Un oeuf is enough
Talking to the Rainy Day mother last night. Neither Iraq nor the North (Ireland or the Caucasus) was mentioned during our phone conference. Those "bothers" were put in their proper place by hens and eggs. Rainy Day readers will recall that we diversified into the poultry business last year and the good news is that our brood of hens, for "brood" is the correct collective term, is producing magnificently. And why wouldn't it? These lucky hens roam the farmyard and adjoining fields every day, dining on luscious grass and plump worms, pecking at everything that arouses their curiosity and snoozing in the spring sun. It is an enviable life. The only the danger is Mr Fox, but the hen house is snug and secure.
Are you an egg lover? Does battery hen farming disgust you? Is Faberge beyond your budget? Are you tired of chocolate Easter eggs? If you answered yes to any of those questions good news is at hand. You see, it's never been easier to get into the real egg business. A company in Oxfordshire, charmingly called Omlet, is selling compact hen houses that are ideal for suburban back gardens. The package comes complete with a brace of hens and the price includes delivery and installation of the "eglu". The only catch is that you must live within two hours' drive of the Omlet HQ. Still, the idea has great franchise potential so entrepreneurial egg lovers can kill the proverbial two birds, as it were, if they get in now.
And the chicken&egg meme is spreading. In May, Darina Allen, owner of the famed Ballymaloe Cookery School in Cork, will hold a one-day course titled "How to Keep a Few Chickens in the Garden". As Ballymaloe was recently the subject of a gushing portrayal in the New York Times, you might want to book soon. For those of more modest means, there's always eBay, God bless it.
So, shall we have more egg-related posts here this Easter Week, or is un oeuf enough? As Hilaire Belloc once asked.
