Sweet, sweet, Sky

If you look at the camera roll on my phone you will notice that the majority of the photos are of Sky. She is a Blue Orpington and in the Orpington fashion has a calm, sweet, cuddly personality. She and her sister Thea, also a blue Orpington, we're a splurge for me, costing $18 each, and I almost cancelled the order many times.

She arrived as cute as the rest but was different right from the start. She would jump up on us and sit and take a nap in our laps. This she does to this day. When I approach the run, I meet her eyes scanning to get to the front and as soon as I sit down she frantically looks for ways she is going to get in my lap. Once there she settles in, closes her eyes and sleeps. Almost saying, 'Ok, now I can rest'.

 

She is at the bottom of the pecking order. I have never seen her peck at the other hens, but she does get pecked at. She doesn't run or even complain, she just lowers her head in compliance and moves over. She is not bothered by it and the other hens, for the most part, don't mess with her. I think they know she is kind and not a threat.

 

She is a big girl! Most Orpingtons are large and she is no exception. She has a big fluff of downy feathers puffing out from under her wings. As for laying eggs....I have never caught her in the nesting boxes, and while the rest of the flock are clearly laying and I see them in and out of the nesting boxes all day long, I am not sure what's up with her. When she sits on my lap looking up at me I ask her if she laid an egg today but she never tells. She just looks back at me with those big black eyes as if to say ' just sit here a while so I can enjoy your company and dream.'

 

If it's Tuesday I must be baking muffins

I am not quite sure how this tradition started, but I bake muffins on Tuesdays. I must have been doing this for some time because if there are not fresh baked muffins sitting on the counter when my boys get home (and it's Tuesday) there is chaos in my house. These Tuesday muffins also come with rules:

• Muffins have to be a unique recipe every Tuesday. I can only get away with repeats every two Tuesdays.
• Muffins must not contain any type of nut. Not because we are allergic or don't like nuts, we actually are a nut loving family, but because we do not like nuts in our muffins. That's the kids speaking by the way, I love nuts in muffins.
• Muffins must be healthy and contain only whole wheat flour. That's me speaking.

So I try my best to keep the chaos to a minimum and bake muffins on Tuesdays.

Whole Wheat Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk (I usually use whole milk, almond or coconut milk)
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats or 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• Handful of cranberries chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 425°f (220°c). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
In a small bowl, combine milk, oats, cranberries and vanilla. Soak for 15 minutes.
In a separate bowl, beat together egg, oil and honey; stir in oatmeal mixture. In a third bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients, just until combined. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups until cups are 2/3 full. Batter will be thick.
Bake in preheated oven for 15-25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean.

Eggs of all shapes and sizes

My son came running in this morning declaring 'one of the girls laid an enormous egg!' He was right.  I am thinking it was one of the twins. They have just started to lay and this is very common in young pullets. Looking at this egg sitting on my counter , along with all the other eggs, brought a smile to my face every time I walked past.  Not only because it stood up so much higher then all the others, but because it reminded me of what a gift these chickens give us every day.  I know they are doing want they do and what they do is lay eggs, but they allow me to witness this miracle  every day. So wether it's Bamboo with her beautiful blue eggs, Tuttie with her odd shaped brown spotted eggs, or Zelda's light brown perfect eggs, they are all gifts and all cherished for the short time they sit on my counter.

If you are wondering, that enormous egg was of course a double yolk egg. Two perfect large yolks.