How do we "Count The Omer"?
Answer From The Annual Reading Schedule - Week 28 Notes For Leviticus: This phrase "Count The Omer" is referring to Leviticus 23:15-16 and Deuteronomy 16:9. I believe this count always starts on the 1st day of the week because in Leviticus 23:16 it states: "Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days". This shows that the 50th day of the count always falls the day after the 7th Sabbath. The 7th Sabbath can only fall on the 7th day of the week, so this forces the count to start on the 1st day of the week and end at 50 on the 1st day of the week. This 50 day count time period is an especially important time to have our guards up and be prepared for anything, especially tests or trials if they should occur. We also need to remember during this count to count the days each day and to count the 7 Sabbaths each Sabbath leading up to the 50th day. It is also during this time period of Counting The Omer when Yahushua appeared to many witnesses after his resurrection and eventually ascended into the skies (Heavens/Shamayim) to be seated at the right hand of Yahweh.
I also believe that the first day of the counting of the Omer will always start during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So if the Feast of Unleavened Bread started on the first day of the week, and Passover was on a weekly Sabbath, I would start the count on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. I base this understanding off of a combination of Leviticus 23:14-15 and Joshua 5:10-11. In Joshua 5:10-11, it appears that they ate of the roasted grain the morrow after the Passover which is the 1st day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but in Leviticus 23:14-15 it says they were not to eat bread or roasted grain until they brought an offering. So it appears the wave sheaf offering of Leviticus 23:11 must have been brought the day after Passover, on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread that year.
Also, it makes sense that the people be able to start to eat the produce of the land each year during the feast and not have to wait until after the feast which is another reason I view it this way.