show had 4 chefs, (two teams) find food that was being wasted (either from supermarkets, or farms) - the kind of food no one would buy because it might have a blemish, the wind had blown the crop down, they rummaged through a container of produce, bruising the fruit. Or ordered and then cancelled the order. Scouring grocery aisles, produce farms, orchard lines and garbage piles on the streets of New York City, the chefs were astounded at the things people discarded.

I was amazed. Over 40% of our food is wasted...27 million tons

This makes no sense to me. There are commercials on TV talking about not letting any child go hungry, yet there is a 40% waste of food in this country.

This has nothing to do with how the food is produced... it has to do with Americans having to have the best...

It also has to do with the food regulations which, although keep us safe, they also go overboard.

One person interviewed called himself a "freegan". He has a house, a car and a job. Yet he gets all his food free by checking out the waste that the markets put out to go to the landfill. He got fresh vegetables, quinoa salad and more - enough to fill 2 "suitcases". All free, all good!

The other thing that bothers me is reading about the different foods that come from countries that do not have the regulations. Orange Juice was found to have fungicide not allowed in the US but is allowed in Brazil. About 16.8 percent of the food that Americans eat is imported from other countries, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, up from 11.3 percent two decades ago. Some fish and seafood comes from other countries - a whopping 86%.

Raw milk is unavailable to a lot of us because of unclean production in the 1800's. The

Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) protects your right to provide and obtain raw milk

Makes you think... what can I do about this in my small way.

Well, first off, I think if I grow my own food, or as much of it as I can I can control the waste. Simply by feeding the waste to the animals I have will save me money and feed the animals in a much healthier way.

I think building a root cellar to store the excess will be a great way to help keep food. If I buy an abundance of carrots, potatoes, apples from the store, or from a farm, I can keep the food longer in the root cellar.

Instead of choosing only the best looking produce - if I am going to cook the produce, the taste is the same whether it has a bruise on it or not. In the past, I have stopped at a farm in Ohio and gotten tomatoes for canning. They are not pretty, but getting them canned before we eat them fresh is always a challenge,. They taste just as good as the pretty perfect ones.

If your cheese gets a hard crust, grate it and all it to a casserole. It will melt and you'll never notice the difference.

Buy the bread that is considered "day old". (Or make your own to save money)

Being frugal by nature, it annoys me to see such waste. I watch my grocery bill to keep it the lowest possible (I am writing a frugal cookbook on how I fed my family of 5 for $20 a week and how I can still do that today for $50 a week).

I catch rainwater to water my animals and do my laundry. I try to hang my laundry as much as I can to save on the electricity a dryer costs.

I re-use and re-purpose everything I can.I know this blog has sort of turned out to talk more about frugality, but I think that goes hand in hand with waste.

So... here are a few quick ideas.

You can't grow a garden anywhere? Try just a flower pot. Get some cherry tomato plant. (Sometimes you can find what is called patio plants) You can plant them in a margarine tub until they get bigger, then get a pail.

Buy the fruit or vegetables that aren't "perfect"

Get meat that is close to expiration and eat it that night.

Re-use what you have. I save tin foil and bags to re-use (unless they have touched raw meat).

So, it's time for everyone to do their part.

Veteran's Day, Morse Code and my Dad

My Dad never talked about his experience in WWII... However,  I have his photo album, and many letters he wrote to my grandparents.


This is one of my favorite stories that my mother tells...

Right after my parents were married and had moved to a new town, my mother had heard from a college friend that Phyllis and her husband were passing through. The two decided it would be great fun to go to a restaurant and meet each other's spouses and catch up. The husbands apparently went along with it, to make their wives happy.

My father was a quiet man, and my mother and her friends usually dominated the conversation, so he was prepared for another night such as that.

He was introduced to the friends husband and they sat down. Because this was 1948, the talk turned toward WWII in which both men had served. They found that they had been deployed to the same war zone.
 In the course of their discussion it came about that they had both been in Communications.

My father had been a radio telegraph operator and sent messages through Morse Code. 

Radio telegraphy using Morse code was vital during World War II, especially in carrying messages between the warships and the naval bases of the Royal Navy, the Kriegsmarine, the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Long-range ship-to-ship communications was by radio telegraphy, using encrypted messages, because the voice radio systems on ships then were quite limited in both their range, and their security. Radiotelegraphy was also extensively used by warplanes, especially by long-range patrol planes that were sent out by these navies to scout for enemy warships, cargo ships, and troop ships.

In addition, rapidly moving armies in the field could not have fought effectively without radiotelegraphy, because they moved more rapidly than telegraph and telephone lines could be erected. This was seen especially in the blitzkrieg offensives of the Nazi German Wehrmacht in Poland, Belgium, France (in 1940), the Soviet Union, and in North Africa; by the British Army in North Africa, Italy, and the Netherlands; and by the U.S. Army in France and Belgium (in 1944), and in southern Germany in 1945.

Operators skilled in Morse code can often understand ("copy") code in their heads at rates in excess of 40 wpm.


 The other man, whom they were having dinner with, was the recipient of those messages!!

The light suddenly dawned on him and he said "Double Dog??"

My Dad (initials are DD) was surprised and answered the man by calling him HIS code name. The evening took a turn as the two men felt the brotherhood that you get when you've served

For the rest of the night, my mother and her friend could hardly get a word in edgewise as these two Vets caught up on their stories.













                 

My grandmother and Dad 1939

My Dad, home on leave in 1944

  

My Dad at his 50th Wedding Anniversary Surprise party in 1998.

Using those green tomatoes

Everyone seems to have an abundance of tomatoes, but if you have some green tomatoes in your garden Here are some recipes (Fried Green Tomatoes, Green Tomato Relish, etc)

I have heard of people putting a good thick gravy on top, but I tend to eat them just as they are - out of the frying pan. I do a very simple version of Fried Green Tomatoes: I dredge the sliced green tomatoes in a mixture of flour, salt and pepper (sometimes I add Old Bay Seasoning) and fry them in whatever is handy - oil, shortening, grease. And I always use a cast iron skillet. However, if you want the official Southern Fried Green Tomato recipe here it is (from Tyler Florence):

Tyler Florence's Fried Green Tomatoes

1 cup stone-ground cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon garlic powder

Pinch cayenne

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 large unripe tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices, ends removed

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Hot pepper sauce, for serving

Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, garlic powder, and cayenne together. Pour the buttermilk into a separate bowl and season with salt and pepper. Dip the tomatoes in the buttermilk and then dredge them in the cornmeal mixture, coating both sides well.

Place a large cast iron skillet over medium heat and coat with the oil. When the oil is hot, pan-fry the tomatoes (in batches if necessary) until golden brown and crispy on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Carefully remove the tomatoes and drain on paper towels. Serve with hot pepper sauce and lemon.

Simple Fried Green Tomatoes With Country Milk Gravy

3 tbsp. bacon fat

4 green tomatoes, sliced 1/2" thick

Beaten eggs

Bread crumbs

Flour

Milk

Salt Pepper (You can also season Gravy with thyme, sage, marjoram, or anything you like.)

In a heavy skillet or frying pan heat bacon fat. Dip tomatoes in egg then in bread crumbs. Fry slowly in bacon fat until golden brown on both sides. Put tomatoes on a plate. For each tablespoon of fat left in the pan, stir in 1 tablespoon of flour and blend well. Stir in 1 cup warm milk and cook until thick, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper. Pour over the tomatoes and serve hot.

PICCALILLI

1 qt. cabbage, chopped

1 qt. green tomatoes, chopped

2 sweet green peppers

2 sweet red peppers

2 lg. Onions

1/4 c. salt

1 1/2 c. vinegar

1 1/2 c. water

2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. Turmeric

1 tsp. celery seed

Chop cabbage, tomato, red and green peppers and onions. Mix with salt and let stand overnight. Next morning drain. Boil vinegar, water, sugar, spices for 5 minutes. Add chopped vegetable mixture and bring to a boil. Pour into jars and seal. ‘

GREEN TOMATO RELISH

2 qt. chopped green tomatoes

3 green peppers, sweet

3 red peppers, sweet

5 lg. Onions

3 tbsp. salt

2 tbsp. celery seed

2 tbsp. mustard seed

1 tbsp. allspice

1 tbsp. turmeric

3 c. sugar

3 c. vinegar

Grind coarse tomatoes, peppers, onions. Put together in large pan, put the salt in and let stand 10 minutes. Drain, then mix all the spices, sugar and vinegar in it. Boil 10 minutes. Put hot in jars and seal.

CHOW CHOW

A good way to use green tomatoes, this chow chow is a spicy and hot accompaniment to beans and peas.

1 quart green tomatoes, chopped (about 6 to 8 tomatoes)

2 sweet green peppers, chopped

2 large mild onions, chopped

1 small head cabbage, chopped

1/2 cup salt

3 cups vinegar

2-1/2 cups brown sugar

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons celery seed

Grind the chopped vegetables. Add the salt to them, and let the mixture stand overnight. (3 gal. veggies makes 12 quarts)

Drain the vegetable mixture in a jelly bag, pressing out all the liquid you can. Transfer the vegetables to a large pot. Add the vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, tumeric, and celery seed and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for one hour. Stir frequently.

Pour the relish into hot, sterilized pint jars, cover, process 15 minutes in a boiling bath.

Boy today has been a tough one for me. I'm sure it is all me... emotionally, I feel drained. However, I feel as though I take it out on the ones that I love most.

So I thought I would write in my blog, and count the blessings that I

have in order to lift my spirits.

The newest blessing I have is a grandson born in July. He had a few problems to start out with, and spent time in the NICU. I stayed in Ohio with my daughter Bethany while he was in the NICU in case she had to drive back and forth to the hospital after she was discharged. She lives about 45 minutes from the hospital. The hospital was very accommodating to Bethany and allowed her to stay as a "care by parent" patient. This meant she had no nursing care, no meals, etc. The only thing they did was had her trash taken away. But she was so happy to stay close to Donald and be able to nurse him. The "care by parent" room is usually designated to a parent that will be
taking their premature baby home after being in the NICU for weeks. This gives the parent an opportunity to get help and ask questions of the nursing staff. The day Donald arrived, there were a number of discha

rges, so the hospital had the space for Bethany. This was another blessing given to my family.

Bethany's sister, Mariann wanted to visit the baby, so after spending most of July in Ohio, Jim and I returned this past week with Mariann. It was a quick visit, but I think Bethany was happy to see her sister, and I know Mariann was happy to see Donald and Bethany. I had made some molasses cookies, brown sugar cookies and banana bread before we left. Some went to Ohio and some went with Mariann to North Carolina where she lives, to give to a friend of hers as a thank you for being so good to her.

Nana's 13 year old dog, Pixie died in July. Nana (my mother, who is living with us) was devastated. Pixie was with Nana when my father died and has been her constant companion.
However, we are lucky that we are dog lovers as one of our dachshunds, named Patty, is a perfect 'therapy dog". She loves people, snuggling, and being pampered. The perfect dog to help Nana through this rough spot.

Speaking of dogs, the best therapy for me today was to groom ( by that I mean, get all the matts out) our standard poodle, Duke. He was a mess and I have been meaning to groom him for a while now. He doesn't look perfect, but feels a lot better :-) It took a few hours, but we were outside, and Jim and I worked side by side.

Jim has been struggling with a lot of back problems from an old injury and we are not getting any answers from anyone. He has been told, by his doctor not to work. You can imagine how hard that is for a workaholic. Plus the loss of a pay check has been very hard on us. We are frugal people by nature so this is not so much of a hardship, but more of an awareness of what the future could hold for us.

As Bette Davis said "old age ain't for sissies".

I have started canning tomatoes. We didn't have a garden this year, except for a few plants that Jim planted in containers, but that doesn't stop me. I bought some tomatoes from a stand in Ohio and have started the cooking and canning process today. I enjoy doing it, and later in the year, when we are making a pot of spaghetti (low carb, because I am watching my weight - not that it does much) it will be nice to have some fresh spaghetti sauce.

Well now, I feel better already... thank you for letting me vent!

Dog Treats

I am a little picky about what type of dog food to feed your dog. Dogs are carnivores, and their digestive systems are not made to digest so much grain! When was the last time you saw a dog pillaging a corn field? A good site to see if your dog food is a good choice is: Dog Food Analysis http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/
Or Dog Food Advisor http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/dry/

I am not, however, as fussy when it comes to treats (except not to buy what is in the store!)

We have a few dogs - both large and small and we have been making our own dog biscuits for a number of years. Mariann is actually the one baking them. In fact, years ago she had a page on our site and sold dog biscuits. This was just before the big craze of dog biscuit stores.

Her variety of flavors for the treats:

Chocoholic Carob Cookies (with carob), Hush Puppies, Peanut Buster, Plain, Canine Breath Freshener (with mint), Cheese Yips, Fleas Navidad (garlic), Maltese Maple Munchies, Dalmatian Dipped, Scottie Biscotti, French Onion

Snickerpoodles, Big Dog Gone Bone (for large dogs!), Bacon Bit Biscuits and a Chocoholic Carob Birthday Cake with a white frosting

Most dog foods taste bland, the store-made biscuits taste like sawdust, so companies add a lot of salt to make it appealing to dogs.

Since my mother's elderly dog lives with us, I am making dog biscuits again. She is on a special low sodium diet, so by making biscuits on my own, I can control the sodium. We have a variety of dog biscuit cookie cutters, including large, medium small and tiny dog bones and a hydrant.

Here is a very simple recipe:

Microwave Doggie Doughnuts

2 c Whole wheat flour (you can substitute the flour with Rye or Buckwheat flour)

3 T Oatmeal

1 Egg; lightly beaten

1 ts Garlic powder

2/3 c Beef or chicken broth (low sodium - better yet, make your own)

Place flour in a bowl, add egg and broth, mix well. Blend in oatmeal and garlic powder. Roll dough into a ball, roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/2" thick. Cut with small doughnut cutters. Reroll scraps and repeat. Arrange on a shallow baking dish or on a sheet or parchment paper in a single layer. Cook on HIGH 10 minutes or until firm.

Let cool until hardened. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

If you don't know how to make your own chicken broth, or want more recipes for dog biscuits, let me know and I will post them!

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

As a stay-at-home mom/wife, we often did without. Living on one salary is tough, but I did what I could for a few dollars here and there. However, the brunt of our wealth has been on the shoulders of Jim. I am the one that budgets, and I tried to be as frugal as I could over the years.

We have enjoyed our run around with life, Jim and I. There isn't a whole lot of things that we haven't done that we have chosen to do. A majority of what we have done over the years involved our children. A choice that we happily made.

Oh sure, a vacation would be really nice. I can't remember the last time we went on a vacation just for fun... ours always consist of visiting family. Which is wonderful that we are able to do that, but going to the beach, or to the Bahamas or something of that nature just to relax, has never been available to us... we either have the time, and no money or money and no time. Although I have to admit the not having the money has always been an issue.

Jim has had a variety of jobs over the years... but the majority has been blue collar jobs... the most prevalent was being an Owner/Operator of a semi truck. He was trucking when I met him and over the course of 30 years that is the one thing that, in times of trouble, he always went back to.

He has an injury in his back from his time spent in the Army back in the Vietnam War that he has handled the best he could. He rarely complained, and for 30 years, almost every night I have massaged his muscles and taken out the cramps and helped with the pain. It is now beyond what I can do to help and he is losing feeling in both legs at various times. His right leg hurts when he drives continuously for hours, and his left leg hurts when he stands or walks for any length of time. He is going through tests to see what he can do, but in the mean time, he has had to leave his job. It was a mutual agreement - they didn't want him to get hurt and had no where really to place him, and he hurt too much to stay.

So, what does a middle-aged baby boomer do to change his life? The answer came from our youngest daughter while she was job hunting. Mariann told him he needed to check into a totally different job. So he has. He has taken a week for classes, and then studied for 2 weeks before taking two major tests. He started this week, after doing well on his tests (he was told most people do not pass both tests on the same day). He is being trained in the field this week, and hopefully will be out on his own soon. He is selling insurance: life, long -term care, annuities etc.

Jim is a hands-on worker. He is an outdoors person. He is a boots, jeans and flannel shirt kind of a guy. It is not going to be easy over the next few months - he likes the paycheck in his hand every week... But this man of mine, has donned the khaki pants, dress shirt and fancy shoes. This old dog is learning a new trick!

He has a can-do attitude. I have a frugal attitude. So with both of those in mind, I think we are going to be able to be successful.

We believe that God has always watched over us, giving us just what we needed at the time we needed it (maybe not exactly what we wanted, but exactly what we needed)

This is a leap of faith and we pray that God knows what He is doing...