The main reason that people give up eating eggs is the fear of raising blood cholesterol levels which increases the risk of heart disease. I’ve been saying this for a long time – the research is out there – that there is no link between eating eggs and heart disease. Recently, the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a research study of 10,000 individuals which found no link between egg consumption and developing heart disease in adults. The study showed that eating an average of one egg per day has little effect on total blood cholesterol levels and doesn’t increase the risk of heart disease or stroke. The research did indicate that excess saturated and trans fats have the greatest impact on blood cholesterol  levels.

So, limit the junk food and enjoy your eggs!

What’s your favorite way to eat eggs? I start my day with a sliced hard-cooked egg on a piece of good toast.

Are any of you artists? Crafters? Are you inspired by your chickens? I’m not an artist, I’m a writer. But I love the immediate gratification of making something tangible that comes from crafts. Recently I bought a pinback/magnet maker. Find some fun images on paper, cut it, pull the lever, and I have something to hold and wear! Right now I’m struggling writing a book (the words are all tangled up so far), and so I take breaks and make things. Here’s the latest. Chickens of course. They’re for sale on my etsy.com shop.

I will tell you about the first fifteen minutes. My train arrived at Penn Station at dinner time. Like many other people, I exited the building and stood in a long line at the taxi stand. Penn Station is below Madison Square Garden, where Ringling Brothers Circus will be playing. So, next to the line of folks waiting for cabs were a line of protesters. Now, I’m the first one to stand up for caring humanely for animals, but PETA and the like have an anti-animal, anti-zoo, anti-animal training, extreme vegetarianism stance. Their outlook is unrealistic, has a warped view of animal/human relationships and does more harm than good.

What can I say, I got in a shouting match with them. New York brings out that in people.

The girls are laying (well, all except for Snowball who lays only 2 weeks out of the year) and I have enough extra eggs to sell some to neighbors and give some as gifts. I got a call a week ago from a woman who does Pysanksy decoration – that’s a Ukrainian craft that uses a batik-like technique on eggs. She can’t use supermarket eggs because the chemical wash prevents the dye from sticking properly. I was happy to sell her two dozen. A neighbor bought a dozen to blow out and make a centerpiece for her dining room table. I selected a range of eggs, from tiny to large, from white to blue, for her. And, a mother of my son’s classmate has her mother coming for a visit. Her mother grew up on a farm and remembers good eggs. I was pleased to be able to put a carton in her hands. Best yet, I have a dear, 95-year old friend going through chemotherapy. Of course, she doesn’t have much of an appetite, but she looks forward to eating eggs from my hens. I can’t think of a better reason to keep chickens.

I’m about to catch the train to NYC. I’ll be meeting with my editor and the designer for my children’s book about Snowball and her friends. While I’m gone, the dogs will sulk and sleep. The chickens won’t care – my husband will feed them. I’ll miss everyone, of course, but I do love a dose of Manhattan now and then. I’ll catch up with you next week.

Sometimes a hen lays an egg that is a very odd shape. Last week, one of my girls laid a torpedo-shaped egg that was so long and skinny that I couldn’t close the egg carton lid over it. In my fridge, where foods get moved around a lot, that was sure to mean a cracked egg and a mess, so I fed it to Scooter.

But, first, I had some fun.