Eggs for sale

I'm not sure who had the idea of selling eggs at the gate.  Maybe it was my wife's idea.  Maybe it was mine.  It was certainly embraced by the kids as a way of keeping them in Lego.  It sounded good in concept.  The kids would gather the eggs and sell them at the gate.

It's capitalism pure and simple.  Exploitation of voluntary child labour.  Exploitation of feathered animals, even chicken murder when you consider that many of the eggs we sell are potential chickens.

Last year we saw the Occupy Wellington movement fill Civic Square with what has been described as  'homeless streeties, illegal overstayers and reformed crims looking for free food and somewhere to sleep'.  We wondered whether our act of capitalism would prompt a few malcontents to set up Occupy Woodside.

As it turned out, we didn't see any protest tents, and the kids weren't as involved as we initially thought.  Some of our hens are a little broody.  They refuse to move and in fact turn around and peck you when you try and gather eggs.  So egg gathering, feeding, and general care of our small flock remains an adult job.

The kids' job is to race down to the end of the driveway whenever possible and check the money jar for recent sales.  I'll never forget our first sale.  The kids were so excited.  One of the egg cartons was missing.  And $5 was in the jar.

We must be doing something right.  The eggs seem to be literally flying out of the letter box.  We have people driving up to the house looking for more.  Demand is exceeding supply.  We need more hens.