As the emu fad was passing in 1994, Chuck DeCourley and his wife, Sue, bought a pair of emus. He was looking for a marketable use for the eggs, perhaps something artistic, but simply painting the shells seemed too obvious. Then DeCourley learned of a unique feature of emu eggs — the shells are made of three distinct layers, each of a different color.

There are three primary layers in the shell of an emu egg. The outside is dark green. The middle layer is teal, and the inside layer is nearly white. Occasionally there is a fourth layer, which is thin and rather gray, between the outside layer and the teal layer. Carving the eggshells seemed to use the colors of each layer to the best advantage.

So in 1997, after doing some research, DeCourley purchased an engraving system. He taped a snowflake pattern onto an eggshell and started carving. That was a crude experiment, but it was the beginning of a hobby that has held DeCourley’s interest for more than a decade. In January 1998, DeCourley’s father, who was in a nursing home, suggested DeCourley try carving playing cards into an egg. That was supposed to be a practice project, too, but DeCourley was able to give the finished carving to his father for his 68th birthday. His father, being nearly blind at the time, was able to feel the precision carving of the egg and was pleased with the gift.

Getting Ready to Sculpt

To clean the eggs, DeCourley drills a three-eighths-inch hole into the large end of the egg with a diamond bit. Regular drill bits can cause hairline cracks that can’t be easily seen. These cracks would ruin the egg during the carving process. Eggs should be cleaned out when fresh or, at the very least, within three to four months of being laid. Some people use a sander to create a hole in the egg, but the holes generally get large.

Egg contents can be shaken out, or you can use an “egg-sucking bucket:” a vacuum device to remove the contents of eggs. After this, use a 25-percent bleach solution to remove the lining of the egg. Be sure to use rubber gloves when working with bleach, and avoid the fumes by working in a properly ventilated area. The solution only needs to be left in the egg for a few minutes, but then needs to be rinsed out thoroughly. The outside (dark-green) layer won’t fade if exposed to the bleach solution for a short amount of time, but if left for several hours will cause discoloration.

Shells are then coated with Krylon clear acrylic. This gives the eggs a non-yellowing, UV-resistant coating, but the carving will still turn a sort of sepia color if left in sunlight or under fluorescent lights. Carvings are best displayed under incandescent light. It is also important to protect the inside of the shells, as the white layer is only 0.005- to 0.006-inch thick. For this, you could use a mixture of 50 percent Elmer’s glue and 50 percent water. Coat the inside of the egg several times with this mixture prior to working on the egg. If you consider carving chicken or goose eggs, in which case you might have larger empty spaces or fine filigree work, this is an especially important part of the process.

When choosing a design, be careful to choose a pattern that is not under copyright protection if you plan to sell the carving. Then simply use a copy machine to reduce the pattern to the size you need and attach it to the eggshell with glue stick. The glue softens the paper; and if the paper creases during application, simply dampen the paper and reglue it. After the glue dries, you’re nearly ready to start carving, but remember: Safety first. The calcium dust caused by the carving process is fine. DeCourley recommends using a dust collector box with a vacuum system. He also sculpts the egg under a Plexiglas shield and wears earplugs while working, as the drill used in carving produces a high-pitched (and loud) noise.

Equipment for Carving Eggs

DeCourley’s tool of choice is a “Turbocarver,” which is an air-powered dentist’s drill. The hand piece is light and comfortable, it needs no lubricating oil and can carve with or without water. DeCourley’s preference is to carve without water, because when the water mixes with the dust it produces a mud-like substance. This is a second-best situation if you don’t have dust box to remove the dust as you sculpt.

Another option for the carving tool is “Dental Tech” hand piece. This uses no air or water to run, but needs to be oiled every four hours.

The carving tool requires a significant volume of air to work properly, but not a great deal of pressure. Only 70 pounds per square inch (psi) on the condenser is required to turn the bit an amazingly fast 400,000 to 450,000 rotations per minute (rpm). The burrs (bits) are carbide and diamond burrs purchased from a dental supply house.

DeCourley uses an inverted cone burr for the basic outlines of the pattern. Being right-handed, he works in a clockwise rotation, with the burr turning away from himself. This method cuts neatly through the pattern paper without making the edges of the paper rough. As you pull the tool toward you, you make larger cuts. Working away from yourself produces finer cuts. To maintain the pattern, it is best to work from the outside of the pattern toward the center.

An old sock filled with fish-tank gravel makes an excellent resting place for the eggshells while being carved. In addition, the artist usually holds the egg with one hand while carving with the other.

Keep an extra copy of the pattern handy for reference while carving. After the basic outlines are carved, you have the pattern sketched onto the shell. “Study the egg as you work. The egg talks to me like a canvas speaks to a painter,” DeCourley says.

The Finished Product

The quality of each carving improves with time and experience. How does DeCourley know when the carving is complete? “I ask myself, ‘What can I do to make this egg better? Nothing.’ Then I quit,” he says. Although some artists polish the finished work, DeCourley does not. “I leave the burr marks in there — it’s my signature,” he says. But the marks are few and small, so they’re not easily seen.

DeCourley has sculpted over 30 eggshells since he began, and has been featured in the Eggshell Sculptor Newsletter.

The eggs make great gifts for special occasions and sell for $100 to $500. “They’re not the everyday gift,” says DeCourley. Preparing each egg for carving can take 30 minutes to two hours. Carving the egg can take 10 to 50 hours or more. This is a rare art. Many people sell decorated eggs, but few people sell sculpted eggshells.

An investment in the basic carving system, including compressor, hand piece, dust collector and some burrs, will start at about $500.

Photos by Troy Griepentrog

Many thanks to Kubota for their continued efforts to educate farmers about safety. One farming-related, preventable accident is too many — see below for more information from Kubota, including their “Ten Commandments of Tractor Safety.” 

Tractor Safety as Fundamental as a Parachute on a Plane

After a recent tractor rollover accident, a farmer likened not having a tractor rollover protection structure, or ROPS, to falling out of an airplane without a parachute – a safety precaution not often thought about until the plane is about to crash.  In this particular incident, when the tractor he was driving was rear-ended by a truck and rolled over, he was able to walk away with only minor injuries because his tractor was equipped with a ROPS and his seatbelt was fastened. This example – just one among many – confirms the belief that while tractor accidents are not predictable, following recommended safety precautions for operating equipment can go a long way toward reducing injuries or death.  

Agriculture has inherent dangers, with 28.7 deaths per 100,000 adult workers, according to the National Safety Council (NSC). As this year’s busy fall harvest season gets underway, Kubota is encouraging all tractor and equipment users to heed these statistics and renew their emphasis on safety in observance of the NSC’s National Farm Safety and Health Week, September 20-26, 2009. 

“For Kubota, safety is a year-round priority,” says Greg Embury, vice president of sales and marketing, Kubota Tractor Corporation. “The start of harvest season is a good time to remind everyone who operates tractors and heavy equipment – farmers, ranchers and their families – about tractor safety. A small amount of time committed to following safe equipment operation now can be your ‘parachute’ to help prevent serious injury or fatality due to an unfortunate accident in the future.” 

Make sure your tractor – old and new – has a fully operational Rollover Protective Structure or ROPS. The operation of a tractor equipped with ROPS and a fastened seatbelt, is considered to be highly effective in preventing serious injury and death due to tractor rollovers because the ROPS and fastened seatbelt provide a protective zone around the operator. According to the NSC, if all tractors were equipped with a ROPS and a safety belt, about 350 lives would be saved each year. 

Kubota’s “Ten Commandments of Tractor Safety” for review this harvest season:

1.) Know your tractor, its implements and how they work.
Please read and understand the Operator's Manual(s) before operating the equipment. Also, keep your equipment in good condition.

2.) Use ROPS and seatbelt whenever and wherever applicable.
If your tractor has a foldable ROPS, fold it down only when absolutely necessary and fold it up and lock it again as soon as possible. Do not wear the seatbelt when the ROPS is folded. Most tractor fatalities are caused by overturns.

3.) Be familiar with your terrain and work area – walk the area first to be sure and drive safely.
Use special caution on slopes, slow down for all turns and stay off the highway whenever possible.

4.) Never start an engine in a closed shed or garage.
Exhaust gas contains carbon monoxide, which is colorless, odorless – and deadly.

5.) Always keep your PTO properly shielded.
Make it a habit to walk around your tractor and PTO driven implement – never walk over, through or between the tractor and implement, particularly if either is running.  The PTO rotates with enough speed and strength to kill you.

6.) Keep your hitches low and always on the drawbar.
Otherwise, your tractor might flip over backwards.

7.) Never get off a moving tractor or leave it with its engine running.
Shut it down before leaving the seat. A runaway tractor can be extremely dangerous.

8.) Never refuel while the engine is running or hot. 
Additionally, do not add coolant to the radiator while the engine is hot; hot coolant can erupt and scald.

9.) Keep all children off and away from your tractor and its implements at all times.
Children are generally attracted to tractors and the work they do. However, a tractor's work is not child's play. Remember, a child's disappointment is fleeting, while your memory of his or her injury or death resulting from riding the tractor with you, or being too close, will last a lifetime.

10.) Never be in a hurry or take chances about anything you do with your tractor. 
Think safety first, then take your time and do it right. 

Safety Education Important at a Young Age

When it comes to protecting our kids, farm safety education is critical. The National Education Center for Agriculture Safety estimates there are more than 100 farm-related deaths to children each year and that most die in incidents involving tractors and other heavy equipment. As a sponsor of the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day educational program, Kubota is part of an effort designed to make safety education and training available for children year-round.  Now in its 15^th year, the program will conclude more than 350 Safety Day events in 2009, spanning 35 states, six Canadian provinces, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.  In 2008, the programs reached more than 84,000 children and adults in rural communities, and to date has touched the lives of more than 740,000 participants. 

Additional safety information, including Kubota’s “Ten Commandments of Tractor Safety” brochure, Kubota’s “Hazard Hunt” game, and a tractor safety coloring book, can be found at www.kubota.com.  Owners of older model Kubota tractors can also utilize a ROPS and Seatbelt Installation function on the Kubota.com safety pages that allows owners to submit their tractor’s model and serial number for eligible models to obtain retrofit pricing from their local Kubota dealer. Contact your local dealer for more information on ROPS retrofits for older tractor models. Major tractor manufacturers have special programs where a ROPS can be obtained for most tractors manufactured since 1970. To date, Kubota dealers throughout the country have installed more than 10,000 retrofits.    

Farming is a noble profession, but it can sometimes be a dangerous one as well. According to a 1990 report from the National Safety Council, farm accidents and other work-related health problems claim as many as 1,300 lives and cause 120,000 injuries a year. Have you ever been injured on the farm? Please share your experience in the interest of promoting farm safety — perhaps you can keep it from happening to someone else. 

Photo by iStockphoto/ Alistair Scott 

After a refreshingly cool, wet summer (for Kansas), many people are speculating about what winter will bring. Will it also be cooler than normal, with more snow? Will the weather continue to be mild?

You can try your grandma’s best folklore forecast, but picking up the 2010 Farmers’ Almanac will give you lots of other valuable information in addition to the long-term forecast. For example, do you know the answer to these questions?

What’s the gestation period of a goat?

What’s the average lifespan of a donkey?

What are the peak fall foliage dates in Ohio?

When is the Leonid meteor shower?

Can you lick your elbow? (OK, that’s probably not so useful, but it’s fun to know. There’s more to wise living, gardening and farming than simply knowing the facts.)

The Almanac is a bit of tradition mixed with lore, lots of fun facts and useful information. So, are you dying to know the answers to those questions? Scroll down.

Gestation period of a goat is 151 days.
The average lifespan of a donkey is 45 years.
Peak fall foliage dates in Ohio are October 8 through 24.
Most activity in the Leonid meteor shower will be November 17 and 18.
It’s impossible to lick your elbow.

Coming up in the October/November issue, contributing editor and DIY expert Steve Maxwell shares the many lessons he learned during his twenty years as a homesteader. Man, is there a lot of trial-and-error involved in the process of honing those skills! Veteran homesteaders: Please, please share your wisdom with those of us who are just getting started down the path to self-sufficiency — what are the most important lessons you learned along the way?

Photo by iStockphoto/Moira De La O

Thinking you might need a new mower this year?

Be sure to try out the zero-turn mowers that are now widely available, especially if you have lots of trees or other obstacles to steer around. The “zero-turn” steering mechanism is so quick and nimble that it actually makes mowing around stuff fun instead of a hassle.

You’ll find a full report and a list of manufacturers at: Zero-turn Mowers: Faster, Easier Mowing. And there’s even a brand-new all-electric Z-turn available — you can read all about Hustler Turf’s Zeon at Three Great Tools: Rogue Hoe, NRG Trowel and Zeon Electric Riding Mower.

Here at MOTHER EARTH NEWS, we have chickens on the brain. First, we’re hatching dozens of eggs as part of our Community Chickens project, and there’s also our recent feature,  Raising Chickens for Meat, a fantastic how-to article on broiler chickens by SARE communications specialist Gwen Roland. In it, Roland discusses the benefits of raising your own table birds: lower price, better flavor and the satisfaction of avoiding factory-farmed meat. 

We know a lot of you raise chickens for superior eggs, but how many of you raise broilers? Is the thought of butchering your own birds too macabre? Let us know by posting a comment below.

Photo by iStockphoto/Eric Delmar