The lessons from a humble egg

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

When travelling through the countryside in the past, I often saw notices outside farms, houses and cottages, announcing ‘New Laid Eggs for Sale’. Today, there seem less notices offering eggs in this way. The whole business of delivering the humble egg to the home or food factory has developed into a major industry. Most people don’t realise what is involved in the journey of the egg from the chicken to the dining table.

Nowadays most eggs are purchased from supermarkets or shops or delivered in bulk to food producers; they are not bought on a country road. To supply millions of eggs constantly, there is a whole industry working day and night to meet the demand.  

In 1951 in Lincolnshire, a man started his egg business with one hundred and fifty chickens and eight acres of land. In those early years eggs would be taken round to people on a pushbike or sold on a stall in local markets. Over a period of seventy years his family have grown the business until it has become one of Britain’s largest suppliers and packers of eggs. They now have two million free range and organic birds producing millions of eggs each week. In fact, each week around six million eggs are supplied to one of the biggest supermarket stores in Britain. All of this is supported by 40 rearing farms and the business’s dedication to both the quality and welfare of the birds. A nutritionist helps with the provision of an enriched feed diet. This includes paprika and marigold that gives the yolks a deep, rich orange colour.

Easter - Notoriety

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning of notoriety as ‘Famous for some bad quality or deed’. In April 2015 Andreas Lubitz committed an act of notoriety! Downing the Germanwings plane in the French Alps put him among a tragic group of men. Perhaps he does not equal Hitler’s henchmen in notoriety by murdering millions of Jews and other nationalities in their deliberate plan to conquer the world. But that is no consolation to the 150 families who mourn their loved one’s death caused by this futile criminal act.

What has COVID-19 made you?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

It has now been over a year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sadly, it has claimed millions of lives and changed how each of us relates to and navigates the world. All of us have been affected, but how has the pandemic impacted our lives these past 14 months? Here is a story that may explain how we have coped and reacted during these difficult times.

A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her.  She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling.  It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. 

Her grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water.  In the first, she placed carrots, in the second, she placed eggs, and in the last, she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil on the gas stove without saying a word. In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners.  She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl.  She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.