Stacia Tolman is a sometimes-columnist and the author of the forthcoming YA Novel, Western Civ, from Henry Holt. She's been around chickens since early childhood and has raised plenty of her own, the most memorable in recent years being a banjo-music-loving rooster named Louie. He had excellent timing. Stacia also makes the best lemon meringue pie in all of New Hampshire. Her secret, of course, is fresh eggs.