As one can imagine, we have lots of rain here in the Pacific NW.  On a stormy late afternoon, we put up our extra two panels and opened one of the others to give them some area that was dry.  They were sure happy to start digging up their new patch of grass.  

Peeling Farm Fresh Eggs

As most folks know that have tried/attempted to hard boil and then peel farm fresh eggs, they end up wanting to hurl the darn things at the wall!  It is a mess and the eggs end up looking like they did battle with a shredder!  

I was perusing Google and attempted to find someone, anyone, that has had some success with these ultra fresh eggs!  

Success!!  Thank you Queen of the Red Double wide! Seriously!  

I wanted to make potato salad for dinner tonight, but all we have are farm eggs from our cluckers, and I didn't have time to "age" the eggs.  

So she goes on to explain to take a thumb tack, clean of course, into the fat part of the egg (the non-pointy end).   You don't want to go through the entire egg, but I try to explain it as when you hear the first "crunch" sound, stop!  

Bring some water to a boil.  Do not put the eggs into the water until it is boiling.  I used a big spoon to gently put each egg into the boiling water.  15 minutes was the suggested time.  I may do 13 next time.

Once the timer dings, quickly put the eggs into an ice bath you would have prepared while the eggs were boiling.  I scooped them out of the hot water with the same spoon I put them into the water with.



You let them soak for about 15 minutes.

I peeled all 10 eggs with no issues.  There are only 9 in this bottom photo because I ate one.  But they all were perfect!  

 So, either save Queen of the Red Double Wide's link or mine for future reference!

Easy Peely!

They are here!  The 3 piggies have joined our family (Sept/Oct 2014).  The red one is Mango, white is Porkchop (I named him), and the last one is Goliath.  He is black and our boar.  They were skittish at first when they arrived, but we slowly and quietly waited in the box stall with them a little at a time each day to get them used to us being in there.  We kept them in the box stall for a few days before opening the door up for them to go outside.  We wanted to slowly introduce them to their new home without overwhelming them.  

These three LOVED apples.  My grandma has an apple tree, and each night we would cut them up and sure enough, after a few days, they got them out of our hands and went away to eat them.  But that is success in our book!  

In the beginning....

In September, I had to begin cleaning out the box stall that my grandparents haven't used in a few years.  We were going to get 3 new young Manglitsas in a couple weeks. Thank goodness it wasn't too bad.  I was able to do this will little trouble.  My dad helped me of course.  

Then my mom helped by driving the tractor loads of old manure and hay to the backfield so we can make a compost pile for grandma's garden she plants this next season.  We did have to make several trips as the bucket on the front is not ginormous.  

 

 After we got it all cleaned up, my dad and I had to put posts in and wrap some fencing around.  We wanted them in a smaller enclosed area to make sure they made the transition from Eastern Washington to our home in Western Washington okay.

After everything was said and done, we had a nice clean box stall and outside area for the 3 piggies to enjoy and call their new home.  We only had to wait a little bit longer until My grandpa, my Pop, and my dad met the person we were getting the piggies from.  We were ready though!