Egg Shells, Ancestors, and SNOW!...

Happy Ground Hog's Day to you all. I don't think it's going to be an early Spring, of course he didn't see his shadow if it was raining! And with all the snow we have outside, it will take until May to melt!

So we all know about the incredible edible egg, but do you know how great the egg shells are? The first year we had our front door kitchen garden, we had a terrible time with slugs in the peas and green beans. I read up on ways to get rid of them naturally(as I don't use any pesticides in my vegetable garden). I tried the beer trick. Had little pans of beer in the garden to lure the nasty slugs into for a drink and then drown. It worked, but was awefully gross and I would have to replace the beer(not something we have in our house on a normal basis). While reading more about gardening, I had discovered how good eggshells were for the soil, providing calcium and nutrients to the dirt and plants. So I started saving them.

Then, the 2nd year of our garden. I raked in all the egg shells I had saved before we planted that Spring. And to my surprise and delight, we didn't have a single slug all growing season!! I later learned that this is an added bonus of the eggshells. I wish I could say that they deter the giant green horned tomato worm(so nasty), but at least I don't have slugs eating my other veggies. It's not too late to start saving your egg shells. After you use the egg, wash out the shell, then I let them dry in a sunny spot on my kitchen window sill (in a shallow dish). Once they are dry, I put them in mason jars. As the jars get fuller, I crush them down to smaller and smaller bits.

It's hard to believe that these two jars hold close to a hundred eggshellsl

My father in law recently surprised me with this picture in the mail. I was so happy and grateful to receive it. It is my hubby's great grandparents on his mother's side. It looks like a circle in the pic below but the frame is actually a long oval frame(about 21" tall) with the bubble type glass. I just love it and it is now hanging in our family room. I'm hoping he has some more and we inherit them.
As I'm sure many of you are, we are getting more snow here today. Everyone, including hubby is home for a snow day.

Here is how the patio set on the back deck looked in mid January as it snowed....

And here it is today. I'm not sure what out totals are for snowfall, but there definitely isn't a lack of it out there.
Stay warm and have a lovely day,

Tiff