Eggs for sale!

We have decided to sell our hens eggs because they are now consistently producing four each day which is more than we can really get through between the three of us that are here all the time. We did have scrambled eggs on Saturday morning but that only used up six so we still have stacks left. I have had a look at the law regarding such sales and found that, like so many other laws, it is completely over the top. Hens eggs last about four weeks from laying and as a "farm gate" seller we have to put a "use by" date on our eggs so we might need to buy a little stamp which might be fun. You are not allowed to wash the eggs, but they must be clean! You are not allowed to mix large and small eggs in the same box. You also need a reference number from DEFRA which is fair enough. The most idiotic thing however is that you cannot sell in second hand boxes, you have to buy new boxes or get your customers to bring their own second hand ones! We have decided that in order to get around this we will not sell the eggs in boxes but that there may be some old boxes lying around nearby, possibly waiting for the bin men to collect, if you catch my drift... Hopefully DEFRA will not decide to send a SWAT team down in the middle of the night to close down our operation and confiscate our egg producing operatives!

Obviously when selling eggs at the gate there are a few other things to think about. Price was the first debate; I said that £1 per half dozen was fair,Brodie felt that 50p an egg was more like it but in the end of course Joanna told us that free range in the super markets were £1.50 per half dozen so that was what we should charge. The next discussion was how we would collect the money for our egg sales. The children were horrified by the thought of a trust tin where people could simply choose not to leave any money at all or even help themselves to all the money and eggs that were there. They were all for 24 hour armed guards to protect our assets! Eventually we convinced them that it would be fine and hopefully it will be and they will learn that there are more honest people in the world than they yet realise.
Obviously selling eggs requires some method of display and,this being a Mee family venture, nothing simple will suffice so construction has commenced on our all new fangled egg dispensary. Basically this involves attaching a wine case (sorry father we will need another one for the time capsule now. With the lid if possible) to the top of a post so that it stands about four feet from the ground and making a cross shaped stand to stop it falling over. It is probably ridiculously complicated but that never normally stops us. Having drawn a basic plan we got stuck into it yesterday and with the help of Brodie and Katherine, (Brodie showing some excellent sawing,chiselling and sanding skills and Katherine dancing around the garage like a woodland pixie!),we have completed the basic structure and given it a coat of paint. The plan is to give it another coat today and let it dry. I will probably drill some holes in the base so that we can peg it down with some tent pegs just to make sure it doesn't blow over.
We have started work on a poster to sit in the back of the box with a price and also a picture of our four egg production operatives;Sunday Roast, Shelley, Chucky Egg and Biscuit. Next to each picture we are going to put a few words ( if you can believe that looking at the length of this posting) describing each hen in a little more detail. Something like "Biscuit is a Rhode Island Red, very friendly, likes scratching about in the mud, pecking your wellies and making sweet little clucking sounds whenever you go near. Dislikes foxes, rats and queues at the bus stop"

Joanna has just come in to say there is a deer on the front lawn nibbling the herbs! They are Muntjac deer that live wild in the woods and they are very partial to certain domestic garden plants. They particularly like our European Bluebells and chew them all to the ground as soon as they get any foliage on them. Interestingly they do not seem to touch the native Bluebells that are prolific in Bricket Wood. That is food for thought is it not?
I will leave it there for now. Chicken pictures will follow next time as well as the egg dispensary. I have told Katherine that her public is eagerly awaiting a bunting update so she had better get cracking on it next week. The picture at the top is off the ducklings when there were ten on Boxing Day. Very sweet and sadly missed!