The Best Part of Waking Up...

This weekend I heard a story of a little boy who wanted to make breakfast for his dad on Father's Day.  The boy made a big mess in the kitchen, but the thought was there and he made a bowl of Cheerio's and a cup of coffee for his dad.  He brought it to his Dad's room and sat the tray on the bed.  The dad said, "What's this?"  "Well, it's breakfast in bed, Dad," the boy said.  Milk and cheerios were all over the tray and the coffee didn't look too good, but the Dad didn't want to discourage his son, so he began to eat and drink.  The coffee was horrible!  The dad was forcing himself to take more sips of the terrible brew while his son watched.  The boy said, "Drink it all, Dad.  There's a surprise at the bottom!"  Well, that scared the dad as he carefully sipped to the end.  At the bottom of the cup lay two plastic toy soldiers.  "Son, why are there two soldiers in the bottom of my coffee cup?" the Dad asked.

"Because Dad, the best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup!"  A 'dad' joke for sure.

Truly the best part of waking up is eating a big heaping plateful of the free range, pastured eggs from our laying hens.  Take a look at this breakfast!  The yolks are a dark yellow from all the grass they are eating out there, along with bugs, worms and other stuff.  Store bought eggs don't hold a candle to the taste of our hens' eggs.  You can taste and see the difference!

Our hens put out some delicious eggs which we cook in a cast iron skillet covered with fresh grown peppers and onions, tomatoes and cilantro with a slice of hot, buttered sourdough bread on the side.  Forget it Wheaties.  THIS is the breakfast of champions.  Our hen population is down to about 20 now and they're all getting older.  As the days get shorter, we're only picking up 8 eggs a day.  As soon as we butcher the meat birds giving us space in the brooder/chicken tractor, we're going to raise some replacement laying hens to freshen the flock and keep these delicious breakfasts coming!

We have quite a few breeds currently out free ranging on the pasture: Rhode Island Reds, Golden Comets, Aracaunas, Black Stars and some leghorn crosses.  I'd like to get some Barred Rocks and maybe try some Jersey Giants this go round.  It usually takes roughly 24 weeks until they begin to lay, so I hope our 20 hens keep laying until the reinforcements arrive and mature.