
A friend popped these into my ‘frig, and I opened the door to a still life meant for sharing….
Araucana, a name as exotic as her eggs. Tail-less Chilean wonder hen, centuries ‘board tall nitrate-trading ships, has stained her egg shells the blues and greens of sky and sea. Every shell is an undeniable remnant of ancient lives. Cracked open, each reveals color that permeates through to the inner lining, unlike the white of other breeds, there is no clouding of her concave sky…each inner half a planetarium charting the heavens of shipwrecked survivors passed from the hands of Guarani Indians to Magellan in Santa Lucia Bay, from Dutch pirates exchanging her for provisions in the Hebrides. Now, it is time to seal this uninterrupted journey and cast these shells into the garden where crows and songbirds greedily feast upon them under the stark winter-weary sky. There is serenity in this for blue is a dominant trait perhaps to be expressed in unexpected places.
Pollygraph


13 comments
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January 29, 2007 at 4:05 am
lorigloyd
Charlotte, this is fascinating.
January 29, 2007 at 9:26 am
faucon
I had always wondered what made me ‘blue’ sometimes
January 29, 2007 at 12:30 pm
imogen88
I agree with Lori, fascinating.
January 29, 2007 at 1:13 pm
amazonratz
This is so lyrical and also informative. My mom has these chickens, too. We always loved the green and blue eggs.
January 29, 2007 at 1:56 pm
lorigloyd
Ooooooo, I just realized where Dr. Suess got his idea for “Green Eggs and Ham”!
January 29, 2007 at 3:10 pm
jan2
Fabulous!
January 29, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Heather Blakey
do those hens wear blue stockings and have blue feathers too?
Just curious. Wonderful still art Charlotte!
January 29, 2007 at 9:52 pm
PollyGraph
Naw, These ladies are not that high in the pecking order,and will ’shell out’ pretty easily…tho’they can be pluckie, errr cluckie on occasion.
January 29, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Robin
Entertaining and educational. A great combination. I got a chuckle out of your response to Heather’s question.
January 30, 2007 at 12:20 am
quinncreative
Wonderful post! The photograph is a lovely study on its own, but then to get knowledge in such a wonderful style. . .with humor. . .just perfect!
January 30, 2007 at 8:10 pm
traveller2006
what a delightful post, Serendipity sometimes honours us with photo opportunities like this - I have never seen such eggs
February 2, 2007 at 5:38 am
tgwenguin1
There is another breed of chicken that has been bred to lay eggs in a variety of pastels. I’ve seen Auracana, Buff Orphingtons, and White Leghorns in the feather as it were. When I lived in Oregon, the friend I stayed with had flocks of laying hens and turkeys; as well as swine, beef, and a garden. Last I heard she had added a rabbitry of meat rabbirs and a goat for milk.
Having had farm-fresh beef, pork, poultry, eggs and veggies, I glower at the ‘factory seconds’ in the grovcery store and miss real food terribly.
A lot of people say, “I couldn’t eat meat from an animal I knew!!” I ate meat, not only from an animal I knew, I saw him be born and I named him. Albert had some gorgeous pork chops and bacon.
A meal becomes far more valuable and enjoyable if you have put your time and heart into creating the food. You cannot help but be grateful for every bite of a meal like that.
February 2, 2007 at 6:06 pm
PollyGraph
I heartily agree. Preparedness is an essential part of survival, and knowing how to feed oneself and family is an essential part of preparedness. It is not just the cataclysmic events either, more often it is personal, ie loss of job/family/illness of provider etc. I think we all can relate to such events.