Well, this past week I was looking down into the holler toward Webb’s Creek thinking about the first sign of spring; edible birds that can’t fly.

They taste great when eaten raw, microwaved, or even after being left out in the open for a month. Some folks eat them frozen while others prefer stale.

I prefer to eat them as I exit the store.

I know it is springtime because as sure as spring beauties are popping up along Porter’s Creek, store shelves are loaded with millions of little marshmallow chicks. Easter hams and Easter eggs ain’t got nothing on the most famous sign of spring.

Peeps. Yep, it is peeptime in the Smokies!

It is hard to believe that mankind once survived in a Peep-less state. Sam Born, Russian candy maker, was only looking to buy a jellybean company when he stumbled across a marshmallow baby bird that was hand squeezed through a tube. The eyes were painted on one at a time back then. Sam knew he was on to something.

Wait a minute! Hold on to your Peeps. Let’s roll back to the beginning.

Sam Born was a Russian who emigrated from France to the U.S. in 1910. He opened a chocolate store in 1917 and placed a special sign in his store window whenever he had freshly made chocolates just out of the oven: “Just Born.” He named his company Just Born Candies and moved it to the little town of Bethlehem, Pa., in 1932.

It was in 1953 that he came across the little marshmallow chick with the hand-painted eyes. He figured out how to make more than one at a time, and today 3,500 Peeps are born every minute in in his Peep factory still located in Bethlehem.

The town once hung a giant Peep high on a crane and lowered it to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

Yellow is still the best selling Peep color, and more than a billion Peeps are eaten each year. We will eat enough Peeps this spring to circle the planet. They only have 32 calories and are totally fat free. That makes them practically a vegetable!

The albino (white) Peep still represents 4 percent of sales, and new colors including pink, orange, lavender and blue offer a broad choice for the more sophisticated peep eaters.

Peeps have a shelf life of two years, but many believe they can be handed down like heirlooms.

Peep celebrations regularly occur throughout the United States. A movie, “The Power of the Peep,” was released in 2009. In that same year the first store dedicated to selling only Peeps opened near Washington D.C., called Peeps & Co.

It might be helpful to know that the current record for eating Peeps is 102 — in 20 minutes.

It has been observed that if you sit a Peep on your window sill, it will attract an anole lizard that will change colors and perform mating maneuvers to impress your little marshmallow friend. A few of you might not have known that. Two peeps armed with toothpicks will joust when placed facing each other in a microwave for 30 seconds.

A Peep is arguably the most versatile candy ever created by man.

Spring is a time of change and a new awakening as the sun’s warmth reaches down all the way to the rocky flats along the creek. Is there a better way to celebrate spring than stuffing a box of Peeps in your backpack and heading out on the trail?

Today is a new day, and somewhere there is a box of Peeps waiting just for you. Dollywood will open soon, and millions of folks are packing up to come down and visit us here in the Smokies.

In the meantime: Relax and grab a box of Peeps, available everywhere.

That is just how it looks from my log cabin.

— John LaFevre is a local speaker and co-author of the interactive national park hiking book series, Scavenger Hike Adventures, Falcon Guides, Globe Pequot Press. E-mail to scavengerhike@aol.com. G. Webb of Pittman Center does the artwork for the column. Visit Gwebbgallery.com.