News Flash! I just got off the phone with the woman who runs the food pantry for our local shelter. She says they would love to accept our donated eggs next year. I asked if there weren't FDA issues or local regulations or processes and procedures we would have to follow. She said "nope." I said, "are you telling me this kitchen is guided and run by the principals of common sense?!" And she said, "its one of the benefits of being a non-profit."

Just yesterday I was listening to a lecture by John Gatto on the educational benefits of giving children responsibility in the real world, as opposed to the artificial responsibility of school work. He noted a group of 13 year olds who volunteer in a soup kitchen. He said, "if they can run a soup kitchen without fear, contempt, or mockery for lives less fortunate than their own, they have proven they can accept real responsibility."

So for these elementary years we will practice responsibility on the chickens, and perhaps have a foot in the door at the shelter for later years. This feels good.