The Abundance of Easter

There seems to be a lot of conflicting messages surrounding Easter, what with plastic orbs hidden in planters and underneath back porches, hard boiled hen eggs festively colored and stacked in glass vases in upscale resort restaurants (by the way, Martha colors hers with nature’s own hues), chocolate eggs wrapped in foil and hung from white Manzanita branches, and chocolate shaped Easter bunnies with big ears and round tail--all juxtaposed with Easter lilies on alter steps, the clanging of church bells and girls and boys in the First Communion suits.

Easter is a big time here in the Valley of the Sun, with visitors escaping the last of their winter for a few days to golf, take in a Diamondbacks game, spa, sun and enjoy Easter tables laden with luscious cuisine. We know some lucky year-round residents in the Scottsdale area of palm trees, always-green grass and the easy resort lifestyle. They would like you to know that they do not appreciate the homage to the Easter Bunny. They do not believe in the Easter Bunny and know exactly where Easter Bunny eggs come from. Next year we plan to have an Open House around Easter and spring so that all those who are curious about where Easter eggs come from and all the other questions we get – will be able to visit and gather up some answers and a few eggs along the way.

Charlotte Druckman covered this egg-rich season in the Wall Street Journal last week. She reminds us that it is “easy to take eggs for granted. They’re always on the supermarket shelf when we need them, ready to do their part when a morning pancake craving or hangover-sandwich hankering hits.” (Or, in our case, when we ladle batter onto a hot waffle square or choose a brownie recipe which calls for three eggs.) She listed five amazing egg recipes from talented chefs.

But if you keep chickens, eggs are not taken for granted. They are each a perfect miracle of nature. Our Lizard Twins now lay every day – with a day off maybe once a week. (It’s called a “clutch” -- the number of eggs laid by one hen on consecutive days, before she skips a day and starts a new laying cycle.) Before these big Rhode Island Reds started laying, I was a hoarder. I didn’t offer eggs for breakfast very often and would never consider an omelet. With Mona still on some kind of egg sabbatical and Baby the only producer in the yard, we were rationing the few precious little white eggs we were given. All that changed when the Lizard twins cranked up the production schedule. Sometimes at 6 a.m. when I am opening the door to the roosting box, one of them meets me in the coop. “I can’t wait,” she says. “I don’t care if you are here or not, let me up there.”

We hope you’ll stay with us on the blog as these hens mature and begin to provide us with a steady stream of eggs. By this summer we should be getting four eggs most days. My friend Sue got a four-pack for Easter and I owe Debbie and Judy a fresh-egg breakfast. Ron's on the list for the new Cackle Doo compost -- which we never run out of.

As our table scrap vacuum cleaners would say on this special weekend, “Happy Eaters!”