Our First Egg!

On November 28, 2009, Yolanda laid her first egg; she is now officially a hen. Yolanda was very vocal all morning and pacing back and forth from the coop to the side yard. In the afternoon, I traversed the yard to locate the flock- to insure their whereabouts (no need for them to be crossing the road or visiting neighbors' yards). Yolanda was not with the flock. Worried, I stepped up my search and located a wide eyed Yolanda sitting atop our potting bench which is tucked under the deck. Talk about being at the right place at the right time- she laid the egg right then and there- I scooped it up and ran into the studio to report the joyful event. Jay was in the midst of a large family portrait as I bounded into the portrait session with the freshly laid egg. Luckily, guests of our studio are always gracious when they encounter our "farm animals" and the enthusiastic wife.
I invited one guest to touch the warm egg; I proclaimed that it was still warm, so when after touching the egg and in fact finding it warm- I was slightly disheartened when she frowned and hastily retreated her hand from the egg.
This experience made me realize just how much we have lost touch with practices that were once common, everyday occurrences, in just a few generations.


A few days later I had three beautiful brown eggs for breakfast. My grandmother, Sara, taught me how to prepare eggs sunny-side up. When I stayed at her house, she always rose out of bed earlier than me. She would not cook breakfast for me if I straggled too long- which I always did; however, she taught me how to make perfect eggs! The yolks on these fresh eggs were so proud that when I initially turned them over I didn't think they were going to cook evenly because the whites were not laying flat like they do with less than "oh-so-fresh" eggs. Hard to believe that Gram would have been 100 years old, just a day after my Yolanda laid her first egg. Momma Jozina and cousin Jo P. say Gram would be proud of my flock. Thanks for the lessons Gram!