Uses for eggshells!

On the Farm

Don't throw those eggshells in the garbage!  There are many uses for eggshells.  We rinse ours out and let them dry on the windowsill by the kitchen sink.  Once they are dry, we put them into a small bucket that we keep on the countertop.  Then, once the little bucket is full, we take them downstairs and put them in a 3 gallon size bucket.  We mostly feed them back to the girls so they can get the calcium out of the old eggshells and put it into their new eggshells!  BUT what if you don't have chickens, don't worry, there are many other uses for eggshells around the house...  

In the Garden

Compost and plant fertilizer

Before we had poultry, we put all our eggshells into our compost bin.  They breakdown and can provide calcium in the compost that will be beneficial for the garden plants.  I have read differing opinions about if the calcium is "available" to the plants in the form of eggshells.  I did find this video about how to make an egg shell puree for your tomato plants.  This involves pureeing the eggshells in a blender with some other ingredients, it seems like this would make the calcium more available.  I actually like the eggshells to breakdown and add some good "structure" to the compost.  We usually save the chicken eggs for the girls and put the duck eggs into the compost bin.

Pest deterrent

If you dry the shells and crumble them up, you can put them around the base of plants to deter slugs.  I have read that they do not like to crawl over the sharp edges.  I will be honest, I have done this in the past and I am not sure it provides complete protection against slugs.  You have to put a good amount of eggshells down to deter the pests.  So, if you have a small garden, it may be worth doing.  Especially around tomato and pepper plants that would benefit from the extra calcium that the shells release as they break down over the season.

Use eggshells as little planting pots

I am going to do this this year for my peas.  For some reason, I CANNOT get peas to grow when I plant them out in the garden.  This seems like a great way to start the peas indoors and then plant them out into the garden.  I would crush the eggshell as it is planted into the ground to make sure the roots can get out into the ground.

In the Kitchen

Eat the shells...

You create an eggshell powder by baking the eggshells and then grinding them into a fine powder.  Once this is done, you can toss the powder into any beverage to give yourself a great calcium boost.  Powdered eggshells get absorbed in our body almost as effectively as purified calcium carbonate, thereby meeting your bodily requirements of the mineral. In fact, certain proteins present in eggshells may boost calcium absorption in our body nearly 64% greater compared to pure calcium carbonate supplements.

Basic nutritional value of an eggshell (1/2 teaspoon of eggshell)

Calcium – 900 mg

Magnesium – 24.0 mg

Phosphorus – 8.4 mg

Potassium – 8.0 mg

Sodium – 9.0 mg

or add them to your coffeemaker...

Egg shells are alkaline, while coffee is acidic. When added to coffee, the egg shells remove much of the bitterness and mellow out the flavor of the coffee.

or add them to your broth...

When you make bone broth, you can add some egg shells in to the mix and the calcium and minerals that are in the eggshells will come out of the eggs and enhance your broth with extra calcium.

Make art!

Use the egg shells to make sidewalk chalk or an eggshell mosaic.  

No, I did NOT make this picture but it is pretty impressive...made from eggshells!  Maybe a good idea with those leftover Easter eggshells next month! 

There are also a lot of beauty products that can be made with both eggs and eggshells but we are going to save that for another day...

Have an eggshellent day,

~Denise