With the return of more normal, slightly cooler weather in the last few days, Pauline, Hilda, Louise and Lena are laying up a storm. Suddenly we are getting three and four eggs a day, so we are eating omelets for dinner, egg salad sandwiches for lunch, and hard boiled eggs as snacks out on the boat. You have to love those hens! Hilda is looking a bit ragged right now, and I wonder if she is getting ready to start an oddly timed molt. She never has been as sturdy as the other ladies; even her eggs have thin shells. I hope all is well with her, as she is our friendliest hen. Here is a photo peeking in the egg door this weekend.
Also egg shaped in our yard: the young fruit on the new European Plum tree. They have begun to turn purple, but remain hard and small. I think the drought during development will result in small fruit, but I am not worried about size. I can't wait to taste the first plum when they ripen. Of course, I am not alone, and I found exploratory bird pecks into some of the small, hard fruit. We are plagued by birds!
And the last oval of the day? The somewhat oval holes in the stems of the squash plants as they collapsed and died from stem borers. These insects give me such trouble that I may decide to use my garden resources for something other than squash in future summers. We will see.
