From Scratch Magazine - Premiere Issue a Success!

My Friends, 

If you have not yet read or paged through the new From Scratch magazine, you really should.  This premiere issue proved to be just as exciting as I anticipated it would be.  With all the country flair I could imagine, I was so impressed with the quality of the  intriguing content and the amazing photographs.  You need go no further than right here to turn the cover and begin reading, although I'm guessing you'll want to subscribe to this free online publication!  Congratulations to Editor, Melissa Jones, and the contributors who are featured in this first issue! ~Katie

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Eggs of a Different Color

Photo by Newlyweds Blog

People sometimes make the common mistake of thinking that white chickens lay white eggs and brown chickens lay brown eggs. In actuality, most egg shells are formed white with a layer of color pigment (usually some shade of brown) added in the late stage of egg production.

Maple Grove Featured in Your Chickens Magazine

Your Chickens magazine has been very popular in the United Kingdom, "packing every issue with real life stories and expert help and advice from chicken keepers for chicken keepers.  It is THE magazine for back garden henkeepers"   In February, Your Chickens will be available in the United States for the first time, and I am so pleased to announce that Maple Grove is featured in this premier issue!  

We are very excited at Maple Grove about introducing our Chickie-Babes to the United Kingdom and the United States through Your Chicken magazine. I hope you'll head out to your local Tractor Supply Store in mid-February to pick up your copy. You can sign up for a hard copy or digital subscription at the Your Chicken's website. Be sure to visit the Your Chickens Facebook page and tell them Maple Grove sent you.

Best wishes and happy reading from the Chickie-Babes!

For more articles on keeping chickens, visit our Chickens Page.

Visit Maple Grove on Facebook and Pinterest.

Homemade Egg Noodles

Since I keep chickens, what a great use for those nutritional, farm-fresh eggs.  I love egg noodles!  And I love using my KitchenAid stand mixer to make them.  How much easier we have it today!  You can make fresh egg noodles by hand; it's just so much easier this way.  The pasta roller attachment rolls out the dough as thick or thin as you want it.  Then the noodle cutter attachment cuts them quickly.

Why Chickens Eat Grit

Della Barker and Buffy Sentinel are foraging on the stone sidewalk.  Besides nibbling on
chickweed and grass, they will pick up little granules of stone to aid in digesting their food.

A chicken's diet should include plenty of available grit.  Not "grits," the corn-based porridge commonly served in the South, but "grit"--tiny hard granules of stone or sand.  Chickens don't have teeth, so they pick up food with their beaks, swallow it, and store it in their crop.  The crop is a vital organ located just beneath the neck against the breast, just to the right of center. The food is stored in the crop before passing down to the small stomach and gizzard where it is broken down and digested.  When a chicken's crop is full, you'll see a bulge in the chest area.

Print Your Own Egg Cartons

We keep chickens for the fresh nutritional eggs.  With six hens, we get four to six eggs a day, more than we need for our personal use.  We don't sell our eggs, but we love to share them with our family and friends.  We think it's fun to give them a carton or half-carton of eggs with our homestead's name printed on it.  We buy printed cardboard cartons, but rather than pay extra to have them customized with our name, we add  it to the cartons ourselves with  a rubber stamp that we had made and an ink pad.  We cut small blocks of wood to fit inside the lids to give us a firm surface for stamping.  Those we give eggs to always get a kick out of seeing "Maple Grove" stamped on the outside of the carton.  There are many places where you can buy egg cartons and rubber stampers.  We purchased our stamp kit and cartons at EggCartons.com.  (We don't receive anything in return for mentioning them; it just happens to be where we shopped, and we pass that information on to our friends.) I have since seen egg cartons at Tractor Supply for half the price.  Shop around for the best price.  Happy stamping and sharing!

For more articles on keeping chickens, visit our Chickens Page.

Visit Maple Grove on Facebook and Pinterest.

The Sights and Sounds of Christmas

I will miss the beautiful decorations and the special music of Christmas when we put it all away.  But the Good News of the Christmas story, the joyous songs of the angels, the love of the Christ Child never goes away.  That will remain in my heart and on my lips long after the season's greetings and holiday traditions are retired.  

Even when the fire burns low in the fireplace, His Love burns strong in my heart.  When the lights dim on the trees, His Light glows bright on my path.  May it be so for you in your life, now and always.

"God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)