Sign of Spring

A secret sign of spring? Eggs.

No, not as in the colored ones the Easter Bunny hides. I'm talking about the eggs laid by hens that live outdoors, eating what grass and bugs they can find, supplemented by vegetable trimmings and organic grain. While most of us city folks don't even think about the seasonality of a product we pick up in neat little boxes piled dozens deep at the grocery store, people who raise chickens outdoors know that winter can be lean in the egg department.

But my friend Clare just sent out an e-mail to her "egg CSA" customers this week letting us know her girls have upped production to the point where she and Brian can't eat them all. That means there'll be sweet, organic eggs aplenty with more to come in the near future as temperatures warm and daylight hours lengthen.

Carbonara, anyone?