The most beautiful naturally dyed easter eggs, how to make nettle pesto, and how to use a broadfork

Easter is a month away, but the stores are already filled with Easter stuff.  I don't like all the hype and commercialism around holidays, but I do love the simple rituals that go with special holidays.

Enter easter egg dyeing. For years now, our family has used an easy method to create the most stunning easter eggs, involving cabbage, vinegar, leaves and panty hose (or cheese cloth).

>> Here's my tutorial if you want to make these. << 

You totally should! It looks so complicated, but it's NOT!

Spring has arrived here. Last week, most of the snow melted (except on the North side of our five acres), and we worked in the garden with T-shirts and shorts. 80 degrees, people! Crocuses are blooming!

Luke and I planted garlic. I shovelled our home-made compost (which is gorgeous!) from our finished-compost-pile, hauled it over to the garden in the wheelbarrow, spread it over the designated garlic-growing-bed, and Luke helped me dig it in with the broadfork.

If you have never used a broadfork, you should watch my video where I explain why it's so much better for the soil, and how to use it. Or you can read the blog post I wrote about it here.

We've been picking the first nettles for cooking in soups. Ohhhh, our bodies are loving this extra nutrition!

Many people don't know that nettles are edible, let alone a famous powerhouse of a food that nourishes your body like few other greens.  If you want to learn more about why nettles are so good for you, how to harvest them, and how to make nettle pesto, watch my video tutorial here, or read my blog post here.

Last weekend, my hubby Steve, our nine-year-old daughter Eva and I set out for a bike ride on the Cascade Trail, which goes from Concrete to Sedro Woolley. It's a lovely gravel trail meandering through farm land, forest, and along the Skagit River.

I am proud to say and not at all shy about bragging: it's a 23 mile bike ride, and we did the whole thing. Our daughter rocks! She's strong... although she did complain after a few hours. We bribed her with many treats and the promise of ice cream, and it worked!

We started out at 5 B Bakery in Concrete, with a belly-full of breakfast.

We met buffalo along the way...

And ran into a flooding trail that gave us wet feet.

On a break at the river, we fed Eva who was kind of sick of the whole trip by then, let her rest a little, and I got to sit and knit...

Eva got a second wind at the end of the trip and sprinted to the restaurant where we met her brother Kai, who would drive us back home. We stuffed our faces with Mexican food and were grateful for chairs that didn't make our butts hurt like our bike saddles...

Let me share some other favorite pictures of the week with you, including

~ Steve and Luke building a bike ramp (can you tell why my heart is in my throat a lot of the day with Luke doing all these crazy potentially neck-breaking mountain bike jumps???)

~ A bonfire after pruning our orchard, and drinking hard apple cider that we made from our own apples last year... Heaven!

~ Taking my computer outside and working on the porch, as if it were summer!

~ Reading to Eva at night while she knits, after a long day of work. To be honest with you, some nights I just want to go hide and not interact with anyone, or space out on Netflix, and that’s OK. But when I can rally no matter how tired I am and really go the extra mile to spend quality time with my kids, it usually turns out to be very rewarding. I am aware of how fast they are growing up. 

It can be tricky to balance this desire to be the best mothers we can be with also taking care of our own needs, right, Mamas?

How are you doing? Is spring happening where you live? What are you doing in the garden? Please leave a comment below and share with us!

Last minute Easter Eggs that are stunning and colored naturally - how to dye eggs with red cabbage and a leaf pattern

Click here to download these instructions for printing

Dyeing easter eggs is an ancient tradition, and there are many methods of dying them. We all know the process of submerging eggs into synthetic easter egg dyes, but have you ever considered dyeing easter eggs naturally?

My family has fallen in love with a technique involving red cabbage, vinegar, pantyhose and leaves. This technique renders absolutely gorgeous, unique easter eggs that will have your family and friends swoon. 

Whenever I dye eggs this way and post pictures of them on social media, I get more likes and comments than any other things I share.

Although it involves a little more preparation than simply using synthetic dyes, it's quite easy. If you involve kids with it, you'll be the hit of the neighborhood!

What you need:

8-12 white eggs, uncooked

one gallon of water

one red cabbage

splash of distilled white vinegar

pantyhose or cheese cloth

rubber bands or string

small leaves like parsley, bleeding heart, sweet cicely

Directions:

Get your hands on eggs. I realized it would have worked better with white eggs, but since my chickens only produce brown ones, we went with those.

Cut a red cabbage in pieces, core and all, and throw it in a pot with water. I used about a gallon of water.

Bring to a boil, put a lid on it, and let it simmer for one hour.

In the meantime prepare your eggs. This involves going outside and finding some cool leaves, small ones that fit over your egg. I used bleeding heart and sweet cicely, but you can use parsley and other cool looking leaves.

Get pantyhose or cheesecloth and cut it in small pieces to wrap the eggs in.

Put a leaf on the egg with the smooth side touching the surface of the egg, and then put the pantyhose tightly over it to make the leaf lie flat on the egg. Be careful with that! Don't squeeze the egg to much, otherwise it will break and drip all over you.

Then tie a knot to secure the pantyhose close to the egg, making sure the leaf is secured that way.

I had my five-year-old daughter help me with that. She dressed in a princess gown for the occasion. If you can find a little girl dressed as a princess, you will succeed in the endeavor of making these beautiful eggs.

Next, drain the cabbage pieces from your pot (feed those to your chickens or pigs, and if you don't have critters, put the cabbage in the compost).

Put a few tablespoons of white distilled vinegar into your now colorful cabbage water.

Gently lower the eggs wrapped in their pantyhoses into the water.  Remind your princess-helper to be careful with this so the eggs won't break or the princess won't burn herself.

Bring this to a boil, and then turn it down to a simmer. Simmer it for 15 minutes, meaning you are hard boiling your eggs.

At this point, you are supposed to leave this all sitting for at least an hour. I refrigerated everything overnight, because I didn't like the color yet.

Next day, cut the pantyhose away, take the leaf off, and admire your beautiful eggs.

Boast about them! Post pictures! People will freak out! If they just knew how easy this is!!!

Click here to download these instructions for printing

If you like my blog and my tutorials, you can download my free e-book I wrote, with three more tutorials on homesteading skills: