[upbeat instrumental intro music] [Narrator] Up ahead is Country Crossroads where town and country folks meet each week. Come on along. We can go anywhere from Country Crossroads. It's just 30 minutes down the road from Michigan State College and waiting at the crossroads is your country neighbor, George Axinn. [George Axinn] Hi there glad you came by we've got lots of places to go today from Country Crossroads. Say anything can happen here. You know if I had another one of these I'd show you my juggling act. Well, that calls my bluff doesn't it? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Hi, George. [George Axinn] Hi, Shep. Where you going with all those eggs? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Oh, the pullets just started laying. I'm going to go down and start making hay now. [George Axinn] Oh, yeah. Those are those real small eggs, aren't they? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Yeah, but they won't be that way long, thank goodness. [George Axinn] Well, on your way, then. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Yes, sir. The heat won't help 'em a bit. [George Axinn] That Shep's a good egg. Sometimes I think he's a little cracked, though. [cheerful instrumental transition music] [Henry Larzelere] Hi Shep, how are you this morning? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Well, I'm not feeling so good this morning, Henry. [Henry Larzelere] What's the trouble? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] I just took a case of eggs down at the produce house, and by golly, instead of giving me what I thought they ought to get I got about 10 cents a dozen less. Of course, they were small, but I see you've got small eggs here for 50 cents a dozen. I ought to bring them up to you and have you sell them for me. [Henry Larzelere] Well, I don't know Shep. We tried buying direct from farmers a few years ago, but we finally found out this grading station down here where you sell your eggs really does a good job in getting them ready for us. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] They do huh? [Henry Larzelere] We retailers don't have enough time to take care of them and carton them and and candle them sort them and all that sort of thing. They can do it much easier than we can and just take a look at this carton of eggs here notice, they're all uniform size. They've all been candled. They're all grade-a eggs. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Yeah, I see you got some mixed white and brown. I always used to bring you white eggs. [Henry Larzelere] Well, we have some that are all white, but we're trying to get most of our customers to take them mixed. Cause after all, you know that when you break these eggs out, frying pan. They're all the same kind when- [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] I see you got a customer here [Ardeth Blood] Hello, there [Henry Larzelere] Oh, hi. How are you this morning? [Ardeth Blood] Fine, thank you. I really need some eggs today. (Henry: Swell) But my, they're very expensive, 75 cents a dozen. (Henry: Well-) [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Goodness gracious. They're not expensive. They're cheap [Henry Larzelere] Remember then now 50 cents for small. This is a special we're having these two months during August and September. There's small eggs for 50 cents. [Ardeth Blood] Well, small eggs. They aren't as good though, are they? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Oh, yeah, pullets lay those eggs just as they're coming into production. The hen never lays any better eggs than just when they start laying eggs. [Henry Larzelere] These are actually candled too. Just the same as the large. [Ardeth Blood] The same grade as the others? [Henry Larzelere] And so, they're both grade-a eggs. Whether they're small or large. All that we handle are grade -a eggs. [Ardeth Blood] I see. Well, why, oh, should I buy these instead of the others? [Henry Larzelere] Well, it's a good buy now and during these two months,  Shep tell her how it is that we have some good buys on these small eggs right now? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Just when the pullets start laying, they lay small eggs. They lay small legs for a matter of about two months and then they graduate on up into medium and large. So these small eggs aren't very very long with us and they they give us an awful low price for them as producers. We can't make much money on them. It's a good thing they don't last very long actually, because consumers won't buy them. So so well. [Henry Larzelere] Well, let's put on a little experiment here. I think we can show you what- How much of a good buy this these small eggs are. Let's start with these large ones here and put those on the scale and remember we're paying- ohhh, you'd be paying 75 cents for those eggs. And- [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Now, those eggs actually weigh about a pound and 10 ounces [Henry Larzelere] Well, that roughly means you're paying about 50 cents a pound (Ardeth Blood: 50 cents a pound) for eggs, when you're buying them at that rate of 75 cents done. Now, let's just took to place these small eggs in there and see how many more small eggs you will be getting for that 75 cents, if you took the small ones. Now we've got a dozen of the smalls in there and then we can- you can get some more. More than just a dozen for 75 cents. You can get- [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] a dozen and a half for 75 cents and 50 cents a dozen for for small eggs, and large eggs at 75. [Henry Larzelere] Plus , we don't recommend that you pile them in like this, but we're just going to show you this little experiment here. And now those eggs will cost you, you're getting a dozen and a half small eggs (Shopper: A dozen and a half) for 75 cents. And, Shep, what's the weight on them? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] And they weigh two pounds, too, instead of a pound and ten ounces. [Ardeth Blood] Well, you're really getting more, then. Well, how do I know when small eggs are the best buy? [Henry Larzelere] Well, we have a little gadget up here that the poultry industry has made available to us, and it will tell you pretty well how from time to time throughout the year which size eggs are the best buy. Now we'll start here with this 75 cents of large that we've got here. Notice it says large 75 cents and if you look on up the line to the small item it says 56 cents. That means that when the eggs on the small eggs are 56 cents a dozen or less that means that they will be a better buy than the large eggs at 75. [Ardeth Blood] I see, that's sort of handy. [Henry Larzelere] And you can move that up and down as the price may vary (Shopper: I see.) Why don't you take that along and use it and we're sure that you'll be able to save a lot of money on these eggs by buying the most economical sizes throughout the year. [Ardeth Blood] Thank you, I believe though that I will take two dozen of the smaller eggs. Looks like a very good buy. [Henry Larzelere] That's fine, that's fine, and uh remember, we hope you'll uh get these small ones during these two months of August and September because we're going to have a lot more of those and they'll be an especially good buy during those months. [Ardeth Blood] Well, yes, well, thank you very much. [Henry Larzelere] You're welcome [Charles "Shep" Shepard] You know Henry if we spend more time with the consumer that way, I think we'd sell a lot more eggs and they'd get better buys I'm sure we don't do enough consumer education as producers or here as you are a retailer. [Henry Larzelere] Well, we'd like to Shep, but it does take a lot of time. You know, we've got a thousands of items in this- [overlapping speech] [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Hey, George! Here's something Henry and I were just talking about, see you got a lot of fruit here. (George Motts: Yup) We were just telling a la- young lady here how to buy eggs and I don't know anything about fruit at all. And I'd like to know I do quite a bit of the shopping and I'd like to know how to pick out good fruit, could you take a couple minutes and show me? [George Motts] Sure I could, I'd be glad to, Shep. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] This muskmelon, the cantaloupe- [George Motts] Well, let me show you [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] How do you know it's good? [George Motts] Yeah, well, let me show you some things to look for, now first pick out a melon that has a nice sharp distinct netting like this on it where it stands out considerably, in relief, you might say against the lower main part of the rind. That's first thing now notice this melon has a nice or yellow gray tone and color, there isn't any green down under that netting. (Shep; down between netting) That's right, that shows that it's reached the maturity where it's getting good to eat right now [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] If it has green, why, that's when you end up with a half inch or so of rind that's green and you can't eat. [George Motts] Better leave it in the kitchen on the counter there for a couple of days (Shep: Just at room temperature?) to get one like that. That's right, room temperature. (Shep: That'll ripen it up then) That's right. Now another sign of maturity is to look for a melon that has a calloused stem end like this. If it's bright green, it's not quite as mature as when it's sort of a gray corky color. So look for a well-matured stem end, and finally the last test most folks recommend is to just smell it and get that good cantaloupe smell. (Shep: Yeah, say that smells good). They don't have much aroma when they're immature they develop that characteristic aroma when they're ready to eat [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] You know I never took time to do this when I was picking muskmelons. The shots flying, the dogs barking, it was dark. [George Motts] I don't know where you've been getting your melons Shep. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Well, that was when I was considerably younger. (George; Oh) Uh, here's some red raspberries. How can you tell when they're good? I get a bunch of moldy ones down at the bottom. [George Motts] Well, I tell you, (Shep: Seedy) the first thing to look for is see that they're bright and dry. If they're bright, it indicates they're fresh. If they're dry, it indicates that you're not going to get them overripe like you mentioned. Now another way to keep them from getting overripe is to look again for this bright color because when they get overripe they have a dull tone of color to them so look for that brightness, plump berries, to indicate that they're nice and fresh-. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] When you're- when you say bright you don't mean pink in color, you mean red. [George Motts] No, I mean clean- (Shep: Glossy?) Glossy? Well not, glossy exactly like a cherry, but not dull (Shep: I see) [George Motts] That's that's as close as I can describe that. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Say why are these cherries- these are sweet cherries, are these? [George Motts] Yes, they're sweet ones. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Why do you leave the stems on these? [George Motts] Well they keep better that way, Shep. (Shep: Make a nice handle.) Yes. Well, actually they do keep better that way because when folks pick them and leave the stems on the tree, then that tears the flesh a little on the stem end of the cherry and molds get started and they don't keep so well. Now once in a while at farmers markets and other places you can buy sweet cherries without stems. It's all right if you're going to use them right away. But with the stems like this they keep better. Now notice here too there's nice bright color and they're plump. There's no shriveled cherries there. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Yeah, I noticed. This customer must be a favorite of yours,  you got all good fruit today for her. [George Motts] Yeah, she's a good customer. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Hey, look at these plums How can you keep from getting bitter ones? [George Motts] Well, that big secret in there is to (Henry: Sour unless you've - [unintelligible]) wait wait wait until they're really ripe and you check that with the mellowing,  the softening of the flesh, you know now you don't have to pinch the side like you did the right there to test it, but here's an interesting point. On the plums, there's a little tip down here. There's something like a little pimple. Now that's the first part of the plum to sort of soften up. Now just a gentle touch there of your fingertip will indicate when it's mature and anytime that there's a little yield to your light pressure that way, then it's it's just that it's bad. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] You don't want me to go around squeezing these things, but just to feel that they're a little soft, that's all right. (George: Yes, yes, that'll be... ) You guarantee them to be sweet when instead of sour when this... [George Motts] Well, when they're mature, they'll be sweet. That's right.  (Henry:Good news) [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] If they aren't sweet by a day or two in the open, will... [George Motts] It will help a lot. (Shep: [unintelligible]...will help a lot) That's right, will help a lot. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Hey, look at these peaches. Oh, they're nice. [George Motts] They're just coming into market in good shape now. {Chuck "Shep" Shepard] These are Michigan peaches, aren't they (George:Yup) [Henry Larzelere] Mm-hmm. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Now, how can you-how can you (George: Well here again...) pick these peaches. [George Motts] notice here in this under color there's a distinct gold and yellow tinge there, it's not green. Now this yellow color indicates maturity. The chances are if that was green when you pick- bought it in the store it was picked too green to ripen properly {Chuck "Shep" Shepard] It would be hard and sour there. [George Motts] That's right, or actually if you laid it on the counter in your kitchen to ripen a while instead of ripening the way it should probably dry somewhat, shrivel up, never would be a good peach to eat. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Never-Never be one of those good luscious Michigan peaches. [George Motts] That's right you'd be lost, lose out on that. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Say, by golly, I've got to get going, I just happen to think and I've got to get over to farm shop lab. [George Motts] Well I got to take these over to Ms J too, be seeing you Shep. (Henry:Come in again.) [man enters, reads long shopping list, shrugs and leaves] [cheerful instrumental transition music] [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Hi George, what you doing there (George: Hi Shep) [George Axinn] What you got, a new kind of chicken hook or something like that ? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Well this is an extension now for the thermostat on my brooder. And I run it over with the tractor as I was cleaning the house the other day and gotta get it fixed up, getting new batches, boilers [George Axinn] Where you gonna take it to have it fixed? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Oh, I'm going over to the farm shop lab. We're having farm mechanics course tonight, and I thought I'd get there a little early, (George: Nice) so I get it fixed before I get home. [George Axinn] Nice of them to let you use their shop. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Yeah, it's a good place to do things like that. I got to get going. (George: Good deal) [George Axinn] Real nice of them to let them use the high school shop, but I balk at that kind of work [cheerful instrumental transition music] [Carl Albrecht] Well, Shep, I see you're early tonight to this class of ours. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Yeah, I broke a piece off the brooder stove the other day, an extension rod here, and I have to take this off. I want to get this nut off of here so I can get it fixed up. I thought I'd get in here a little before class starts so that I could get it done before and not have to stay late after class. [Carl Albrecht] Well, that's swell. Say, how are those pullets doing anyway? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Well, they're doing pretty good, but I've got to get the house cleaned up, ready for a bunch of broilers now. [Carl Albrecht] Okay, let's go then. [Clamping the broken equipment] [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] I brought my own tools because I didn't know whether you'd be here or not so, uh. [Carl Albrecht] Say, you're not going to be able to take that off with those pliers are you. Let me get you a wrench. [Chuck "Shep"Shepard] No I guess, I guess I can't. [Carl Albrecht] It isn't good for a nut to take it off with a pair of pliers anyway. Now look, the way you put that wrench on there, that's my wrench and I want to protect it a little bit, you put it on there (Shep: It's not good) like that no you're going to break off this little jar at least spring it if you turn it that way. Turn it around and put the force of the turn right on that big jaw. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] On the heavy (Carl: That's right) part of the jaw You know, you learn something new every day [Carl Albrecht] Well, now I'm a little concerned about you too besides being concerned about my wrench, You see the way you've got your hand on that now if you push good and hard on that and it suddenly comes loose why you're liable to hurt your hand right up there. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Every time I start to do something you stop me and tell me I'm doing it wrong. [Carl Albrecht] Well, you know we want to play safe now get your hand- fingers out like that and I'll push on it. [Loud Clanks] [background crosstalk] [Carl Albrecht] See what would have happened if you had your hands closed there with that wrench? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Yeah, I see what you mean. [Working on the part] [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Well, at least we got that part off. [Taking down the clamp] [Carl Albrecht] Now what are you going to do with that? [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Now, I want to take these rivets off of here (Carl; Okay) and get this piece loose on the other end. [Carl Albrecht] I see you brought a couple of chisels here. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard]  Yeah I didn't know which one I'd use but- [Carl Albrecht] Say this little one here has a lot of burr on the top of it. You're lucky that you haven't knocked a piece of that down into your hand [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Well, I did the other day you see here's a spot that's broken off here already. [Carl Albrecht] Well maybe you better grind that down a little bit before you (Shep: grind it down?) Yeah, just grind the burr off right over there at that grinder. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Okay good to know. [Grinder Running] [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] That look good? [Carl Albrecht] Well, it'll be good enough for now. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard]  Yeah, that gets most of those loose pieces off of there. [Carl Albrecht] That's right. [background machine noises] {Carl Albrecht] Now, before you start hitting on the top of that chisel you better watch your hand again you see you've got it right down close there and if you're you're going to miss this chisel maybe. I hope not. (Shep: We hope not) But if you do, If you do, (Shep: Beat that hand to death there) you'll hurt that hand a lot. So raise your hand up a little bit on this chisel like that. (Shep: Good enough). That's right. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Every time again, I'm doing something, you're stopping me. [Carl Albrecht] Well, you know, just a minute. Now, I've got to leave. I just want to remind you that while you're working here and also while you're working at home this summer, there are three things that you want to guard against. You want to protect your human life and limb and health. And then you also want to protect your tools from damage. And finally, you want to protect the material that you're working with because damaged material doesn't make a very good project when you're all done. And above all, as you're working this summer, remember that it's important to take your time because accidents don't just happen, they're caused. So long. I'll see you later. [Chuck "Shep" Shepard] Good enough. [cheerful instrumental transition music] That Shep is too honest a man to be much of a chiseler. [Ardeth Blood] Hello there. [George Axinn] Hi Ardeth. Gonna have a party at your house? [Ardeth Blood] Oh, I'm giving a demonstration for the ladies at the women's club this afternoon. [George Axinn] Loaded down with food, huh? Oh, yes, we're going to make salads, and I just bought some eggs. I think I'll use some of them. [George Axinn] Sounds good. Sounds very good [Ardeth Blood] Fine, I better hurry along. [George Axinn] Say, you know, those home demonstration agents know their food. And if she's having a demonstration on salads, I wonder what would happen if, uh... [cheerful instrumental transition music] [Ardeth Blood] And there you are ladies, lovely fresh salads for your summer luncheons and dinners all finished. Wasn't that simple too? It only took just a minute because the eggs were all in the refrigerator waiting to be sliced and placed on these plates. Let's take a look at some of them and just see how simple they really were in a few of the various ways that eggs can be used for summer salads. This is your favorite macaroni Salad and the deviled eggs around the edge add interest to it, as well as flavor. This is a meal in itself and quite well balanced. You could use it for your luncheon or a dinner at home You know, it's pretty important though to remember that egg mixture should always be stored in the refrigerator. It isn't too good to keep them in the- or on warm days out in the open. So let's remember to put them in the refrigerator. [Moving the first salad to the back] [Ardeth Blood] This is a hearty salad that you can use for the main dish for a luncheon this summer or supper. This is a salad using kidney beans and the slices or wedges of egg garnish it. A great deal. I think that you would enjoy using this for your summer menu and remember too that the eggs have lots of nutrition. The important vitamins, minerals, and proteins that are in eggs are important to include in your menus these days. We can use salads as an accompaniment for our many summer menus and this is a very simple one with just slices of eggs, alternated with slices of tomatoes on lettuce. You know that this would be one that you could use for uh with your dinner at the table and let's remember too that the appearance is very important for these eggs let's review just briefly the steps in preparing eggs because it will be very important when you are planning to have sliced eggs on salads. First of all cover your eggs with cold water and place them on the stove. Bring them just below the boiling point but let's not let them boil because they're hard cooked eggs not boiled eggs you know, and then it will take 25 to 30 minutes to be sure that the eggs are thoroughly cooked but then let's cool them very quickly and that will help prevent that black rim around the yolk which makes them look a little unappetizing. Molded salads are popular these summer days and this one would be a delight on any summer table. The slices of eggs in the molded salad add a little interest, and I think you would like it very much. And remember too that these recipes I have for you, so be sure and get your copy before you leave today. [moving plates] [Ardeth Blood] Tossed salads are all favorites for all of us and this one is one that you can have on your summer table. The slices of eggs add a bit of interest to this as well as the various vegetables. You know it's important to know how to slice those eggs and have them nice and smooth. I have a little gadget here that some of you may want to use. This is a little egg slicer and you can get one at your store. The egg is just placed in here and these little wires will cut the egg in nice handy slices for you to use. There, wasn't that simple. And you see now the egg is all ready to be placed on your salad plate in nice handy slices. Well this is- these are the salads that we have for you today would you like to sample some of them? I think that all of you would like to try some of them. Here you are [A hand sneaks through the window to steal some salad] [cheerful instrumental transition music] [George Axinn] Y'know, I think Ardeth's got something there, nice cold hard -boiled eggs pretty good this time of year. Let's see what the mailman brought today. Oh, quite a few things. Here's one of those gadgets we saw in the grocery store a while back you know this thing is a regular little slide rule, you can push it back and forth and just tell what the best price of eggs is, it lists all the different sizes of eggs and then it tells you the price for each one. You can get a copy of this you know by writing to me here at Country Crossroads. We've got quite a stack of them be glad to send you one that's Country Crossroads, Michigan State College, Box 231 in East Lansing, and you can get a copy of this thing by writing to us here at Country Crossroads. It's quite a gadget. On the one side it says when I buy eggs by the dozen how much do I pay per pound, and then there's a whole list of small, medium, large, extra large and so forth so that you can get them. Then on the other side, why it says what size eggs are the best buy today. That's the thing that Ardeth Blood was looking at in the store which size of the best buy today and you merely slide the ruler one way or the other and you can tell. It's an easy thing to work, you can put it in your purse with you when you go shopping and when you get to the egg counter take a look at it or another handy way to use it is when you take a look at the paper on Thursday night, you know that has all the food ads in it. See just what the prices are and then by working this thing you can see which size of eggs are the best buy for you. Remember, you can get these egg guides by writing to me here at Country Crossroads. I'll give you that address again. It's Country Crossroads, Box 231, Michigan State College, here in East Lansing. Well, let's see what else the mailman brought. Here's a folder that says, for value, buy fruits and vegetables in season. And I see that George Motts, who was telling us all about the kind of fruits that are the best to select this time of year, is one of the authors of this thing you know inside it has a very handy little table it's a table by months of the year and for each month of the year it tells you which are the best fruit buys and vegetable buys by the way and it also tells you which ones are the ones that are grown in Michigan, so that if you want to buy Michigan fruits and vegetables you can get those for instance for August here it has green beans, and lima beans, and wax beans, and broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, peas, and so on. It has them all listed and then it has, under the fruits, it lists apples, and beets, and blackberries, and blueberries. This goes through month by month all through the year and tells you which are the best fruit and vegetable buys which are the best ones that are grown here in Michigan and a little bit about selection of them too and you can get a copy of this too by writing to us here. And sure enough, here's a list of the salads that Ardeth was using. It's just a mimeograph sheet that said salads using eggs and I see there are three recipes on it. One is for that molded egg salad she showed us. It lists the ingredients and tells you how to make it. Then here's one for a hearty salad and one for a macaroni salad. Well, you can get it too. As a matter of fact, you can get all three of these pamphlets by writing to me here at Country Crossroads. That's Country Crossroads, Box 231, Michigan State College in East Lansing. We'd be glad to send you one or all of these just write to us here. Well, it's been nice having you stop by today, neighbor. Glad to have you come by Country Crossroads anytime. Next week, we're going to be making some other interesting visits up and down this road. We've got several other places to go. There'll be people here stopping by the crossroads to show us things. Well, come by again, neighbor. Glad to see you. So long. [cheerful instrumental ending music] [Narrarator] By video recording, you've just gone by Country Crossroads, where town and country folks meet each week. Today's features were Egg Economy with Henry Larzelere and Chuck Shepard, fruit fancies with George Motts, tips on tools with Carl Albrecht, and summer salads with Ardeth Blood. Your neighbor at the crossroads was George Axinn, who with all his friends is from the Cooperative Extension Service. Stop by again next week. Country Crossroads, just 30 minutes down the road from Michigan State College. [cheerful instrumental ending music]