Hard Boiled Fresh Eggs that Actually Peel Cleanly

I've been absent for a long time from the blogging world.  There have been a few changes in our life lately that have kept me very busy.

However, busy lives cannot stand in the way of recording the very best way to boil fresh eggs and have them successfully peel cleanly.  I tried this method at Easter and it worked really well.

Side-note: It's really great having a white egg layer at Easter time.  So many fresh eggs that yield bright colors.

 

I could have sworn that I wrote down how I did it, but I couldn't find it anywhere.  The next time I boiled eggs, I guessed at the method and now it's our go to boiling method. 

 

So here it is - in case I forget in the future:

 

Step 1: Fill pot with water and bring to a boil.

 

Step 2: Add eggs to boiling water, very carefully.

 

Step 3: Cover pot and turn burner down to med-low and simmer for 5 minutes.

 

Step 4: Turn off burner, leaving pot on burner for 45 minutes or longer (we usually try to wait at least an hour).

 

Step 5: Remove pot from burner, drain the majority of the water and add ice cubes to cool down the eggs.

 

Step 6: Peel eggs with ease.

Wilma the Grey Becomes Wilma the White

Well July 30th was the 1 year anniversary of starting this blog, and it would have been pretty slick of me to actually write a blog post on July 30th, but I didn't.  Enjoy this one on the one year and 2 day anniversary instead.

 

In the middle of June, I started to get a little suspicious that our grey Barred Rock (Wilma) was not going to be a good egg layer, because she was a he.  I did a little research and found out that usually the grey barred rocks are roosters, along with all of the other signs (redder comb, larger comb and wattles, raggedy tail feathers instead of rounded ones).  So we went back up the First Farms, LLC to exchange Wilma the Grey for a new Wilma.

 

Farewell Wilma the Grey

A little back story.  When EG and I went to choose the chickens, we wanted to get three different colorations so that it would be easier to tell them apart and just more fun aesthetically.  I decided we would get one Buff Orpington and one black Barred Rock.  EG wanted to get a white chicken, but we weren't sure what breed it was because it wasn't one of the kinds that they had ordered.  I really liked the grey Barred Rocks, so that's what we got.  Oops.

We went back to the farm at the end of June to pick out a new chicken.  We still wanted to have three different colored chickens, and they still had some white ones, and we still didn't know what kind they were, and EG still wanted a white one.  So that's what we brought home.  After a little bit of research, we determined that it was a White Leghorn, which are also good egg layers.  So Wilma the Grey went back to his home on the farm and we brought Wilma the White home to the city.

Hello Wilma the White

 

The introduction was a little violent at first (they call it henpecking for a reason).  We suspect that there was a battle for dominance while we were away getting the new chicken because there were feathers everywhere.  For a few days, Betty showed her dominance by chasing Barbie and Wilma around the yard and pulling on Wilma's feathers.  Wilma, however, did not give up.  She stayed a few steps behind and followed the other two around the yard, until finally they accepted her.

She is a super sweet addition to our brood and she's proving to pull her weight.  She's the first one to lay eggs!  We found three smaller white eggs in the coop while cleaning it out today!  Barbie should lay light brown eggs and Betty should lay dark brown eggs, so it must be Wilma.

A New Start

All is right at the Orange Pants Family Farm again.  Just under two weeks ago, EG and I made the trek up to First Farms, LLC. to pick out our new chickens.  The farm was a beautiful sight.  And we had our pick of any of these babies.  They were about 8 weeks old, only 2 weeks younger than our Buffs that we lost, but they were much smaller than our Buffs.

So many to choose from.  EG pretty much wanted one of each.

We decided, in advance, that we were just going to get three and we wanted them to be at least two different colors.  After seeing how big they will actually get, compared to our Bantams, we are glad we made that decision.  I had also done some research on the types of chickens we would be able to choose from and their personalities.  We chose two Barred Rocks (one black and one grey) and one Buff Orpington.

 

Little did they know how their life was about to change.

It took a few days for the girls to get used to their new home.  I imagine it was quite a change for them.  They were living with 30+ other chickens and now there are three of them.  But they are adjusting well.  They love to explore the backyard, lay in the sun and peck at their flock block.  And the weeds that had grown back inside the coop have since been annihilated.  EG and I were gone all last week and I couldn't wait to see how big they had grown in one week.  And grow they did.  I think they are adjusting just fine.

It took us a while to come up with good names for the new girls.  Coming up with good female trio themes is a little tricky.  So we went a different route this time.  I kept thinking about the fact that two of our girls were Barred Rocks, which made me think maybe of finding good female Rocker names for them, but I also thought about the Flintstones.  So we combined those two themes.  Introducing Barbie and the Rock(er)s.  Barbie is our Buff Orpington and the Rock(er)s names are Betty (black bars) and Wilma (grey bars).

 

 

It is so fun to look out in the back yard again and see chickens in our chicken coop.  That was something EOP and I would often remark about when the coop was empty.  We really missed seeing the girls playing and scratching and exploring.

Sad News on the Urban Farm

For about a month now, I have been planning out a new blog post about adventures with our chickens and chicks. 

I was thinking about writing about how I had finally discovered what kind of chickens our new chicks were.  After a little bit of research, I'm almost positive that we had three Buff Orpingtons.  I wasn't totally sure that we had three HENS, one of them was looking more of the rooster variety.

Our Buff Orpington hens (and suspected rooster.)

I was also thinking about writing about the adventure of introducing the chicks to the chickens and getting them to "like" each other.  We spent several days keeping Gennie, our dominant hen, from pecking the chicks, chasing them into bushes, and pulling out their feathers.  We locked the big chickens in the coop, separating them from the babies in the chicken run underneath.  We let them roam the yard separately and together until they were finally at a point where they could tolerate each other, even though the babies always kept an eye out for the bigger chickens and scattered quickly if necessary.  And finally, we had gotten them all to share the coop together for two peaceful nights of slumber.

Goldie, Frankie and Murray exploring in the chicken run.

But this blog post will not be about either of these topics because, sadly, the bliss didn't last for long. 

On the third night of the chickens being in the coop together, we had an attack.  A giant raccoon had been seen by neighbors and is said to be the size of a medium sized dog. With his determination and brute strength, he broke the hinges off of the coop door and killed our entire brood of hens.  I went out to check on them during the day and found the aftermath of the slaughter (sorry for the graphic language, but it was pretty graphic).  The only survivor was Gennie, but she was too injured to save.  Luckily EOP was home and took care of the mess, but it was pretty devastating for all of us.

Daddy's hugs make everything better.

We were pretty discouraged too.  It had been almost exactly a year to the day since we had gotten our first round of chickens and we had done quite a bit of work in that year to get the few eggs we were getting.  There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel, now that we had three (or two) full sized hens on their way to providing us with full sized eggs.  The idea of starting over with chicks (in the house) was not appealing to us.  Then I got a message from a friend who raises chickens and understood our plight.  She offered us a condolence gift of new chicks, around the same age as our chicks!  Old enough to go straight into the coop without stinking up our basement.  We have decided to take them up on their offer!

First, we had to fortify our chicken coop.  We have doubled the number of latches on the doors and fortified some weak areas to deter even the most determined city predator.  We are hoping that our modifications will keep our new flock safe for years to come.

We are so grateful to John and Kristin Derby at First Farms, LLC. for their contribution to our farming efforts.  We can't wait to go pick up our new babies and bring them back to their urban oasis.

So farewell Gennie, Ronnie, Goldie, Frankie and Murray.  You will always hold a special place in our hearts.

The last picture of Gennie and Ronnie playing in the yard.

{Spring} Hope Springs Eternal

Spring is teasing us.  We have had almost 2 weeks of lovely weather.  It is doing wonders for scaring away the winter blues.  The chickens are emerging from their dark cave and wandering around the yard.  We are taking advantage of the sun as long as it sticks around, but I'm not holding my breath.  I've been a Michigander for far too long to believe that Spring is here to stay.

 

We are getting ready for spring in other ways too.  We purchased 3 more baby chicks from the farm store at the end of February.  They are of unknown variety, but supposed to be good egg layers.  They are pretty hard to tell apart right now, but from smallest to largest we've named them Gold (Goldie), Frankincense (Frankie) and Myrrh (Murray).  They are currently in a pretty awkward stage, but here is a picture when they were still cute and fuzzy.

 

I've also started some garden seeds to add some green (and gardening excitement) to our house.  EG helped me plant them and is having fun watering them and watching them grow. 

 

We've done a few home projects this month.  I painted our hallway/stairs to the basement and the downstairs bathroom using leftover paints from our basement (mixed a few colors together to make a color I liked).  And a (very) long awaited home project was completed last weekend as part of my birthday present.  We removed the 90's blue carpet from our living room and hallway and revealed our beautiful oak floors.  They hardly have any marks or scratches, just a few paint splotches, staple holes and character dings.  We feel like we have a whole new house!

 

 



 We are all looking forward to Spring and all that it brings, but for now we will enjoy our pre-Spring warm weather as much as we can.

Winter Blues

Winter is not my favorite.  EG and I had a discussion today about how she does not like to be cold, neither do I darling daughter, neither do I.  And cold it has been.  Record breaking lows in this polar vortex called home.

This has made it hard to be motivated to write anything on here.  The chickens aren't very entertaining right now.  They are just trying to stay warm.  They rarely step outside, so we rarely see them.  Our little light bulb water warmer is still doing its job, although it is now equipped with a 60 watt light bulb.

Valentine's Day was a little bit of a bright spot in our winter white world.  We exchanged Valentines with some long distance friends so that EG would get some in the mail.  In addition to those, she received them from a few of my aunts and her grandparents, aunt and cousins.  Very exciting for a 3 year old!

I made a fun new wreath for our front door, with yarn and some felt.  I followed a tutorial that I found at this link.

 

Our chalkboard theme for Valentine's Day was 1 John 4:19.

 



EG and I made some delicious no-bake cake balls.  So, so, good and so, so much easier than real cake balls.  Find the recipe here.

 

We've kept ourselves busy with local indoor activities too.  We received a membership to the local children's museum for Christmas this year, so we have been there several times this winter.  We've also gone to 2 other children's museums for a family fun day and a friend's birthday party.  So much fun!

 

 

There has been some outdoor fun too.  Snowman building, sledding and plenty of snow shoveling (if you can call that fun), always followed by hot cocoa, with marshmallows (of course).

We may make it through this winter after all.  Keep warm!

Christmas Crafty

Well, the house has been stripped of sparkle and lights, and the furniture and artwork has been returned to its rightful locations.  It was a fun and busy Christmas season, but I'm glad to have my living room back to normal.  I'm also looking forward to the quiet winter weekends to come.

In anticipation of some obstacles during the holidays, I was prepared well in advance of Thanksgiving this year.  Gifts were purchased and wrapped before we left for our Colorado holiday to visit family and friends in the Boulder area.  After returning, we discovered that the anticipated obstacles were moved, leaving me free to enjoy the holidays without the worry of overwhelming details.  So much so, that I forgot about a family Christmas party until 2 days before it was to happen, at my house too!

I managed to squeeze in quite a few craft projects this season, partly to stretch our gift funds, but also to use up a large stockpile of fabric and other baubles.  Christmas with my husband's family has also taken on a crafty theme referred to as Johnson Christmas Camp.  A way to keep little children busy and build fun family memories in the process.

New Stockings:
I used the same curtains that I made EOP's Halloween costume out of to make new stockings for our little family.  I found the green fabric and trimmings at JoAnn Fabrics and Hobby Lobby.  I found a free pattern online and then used this tutorial to figure out how to sew them with a lining, although my cuff was done a little differently.

 

Homemade Vanilla:
There are so many tutorials on how to make your own vanilla, but I was still so surprised at how easy it was.  I went an extra step and made sure to purchase Fair Trade Vanilla beans, but everything else was the same.  The beans and the brown bottles were purchased on Amazon.  I used chalkboard vinyl and permanent chalk pens to create the labels.

Button Gift Tags:
Buttons can be used for so many fun projects.  These tags were a nice easy project to do with our preschooler.  She loves to choose the buttons we use and to put them down into a glue line.  A little embellishment with scrapbook pens and a ribbon tie, and voila, gift tags.  In the past, I've used embroidery floss and little brads to make them even cuter, but that is beyond a preschooler project.

  

 

 

 

Fabric Tissue Carriers:
My aunt made one of these for me one year for Christmas.  They seemed pretty simple, so I played around with my fabric scraps to make some of my own.  After I figured out how easy they were, I made 22 of them, in 2 days.  It was a great way to use up all of the scraps from the diaper bags that I've made, plus Christmas fabric from projects of old, and more buttons.

 

I didn't take pictures of the process, but this tutorial is pretty close to how I made them. 

Felt Flower Wreath:
I got into felt flowers a bit this year (thanks to my sister-in-law), so I redesigned an old grapevine wreath using less than $2 in felt in Christmas colors.  I really like how it turned out.  So much so that I don't want to take it off of the front door, so it stays until the Valentine wreath goes up.

Johnson Christmas Camp:
JCC had a snowman theme this year.  We ate snowman pancakes for breakfast, made snowman ornaments, sock snowmen and powder donut snowmen.  We created a family Christmas board and we can all pin ideas to it.  Then we pick the best/most doable projects for the time we have together.

 

 

 

 

Chalkboard Décor:

Of course, I had to change the chalkboard on the door to have a Christmas theme.  

 

 

Joy to the World is one of my favorite Christmas Carols.  The words carry so much meaning to me during the Christmas season (and year round).  We taught EG the first verse this year, partly so she knew more than just the chorus of Jingle Bells, but also to embed these important words into her heart (let every heart prepare him room).  It was so much fun to see EG's excitement every time the song came on the radio, or we sang it at church.  She would light up and immediately sing along.  She would, in so many words, repeat the sounding joys of Christmas.