Eggs

Some hens are good sitters (setters in chicken jargon) and others aren't. When I return in the afternoon to collect the eggs, sometimes one will not want to give up her cache. Some hens will sit for several weeks everyday defending their eggs by furiously pecking the hand that reaches for the bounty, and then one day, they are gone, not interested in sitting any longer. It is always a treat to slide a hand underneath to take out the warm eggs.

Occasionally, a miniature egg - about the size of a robin or quail's egg will appear among the others. An amazing sight! These eggs dry out quite naturally and become hollow. Another anomaly, which has happened three times, is a whole egg, in tact, but held together only by the membrane, without the shell. It has to be the oddest sensation to hold this squishy object of barely contained liquid.

In fact, the hens lay eggs of all sizes and shapes – from long and narrow to fat, miniature, smooth, and rough. I've used the eggs in my sculpture; a few even gold-leafed. Some hens lay only white eggs and others only brown. The Araucana Americana chickens, first discovered by a Chilean Indian tribe, lay colored eggs that vary from light blue, to turquoise, to olive brown.

The hens lay lots of eggs during the long days of late spring, summer, and early autumn. My work is to wash and dry and package them in the egg boxes. I tell people who see me at the kitchen sink, "This is my Zen practice - washing eggs." Each dozen is made up with the same mix of eggs that appear on any given day, a few brown, a few white, a few large, a few small, and a few colored.