Have you ever looked at all the numbers and letters on an egg carton and wondered what they all mean?  I found this outline from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) very helpful.  It explains the egg’s grade, expiration date, packaging date, and plant code found on egg cartons sold in grocery stores. Each […]

Don’t you just love a recipe that you can quickly whip up before you go to bed and put it in the fridge ready for the next day?  In the morning pull it out of the fridge, add the topping, and pop it in the oven.  In 45 minutes you have a delicious breakfast.  As […]

This is the time of year when it’s dark before dinner and the production from the chicken coop is way down. One egg today? Hurrah! Whether the lack of eggs is from fewer daylight hours, the annual molt, or just the lull before this year’s pullets begin laying (and I’m inclined to believe it’s a […]

This past weekend, I was at a local craft show/charity bazaar. There were awesome displays of craftsmanship, wood working, homemade soaps and lotions, painted gourds, baked goods and more. One booth really caught my eye and got me thinking about all the ways that chicken keepers are crafty. They have ingenious ways of turning ordinary […]

This past August, I had the pleasure of attending the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR in West Bend, Wisconsin. There, I got to see Robin Mather speak about the benefits of grass-fed beef. My grandfather was a cattle rancher. I grew up, loving everything about horses and cows. Each Christmas, my grandfather gave his six children 1/2 a […]

My favorite breeds of chickens are Jersey Giant and Buff Orphington. I like big chickens and I can-not lie. But like many of you out there, we don’t just keep two breeds of chicken. We have a variety. A confetti of feather colors, patterns and plumage that is as different to each bird as is […]

  I have been busy traveling around the country sharing my new book, A Kid’s Guide to Keeping Chickens, with many newbie chicken keepers and older chicken keepers alike. I have had a blast doing presentations for a variety of audiences, but my favorite chicken keeping questions still come from the kids. Today I thought […]

Non-traditional? Yes – partly because I have not an ounce of Italian heritage, and therefore I wouldn’t even presume to know (or understand) all the tricks, pinches of that and dashes of this, that go into the Traditional Easter Bread. And partly because even though this recipe does come from my mother’s stash of recipe […]

Today I want to share an easy recipe for quiche, using many ingredients that you may already have. As the weather warms up so does egg production.  This is a great way to use up those eggs. My favorite meat to use in quiche is bacon.  You could also use chicken or lunch meat.   […]

We’ve all read, or been told, that eggs (especially egg yolks) are to be avoided when it comes to health. Do you know why? Is this true? Here’s what I found: More than 25 years ago, when scientists were beginning to seriously research heart disease, they learned that high blood cholesterol was closely associated with the […]