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!

How to make nettle pesto, and why everyone should eat it

How to make nettle pesto, and why everyone should eat it. There. I should-ed on you. Although I usually don't tell people what to do, I urge everyone to eat nettle pesto.   

Why?

Because nettles are so, so good for you, and because I think nettle pesto tastes better than traditional pesto made with basil. My kids agree.

Since they are rich in vitamins A, C, D, K, and lots of minerals including iron, potassium, manganese, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silica, iodine, silicon, sodium and sulfur, the health benefits of nettles are immense.  Filled with chlorophyll, tannins, B complex vitamins, and made up of 10 percent protein, nettles are a powerhouse for health.

I get dizzy reading about this plant's health benefits.  Nettles are a diuretic and are used to treat anemia, arthritis, rheumatism and respiratory and urinary problems.  Nettles help with eczema, asthma and sinusitis.  They are a great blood purifier and protect against skin disorders, hair loss, kidney stones, allergies, hay fever, osteoarthritis, internal bleeding, nosebleeds, enlarged spleen, diabetes, endocrine disorders, stomach acid, diarrhea, dysentry, lung congestion, and cancer.

If you want to read more about the medicinal qualities of nettles, read this.

Now do you see why I'm telling you to make nettle pesto?



How to make Nettle Pesto - Recipe below

Find a patch of nettles in the spring time.  This is the season when they first come up and are not tough, but nice and tender.  Don't be fooled, though! Nettles aren't called stinging nettles as a joke! If they touch your bare skin, you will get hurt. Getting stung by a nettle is no fun at all, so wear long sleeves and gloves.

In case you do get stung, grab a plantain leaf, chew it up in your mouth, and then put it, together with your spit, on the area that got stung.  I swear it works to take the sting out every single time.

Cut only the top portion of the nettle (the first 2 or 3 inches), because lower down they get fibrous.

Either use scissors or just break them off between your (gloved!) thumb and index finger.

When you've collected enough (see recipe below), head into the kitchen and fill a large pot halfway with water.  Once the water boils, put your nettles in the pot (either with tongs or your gloved hands), and push them down with a spoon so they are submerged in the boiling water.

This takes the sting out of the nettles.  Only leave them in the water for one minute - that's truly all it takes to remove the sting. Then take them out with a slotted spoon, tongs or colander, since you want to save the water for drinking later.  Some nutrients leached into that water, so you might as well drink it, or water your houseplants with it once it's cooled.

Some people now put the nettles into ice water to preserve the nice, green color, but I never do, since it's an extra step and the nettles always stay green for me.

I just put the nettles into a colander and let them drain well.

Recipe

• 2 cups fresh nettles (or more if you have lots - this pesto freezes well!)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup walnuts (or pine nuts)
• 1 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Cut 4 cloves of garlic (or more if you like garlic a lot) into a few pieces and throw them into a food processor.  My trusted old Cuisinart does a lovely job.  I like to cut the garlic into a few pieces because they sometimes get stuck in the blade if I don't.  

Add 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 cup olive oil, and drained nettles and chop them in the food processor.  

Add 1/2 cup walnuts and 1 1/2 cups parmesan and process them all til everything is smooth.  Usually, pesto calls for pine nuts, but I find them too expensive.

Voila!  You are done!

Adjust the taste. Some people add more salt and pepper, more or less garlic, and more or less parmesan.  Do you want it more liquid? Add more olive oil.

I serve pesto with pasta.  It's also great on pizza.

If you have lots of nettles, just double, triple, or quadruple this recipe.  I love making LOTS of nettle pesto and freezing it in quart freezer bags.  

If you liked this tutorial and want to learn more, please sign up for my mailing list to get more inspiration and free tutorials.  When you sign up here, you get my free ebook "Three Essential Skills for the Homesteader and Urbanite"!