Happy Easter!

Most of our Easter weekend was celebrated out in the garden, digging and planting and enjoying the first warm, sunny weekend of the spring. I'll share more on our progress later, but today I wanted to show off the ways in which our chickens contributed to the day:

We saved a dozen of our cleanest eggs for Easter egg painting. This wasn't easy over the last couple weeks, as our chickens have been out working, scratching up the dirt in our garden beds to prepare them for planting. Kirk and I leave for work earlier than the chickens are accustomed to laying, so that often means they end up laying their morning eggs in the dirt. It's not typically a problem, unless you want really pretty eggs (which, of course, we did).

The eggs above are the ones I painted. I used a white paint pen. That's not an approved food-safe method, I'm sure, but I only used an itty bit, and I lived to tell the tale, after noshing on these:

Because really, the only appropriate use for Easter eggs (after being hidden by a bunny and found in the garden by the children) is to make deviled eggs. Kirk makes ours with mayo, mustard, curry powder, salt, pepper, and a smidge of our dill relish. The garnish is paprika and chives. 

Did I mention our chives are up again? Happy season of rebirth!

A word about using farm fresh eggs for hard boiling:

Don't.

It's really hard. First, they take longer to cook, which we learned the hard way. As in, Jonas wanted to eat one of his Easter eggs for breakfast, and it was gooshy when he peeled it. Even the whites were still a little soft. 

So back into the pot. All told, these really required more like 15-17 minutes of cooking time (not the 10-12 we were used to for store-bought eggs). 

Second, they are incredibly hard to peel. Even with a post simmering ice bath (twice!), the membrane between the shell and egg white was really hard to get off, and you either end up peeling the shell in teeny tiny pieces, or getting impatient and gouging the white. Or both. 

So for next year, our plan is to save a dozen eggs we gather during the first week in February in a box in the back of the fridge. That way by the time we need them for Easter, they should be aged appropriately for hard boiling. Live and learn.

Happy spring!