Farm Fresh

Last evening I was pleased when a dear friend called to say she was in town and could she drop by. Naturally I was happy to welcome her. Rachel and her husband live on a wonderful small farm in Champoeg, Oregon (pronounced "shampoo-y") 32 miles south of here.
We always enjoy visiting the farm, called Wolf Meeting Farm. (historical fact: The settlers met on May 2, 1843 to form the first provisional government. The meetings were called first to address the problem with the wolves in the area, but went on to draw up documents of government.) Those meetings were held where their farm is today.

Typical Oregon rainy day

After the rain

Then the beautiful sunset

Rachel and my daughter, Polly feeding one of the young goats

The farm has so many places and animals to explore. There are fruit trees, grape vines, flowers and animals. There is always something new to discover.

Which came first?

Which brings me to the subject of this post. Eggs! Rachel has been saving all the PeeWee tiny eggs for the past several weeks. I love to paint eggs for Easter. I've been doing that for the past 40 years. I have dozens and dozens that I have saved and hundreds that I've given away over the years. If you are interested in some more of the collections, you can see them here on this page.



These are the dear little eggs she brought me last night.




















Here you can see the size in relationship to regular size eggs. They are really quite small.






This french egg holder sits on my counter from Christmas to Easter. After emptying the shells I place them here to dry, ready to paint.

Here is a little german kit I bought in Switzerland one time while visiting my daughter who was living there at the time. The process is quite simple and very effective.












and a close-up of the pump, with its protector, and the drill.











To use this to remove the contents of the shell I drill a tiny hole in the top or bottom of the egg shell.

Next the pump nozzle is inserted deep into the egg and I pump air in to force the white and yolk out.

(I am showing the picture on the box, because I'm lacking a third hand to hold my camera, the egg, and my pump all at the same time!)

Some times accidents do happen. A soft shell, or too much pressure, can break the shell.

But in the end, I get to enjoy the results of all the work. I have a good breakfast and lots of nice shells to paint. I've been enjoying quiche, custard, and scrambled eggs, and plan on lots more during the days leading up to Easter. BTW do you know how to avoid watery eggs? Never use milk. Always use a little water instead, when stirring up the raw eggs. Lovely.

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