Brilliant Uses for Eggshells

DIY 6 Minutes

This article comes from the ruralsprout.com website:

An eggshell is more than just a useful container for the nutritious yolk and egg white inside: it is a prime example of nature’s perfect packaging. Eggshells are beneficial for us too, consisting of 95% calcium carbonate, making them very similar to our own bones and teeth. It comes as no surprise then, that eggshells help to strengthen our bones and protect our tooth enamel. If we only used the shells, rather than throwing them out.

You may not have heard it yet, but just as you can eat the peels of organic bananas or lemons, the entire egg can also be eaten. The shells are an amazing source of calcium, just half an eggshell provides you with your daily recommended calcium intake. It makes practical sense, not only to feed the shells to your egg-laying chickens, but for you to utilize their unusual strengths too. If you raise backyard chickens, you are likely to go through hundreds of eggs a year. Save those shells from entering the landfill and use them in your own home and garden instead.

Clever Uses for Eggshells

Use eggshells to start seedlings indoors

In the pursuit of a plastic-free life and garden, finding a sustainable solution for starting seeds isn’t always easy. In the past, people reused what they had, yogurt containers or the like, but at some point, plastic pots break down and need to be thrown away/recycled. Of course, there are peat pots, newspaper pots, gourd shells and wooden flats as examples to eco-friendly planting options, though eggshells come out as the garden winner. Fill the shell halfway with soil, carefully place your seeds and wait for them to grow. To keep the eggshells in place, place them back in the eggshell carton. When the plants are large enough, you can transplant the entire pot to the garden, where the shell will break down, providing added calcium to the soil around it.

Garden mulch

After a hearty breakfast, or the baking of a delicious cake, crush your eggshells and carry them straight out into the garden! As they slowly decompose, they will not only help to aerate the soil as they improve water flow, the eggshells will also release calcium over time. The finer you crush them, the faster they will break down.

Nourish your tomatoes with a boost of calcium.

While you can place eggshells directly under your tomatoes as you transplant them, sometimes a volunteer tomato plant from last season pops up and you wish to save it. Think of it as a survivor, and give it some extra love and attention. The addition of calcium to your tomato plants will help prevent blossom-end rot (not a disease, but a physiological disorder created by a calcium imbalance). For the same reason, eggshells are extremely beneficial for your squashes, peppers, cabbage and broccoli too!

Feed eggshells to your chickens

If you want healthy eggs from your chickens, just toss the eggshells right back at them! Laying hens need plenty of calcium, and if you find that your chickens are in fact eating their own eggs, it may be because of a vitamin deficiency. Dry out the eggshells at room temperature, and when you have collected enough, go ahead and crush them lightly, then lay out the shells thinly on a baking sheet. Bake the shells until brittle, 275 degrees for ten minutes or so, then crush some more and serve to the chooks in small amounts.

Use crushed eggshells in the garden to deter pests

Ducks will gladly dine on slugs, but you can’t always allow them in your garden. In that case, try roughly crushed eggshells around the base of plants to deter snails and slugs who wish to devour your lovely greens.

Add them to the compost

Again, it is the calcium content that comes into play. In order to increase the quality of your compost, you will want to add all the biodegradable matter that you can, eggshells included. Having a compost pile reduces your trash and helps the garden too.

Wild bird food

Just as you can feed your chickens, you can also give a little support to the wild birds. The same processes apply: bake, then crush the shells into bite-sized pieces, and sprinkle in their feed mix or on the ground for them to find.

Boil eggshells in your coffee

This is wonderful for two reasons.  Firstly, if you are making campfire coffee over high heat, crushed eggshells will help keep the grounds from boiling over. This isn’t a common problem unless you are roughing it, but now you know how to avoid a ruined coffee if the situation ever arises.

Secondly, eggshells added to coffee make for a less acidic cup. When you experience the overwhelming bitterness from a cup of cheap coffee, or from a pot that was brewed too long, eggshells are here to save the day. The powdered, or finely broken up shell, of just one egg is enough to make 4 cups of fantastic coffee. Try it. It is a great way to get some calcium with your brew, if you are sipping dairy-free.

Toss eggshells in your bone broth or stock pot

Whether you are stirring up an enormous pot of bone broth or a hearty vegetable stock, adding eggshells is extremely beneficial. It is not just calcium that you will be receiving, eggshells also contain small amounts of other minerals:

magnesium

fluoride

selenium

zinc

iron

phosphorus

It won’t change the flavor, though you will feel the nutritional boost!

Add them to your apple cider vinegar

Add some dried eggshells to a jar of apple cider vinegar, with the mother, and let nature science do it’s work. The end result will be a tincture that relieves acid reflux, treats minor skin irritations and itchy skin.

Homemade eggshell toothpaste

Once you make the decision to stop using standard minty fluoride toothpaste with a myriad of unpronounceable ingredients, there is no looking back. You’ll then find all sorts of options to keep your teeth happy and clean – from activated charcoal, to clay and zeolite, all the way to baking soda with coconut oil and essential oils. Remember from up above that eggshells are similar to our own teeth? This gives us great reason to make a very fine eggshell powder toothpaste to brush our pearly whites, holding cavities at bay.

Make an eggshell face mask

To nourish and tighten your skin: crush your dried eggshells in a mortar and pestle to make a fine powder. Then whisk an egg white till it is somewhat stiff and add the eggshell powder. Spread it over your face and allow it to dry. Wash the mask off with cold water and enjoy your free facial treatment.

Whiten your laundry

If your whites are not so bright as they used to be and chlorine is a no-go in your natural laundry routine, why not try the method of putting eggshells into a tightly woven bag (or old stocking) with a few slices of lemon?  It doesn’t cost much, if anything, and is definitely worth a try.

Scrub your tough-to-clean pots

In a pinch, you can crush a few eggshells into a dirty pot, along with soap and hot water to get it clean. The shells will break up and remove the dirt as they are wonderfully abrasive. You can use crushed eggshells in hard-to-clean vases as well for a more glistening glass surface.

Eat your eggshells

The best way to eat your eggshells? Powder them finely and add to juices, smoothies, soups and stews. Don’t go overboard though, if you are already getting enough calcium in your diet, you may want to find another use for them. Half an eggshell a day covers your basic calcium needs, more than that is unnecessary.

Why eat eggshells?

Besides the obvious benefits of bio-available calcium coming from free-range eggshells, and the fact that they improve bone density, as well as helping remineralize teeth, eggshells are known to relieve joint pain and inflammation.

That’s a lot of glowing health when you eat the entire egg!

What kind of eggshells to use?

For the sake of eating a healthy, natural diet, you’ll want to make sure that the eggshells you are about to consume come from organic or free-range chickens. Eggs from factory farms are far less nutritious, and may carry hidden pathogens which you will want to avoid.

If you don’t have your own hens, purchase from a local farmer or the farmers market for the healthiest farm fresh eggs possible.  And yes, you can do this with duck eggs or turkey eggs, even quail eggs too.


SOURCE: RURALSPROUT.COM

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Published by pat frederick

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112 thoughts on “Brilliant Uses for Eggshells”

    1. Morning, Pat! Nice, cool air this morning – 67 at the moment, can’t see the sky yet. Got a hell of a downpour for about 15-20 minutes yesterday. I think I turned a corner overnight with my hand – it had quit hurting really bad for the most part except for an occasional sharp, stabbing pain – putting pressure on it helped with that. Most of the swelling and redness is gone, thankfully. Wheezer was on the chair – the usual drill but after he ate the canned food, he decided to use the door mat on the patio as a scratching post. Uh-uh – nope, not having that! But at least all I had to do was yell “STOP THAT!” and he quit.

      ….sigh….and what surprises will we get today?!?! Never can tell these days!

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Now that it’s light outside, I can see that I’m still surrounded by storm clouds so we might get a little more rain yet.

          Liked by 1 person

  4. MJTruthUltra

    @MJTruthUltra

    Rudy Giuliani Reveals the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, Removed 3 Hours of Video Evidence of when They were Stealing the 2020 Election —— The Lawyer Representing Ruby Freeman was Hunter Biden’s Classmate • Rudy says he has 12 hours of tape from Atlanta, Georgia — four different perspectives of thousand of votes being stolen • Before going to trial, he noticed out of the 12 hours of video evidence, 3 hours were “missing”. —— Rudy discovered Brad Raffensperger re-engineered the video footage to make it look it was continuous footage. —— Rudy Giuliani proved it and had the witnesses ready to testify… but the crooked judge refused to allow the full tape into evidence. 🔴 THE VIDEO WOULD HAVE PROVED • Multiple counting of ballots • People being thrown out so they couldn’t see what was happening. IN ADDITION… • Biden ‘received’ 200,000 votes at one period, and Trump only got 80, which is impossible. • The absentee ballots were straight, no folds or creases whatsoever on countless ballots. —— Out of the absentee ballots, there were 375,000 ‘missing’ envelopes. • Interestingly enough, the lawyer representing Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, was the classmate of none other than Hunter Biden. —— they then picked a bloodthirsty judge named Beryl Howell in Washington, instead of Georgia. —— Beryl found Rudy guilty because he couldn’t make discovery. Rudy couldn’t make discovery because the FBI had seized most of his material.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Julie Kelly 🇺🇸

    @julie_kelly2

    Jack Smith just filed his brief appealing Judge Cannon’s dismissal of classified docs case based on unconstitutional appointment of special coiunsel. The brief rehashes DOJ arguments carefully dismantled by Cannon’s order last month. I mean–this is silly talk:

    Liked by 1 person

              6. I blame schools (i.e., unions) and parents, who have given over their responsibility to supervise, guide and mold their children to the government.

                Liked by 1 person

  19. EXCERPT: “The Minnesota State Fair is in full swing this week, with attendees seen lining up outside a popular anti-Tim Walz booth to win “Never Walz” prizes after the Gopher State governor ascended to the second spot on the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket. 

    “Never Walz,” reads a massive sign on a booth at the state fair, which has attracted long lines of people waiting to receive “Never Walz” fans and T-shirts, Fox News Digital has learned. 

    The booth was set up by conservative nonprofit Action 4 Liberty MN, which allows attendees of the nation’s second-largest state fair to spin a wheel to win “Never Walz” signage and apparel. 

    “Our amazing supporters spin the wheel for a chance at a free T-shirt and a ‘Never Walz’ fan. We’re a nonprofit organization that promotes liberty by exposing the RINOs and Leftists when they betray liberty, and we work to mobilize our grassroots army of supporters and train them on how to wield their individual political power as effectively as possible,” Action 4 Liberty leader and former Republican Minnesota state Rep. Erik Mortensen told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. 

    The Minnesota State Fair, which kicked off on Saturday and will run through Labor Day weekend, is anticipated to attract 2 million visitors. The “Never Walz” booth is a hot attraction on the fairgrounds, with Mortensen saying that even though they aren’t selling famed fair food, “our lines have been longer than most of the food booths.”

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/masterful-shapeshifter-walz-gets-pointed-message-from-minnesota-voters-state-fair-booth

    Liked by 1 person

  20. This really doesn’t surprise me at all! They’re all RINO’s and corrupt!

    Just The News: “More than 200 aides to former Republican presidential contenders Sen. Mitt Romney, the late-Sen. John McCain, and former Presidents George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, over former President Donald Trump.

    McCain was Republican presidential nominee in 2008, but lost to former President Barack Obama. Romney also lost to Obama, in 2012. Romney has told CNN that he would support President Joe Biden over Trump this election, but has not specifically endorsed Harris.

    The group said that while they have “ideological disagreements” with Harris and her running-mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, another four years of Trump would be “untenable.” The majority of the group also endorsed Biden over Trump in 2020.

    “At home, another four years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions,” the group wrote in a letter published by USA Today. “Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardized as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies.”

    https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25071901-bush-mccain-and-romney-alumni-for-harris-statement

    Trump has attempted to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” which was led by former Trump administration personnel and policy aides.

    The group primarily addressed the letter to moderate Republicans in swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona, who contributed to Biden winning in 2020. They urged the voters to put the “country before party” again this year. 

    “We’re heartfully calling on these friends, colleagues, neighbors, and family members to take a brave stand once more, to vote for leaders that will strive for consensus, not chaos; that will work to unite, not divide; that will make our country and our children proud,” the letter said. “Those leaders are Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz.”

    The letter was signed by a total of 238 people, including former Vice President Mike Pence advisor Olivia Troye, who spoke at the Democratic Convention in Chicago last week.”

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Just The News: “The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was hit by an apparent cyberattack over the weekend, which has caused major internet outages affecting the airport’s phones, email, and other systems. 

    Port of Seattle officials are continuing to work on Monday to restore the airport’s systems, which is the third day that the airport has been impacted by the attack. The airport has encouraged travelers to use their mobile phones to get their boarding passes, and to allow extra time at the airport to get to their gates.

    “We’re working around the clock to get necessary systems back online and to mitigate impacts to our passengers,” the airport’s aviation managing director Lance Lyttle said in a press conference on Sunday.

    It is not clear who is behind the suspected cyberattack. Airlines like Delta and Alaska airlines said the alleged cyberattack has not impacted their flights, but it has impacted the Port of Seattle’s baggage sorting system, according to the Associated Press.

    Travelers have also experienced longer lines at security than normal, and longer waits at baggage claim. It has also been harder for travelers to find their gates, because the terminal screens at the airport are down.

    “Port teams continue to make progress on returning systems to normal operations, but there is not an estimated time for return,” the airport posted to Facebook on Sunday.

    The Seattle-Tacoma airport is currently working with federal investigators, including the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection, to investigate the suspected attack.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Just The News: “Former President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to go beyond his creation of the United States’ Space Force if he returns to the White House in November, by creating a specific national guard to support it.

    Trump created the Space Force in 2019, which is intended to protect U.S. assets in space from foreign threats. The Space Force is the sixth official branch of the United States’ military. 

    The former president made the promise to create a Space Force national guard while speaking at the National Guard Association of the U.S. conference in Detroit.

    “One of my proudest achievements in my first term was to create Space Force, the first new branch of the armed forces in over 70 years; it’s a big deal,” Trump said, per The Hill. “Now that Space Force is up and running, I agree with your leadership — you want this very badly — but I agree that the time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force.”

    “So as president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard,” he added.

    The comment was met with cheers from the audience. The pledge also comes after the Biden administration asked Congress to override a current law to allow hundreds of Air National guardsmen to shift to into the Space Force without approval from their state’s governor. 

    The Biden administration proposed shifting approximately 1,000 Air National Guard members into the Space Force in April. But the request has faced heavy backlash from the governors and dozens of lawmakers.

    Trump also pledged on Monday to create a defense system that was similar to Israel’s Iron Dome. The dome protects Israel against short range rockets by intercepting them. “We’re going to build a great Iron Dome for missile defense around our nation,” Trump said. “Other countries have said Israel has it. You know, [former President] Ronald Reagan wanted this many years ago, but we didn’t have the technology at that point. But now we have the technology.”

    Liked by 1 person

  23. “Reporter Who Asked Kamala A Question Charged With Hate Crime”

    Politics · Aug 26, 2024 · BabylonBee.com 

    Article Image

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The presidential race took a sobering turn this morning, as a reporter who asked Vice President Kamala Harris a question was arrested and charged with committing a hate crime.

    The incident occurred during a brief campaign stop in which Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, visited a local deli that had been evacuated and repopulated with fake employees and campaign staff posing as customers. A stunned silence spread throughout the shop after a reporter from the press pool traveling with the Harris campaign asked her a question.

    “Madam Vice President, can you tell us about your foreign policy?” the reporter asked with clearly vicious and evil intent. Before he was able to obtain an answer or follow up with an explanation for his heinous actions, Secret Service agents and local law enforcement officers swarmed him, wrestled him to the ground, and placed him under arrest. Thankfully, Vice President Harris was reportedly unharmed by the question.

    “We were all witness to a terrible hate crime today,” a campaign spokesperson said later when addressing the media. “This is the type of America Donald Trump and J.D. Vance want to usher in, where reporters can just wantonly ask political leaders questions without any regard for the harm that could result. We can proudly state that Vice President Harris is currently recuperating from being asked a question and should make a full recovery.”

    At publishing time, the reporter was being held without bail at an undisclosed location and faced hate crime charges and potential indictment for attempting to destroy democracy itself.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. i’ve seen other posts that said the maggot and the cackler were not invited to Arlington. this tweet disagrees

    Liked by 1 person

  25. WordPiss is all fucked up this morning! But, then, so is Gmail so…..sigh…..it’s got to the point now that I have to clean up my HD every fricking week!!! It’s finally back up but I still can’t “like.”

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Liked by 1 person

      1. I’d bet $$ every cook or chef in the world has done that, over and over again. It’s kind of inevitable unless you use a measured amount from a box!

        Liked by 1 person

  35. “In Umm al Quwain, every winter camel handlers take their camels into the sea for a bath. The saltwater is believed to have medicinal properties that help rid the camels of ticks, fleas, and other parasites.”

    “The Nenets’ [Siberia] way of life during winter mainly involves staying inside their traditional tent, the Chum. The tent is constructed using a conical frame made of long poles and is covered with a double layer of reindeer skins.”

    “Before a game of buzkashi, a traditional Central Asian sport primarily played in Afghanistan, an Afghan jockey rests beside his horse. The game involves horse-mounted players attempting to place a goat carcass-shaped bag in a goal.”

    “The wildebeest cross the Masai Mara at sunset, braving the lurking crocodiles, leopards, and hippopotamuses in the water. This annual event is a crucial part of their migration and journey.”

    “Tribes of honey hunters inhabit the jungles of Nepal. The honey they seek is produced by the world’s largest honey bee. Their work is perilous: nests, as large as the men that hunt them, are high on sheer cliff walls and shingled with thousands of irascible bees. Hunters descend rope ladders, armed with tool-tipped poles, and joust against the swarm to sever the honey bearing portion of the hive.”

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Peruvian Andes

    Bangladeshi farmers processing jute in water

    Migration of mobula rays. In the Pacific Ocean

    Chinese fishermen

    Liked by 1 person

  38. “Harris Team Asks If Her Mic Can Just Be Muted For The Whole Debate”

    Politics · Aug 27, 2024 · BabylonBee.com

    Article Image

    U.S. — Ahead of the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on September 10, the Harris campaign has asked if their candidate’s mic could “please” be muted for the duration of the debate.

    “It’d help us out a lot,” said a spokesperson for Kamala Harris.

    Trump campaign senior advisor Jason Miller said in a statement, “There is literally no point in debate if one person isn’t going to speak. Is she going to respond via interpretive dance or something?”

    A debate of any kind, not just among presidential candidates, in which one person doesn’t speak at all, has never happened before. But Kamala Harris says she’s proven she can break barriers. “I’m not only the first female vice president but the first person of color also. I’m a pioneer,” Harris told reporters. “You know? Pioneers. They traveled across the country to find a new life for themselves like I’m going to find new life in muting my mic. [Laughter] So that I don’t talk. And why should I talk? Right? I mean why? Because a picture is worth a thousand words and I’m like a picture. A real, moving, talking picture. Well, not the talking part. [Laughter] So what I’m saying is that I’ve already won the debate just by showing up and people need to realize that.”

    Trump is reportedly considering the change in terms in spite of warnings by his campaign to stay the course. “Women should be neither seen, nor heard! Am I right, fellas? I HAVE A LOT TO SAY!” he said in a post on Truth Social.

    At publishing time, Donald Trump’s senior advisor quit after the former president agreed that, not only should Harris’ mic be muted for the whole debate, but his own should be “turned up to 11” so that he could be heard even above the moderators.

    Liked by 1 person

  39. “Pro-Lifers Criticized For Asking Pro-Life Candidates To Support Pro-Life Policies”

    Politics · Aug 27, 2024 · BabylonBee.com

    Article Image

    U.S. — A new controversy erupted this week amid the heat of the presidential race as pro-life voters asked pro-life political candidates to support pro-life policies.

    The outrage bubbled over on social media, with staunch pro-life activists facing fierce backlash from other conservatives for having the inexplicable gall to suggest having pro-life candidates adopt strong pro-life positions.

    “These crazy pro-lifers actually want pro-life policies?!” asked one social media user who identified as a conservative. “How dare they ask candidates who campaigned on pro-life platforms to take steps to advance a pro-life agenda? What a bunch of extremists!”

    Other commenters agreed that it was outrageous for pro-life voters to have any expectation that pro-life candidates would enact pro-life policies. “You’re being too dogmatic,” said another social media post. “Let me get this straight — you think that a pro-life candidate should throw his support behind policies that will lead to fewer babies being murdered? That’s just way too hardline of a stance. I guess by fighting for good, you’re totally cool with evil winning, huh? YOU WHACKOS!”

    Despite the intense debate, pro-lifers expressed confusion about the uproar. “I just don’t want babies to be killed,” one pro-life activist said. “Why is it weird for people with pro-life values to want pro-life candidates to support pro-life policies? What are we supposed to do — change our principles just to be more popular?”

    At publishing time, Democrats were reportedly giddy that the heated debate about babies being murdered was now just confined to Republican circles.

    Liked by 1 person

  40. “According to Jim Strachan, there are 319 beans and eight sausages in a can of Heinz Beanz & Pork Sausages; however, Mr. Strachan is incorrect. There are 320 beans.”

    Liked by 1 person

  41. Crowley Lake, CA: “Upon completion of the reservoir in 1941, strange columnar formations were spotted along its eastern shore. These formations feature spaced columns, some rising 20 ft. (6.1 m) tall, spanned at the top with arches and resembling the arcades of Moorish architecture. For decades speculative theories of their natural origin were proposed, but no detailed study was conducted.

    In 2015 geologists from UC Berkeley concluded that the formations are the result of snowmelt seeping down into volcanic ash from the catastrophic eruption of the Long Valley Caldera, then rising up again as steam. The water deposited erosion-resistant minerals that remained behind as the ash eroded around them. The researchers counted nearly 5,000 such pillars, which appear in groups and vary widely in shape, size, and color over an area of 4,000 acres (1,600 ha). Some of the columns stand erect approximately a foot apart and feature ringed apertures. Others are warped or leaning at various angles, and others are half-submerged and resemble the petrified remains of dinosaur vertebrae.”

    Liked by 1 person

  43. I’ll use them in the garden, but I’m not planning to eat egg shells unless I am desperate…so I looked up Calcium rich foods.

    Top 10 Calcium foods:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF7UT5Hy1xwCheat List – Top Calcium foods in order of calcium content

    Top 10 Calcium foods:

    Cheat List – Top Calcium foods in order of calcium content

    Almonds
    Molasses 
    Kale
    Oranges
    Spinach
    Tofu
    Dairy
    Soy Beans
    Broccoli
    Dried FigsAlmonds
    Molasses 
    Kale
    Oranges
    Spinach
    Tofu
    Dairy
    Soy Beans
    Broccoli
    Dried Figs

    Liked by 2 people

        1. I make shoofly pie (basically molasses pie with a crumb topping) and molasses cupcakes (same as the pie but there is no “wet” molasses bottom) and molasses cookies. there is a large Amish community around here…lol

          Liked by 1 person

  44. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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