Filling your basket with fresh picked herbs is one of those garden routines. It is by far one of the more glamorous parts of gardening (much better than mixing compost or weeding, right!?!) so don’t skip this joyful garden practice.
Whether you are growing herbs for cooking, herbal tea or the medicine chest there are a few tips to harvesting and preserving that I’ve learned along the way…
Favorite Homestead Herbs
Here are a few of my favorite (which also happen to be the easiest) herbs to grow. Watch a recent video of me harvesting herbs growing in my garden HERE on my @forksinthedirt Instagram.
As sunlight hours (if not warmer temps) return to Minnesota, so do the backyard eggs. This gluten free Strata recipe is a beautiful way celebrate the return of spring and fresh eggs. It is also a healthy family favorite, and a great way to sneak in all kinds of veggies.
On Our Suburban Homestead
I love how our chickens help keep us in tune with nature’s cycles. If you’ve been interested in starting a backyard flock of your own, or want to learn where you can buy local farm fresh eggs, I’ve got you covered. This is a family favorite for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Especially when the boys go and collect the eggs then crack them right into the mixing bowl!
Symmetry within the circle of our season — that’s the overarching lesson from the garden. But just one of the ways gardening teaches me year after year.
It is perfectly absurd to search for a beginning or an end to this cycle; is it when the seeds start forming, when I harvest my saved seed out of the garden, as I store it over winter, or when I plant it next spring that is “the beginning”? Is it when the food emerges, when its ripe, when I harvest, when I eat it, or when I compost the excess that is “the ending”?
Taking into consideration the piles of compost, continuously added to by our hens, and all the other intertwined inputs and harvests from our little backyard homestead garden- I’m proud to announce that I can I find neither beginning nor end… instead I find a naturally flowing cycle that swallows its own tail year after year. A process without any one formula, rather a myriad of methods and infinite accomplishments along its way.
That being said; we all like to “take stock” every so often. The end of the calendar year, as the garden lays sleeping and frozen under the snow here in Minnesota seems a fitting time as ever. So, I’m taking a look back on this year of growing with you to share what I gleaned from my gardens. Or rather, what lessons my garden unearthed for me. I’ve added links to previous posts at the end of most topics, as it seems the lessons I learned this year are also perennial. But as with gardening- the roots grow deeper and the harvests increase with each passing year. I hope you can take a few of these ideas and let them inspire you to grow and harvest more (veggies, sustainability, peace) from your gardens this upcoming season. Let’s Dig In!
In typical Forks in the Dirt fashion, I have gift ideas for you that cover a lot of ground. So, here’s my lovingly curated, Mix + Match, Handmade, Local, Always Learning + Eco Friendly Holiday Gift Guide.
Homemade Gifts
Calendula Salve: Calendula Salve is a super healing and soothing balm great for cold northern winters. I make it with my homegrown Calendula Resina, but Mountain Rose herbs has high quality herbal products.
Soap: I love gifting homemade soaps, especially when it contains some of my own floral or herbal infused oils! I keep it simple and usually have make the hot process soap. We go over this recipe in detail in our book, Small-Scale Homesteading.
DIY Cocktail Infusing Kits: These are super simple to make but are really a big impact gift. The recipes I share in THIS ARTICLE are some of my favorite, but you can get creative. Just don’t forget to make a few extra for yourself! All recipes can be made into N/A options.
When I harvest I usually already know what will go in this plant’s place
Succession planting is a simple way to harvest more food for longer in your existing garden space! I am constantly blown away by how many times and how much I can plant in my backyard garden beds.
Succession planting boils down to “out with the old and in with the new.” It’s the practice of planting one crop right after another is harvested. This practice can keep you eating fresh from your garden all season long, even after frosts.
Spoiler: Successful succession planting has a lot to do with planning and picking the right plants.
There are a few ways to go about this kind of planting.
Succession Planting: two or more different crops following each other in the same space
Staggered or Relay Planting: same crop with repeated plantings in the same space
Interplanting / Companion Planting: when you plant multiple things at the same time in the same space that mature at different times and mutually benefit each other.
For now, let’s focus on the practice of planting different crops one after another in the same space—what most people think of as ‘succession planting’. Many of the same plants that star in our Northern spring gardens do well when started in summer to mature in the fall. Choosing cool weather plants that can take a slight frost will grow your summer efforts into delicious fall side dishes.
You hold this seemingly inanimate object in your hand. Once you place it in soil, give it some water and light it GROWS! And it keeps growing, giving pollinators a purpose and habitat, sequestering carbon, building soil, and giving you food—plus providing its own seeds to continue the process.
Being part of this process ties us back into nature in a way that very few things can. And more of us are feeling that pull back to nature as gardening continues to grow as a hobby and passion across the globe. There are so many ways to start seeds, from Winter Sowing to Soil Blocking here we’ll focus on starting seeds indoors, under lights.
*This post contains affiliate links*
Why Start Seeds?
Slow Bolt Napa Cabbage
On a more practical level, an obvious benefit of growing a garden from seed is major cost savings. A packet of seeds is usually less than the cost of a single small potted vegetable or herb start. Add perpetual savings if you can save the seeds that grow from the plants as well. More about this in my article, Seed Saving Starts Now.
Remember only open pollinated varieties are recommended for seed saving, as these are the only kinds that will grow back ‘true to type’. Many seeds sold are hybrids, meaning that they took certain traits from two different plants and combined them. Growing seeds saved from those hybrids will likely revert back to parts of their parent plants, sometimes with really funky outcomes!
I’m always looking for ways to stretch my growing season up here in Minnesota, and winter sowing lets me get a jump on starting seedlings—without plugging in grow lights! The trick is in choosing the right seeds to start and when.
Late in January, you can find me thawing out some soil to plant seeds. Not seeds to start under lights just yet, though- I send these earliest planted seeds outside into the elements. This is the art of winter sowing!
Before we get crafting the mini greenhouses that make winter sowing feel sort of like a pre-school art project, let’s go over the basics.
What is Winter Sowing?
Winter sowing is a way to work with Mother Nature to grow plants from seed. You plant seeds in a container and set them outside. They sprout in the containers and are ready to plant out into your garden from there. Trudi Greissle Davidoff was the first to write about the process of winter sowing.
Winter Sowing Jugs planted and outside in February
I’ve loved seeing the backyard chicken community grow over the years- and especially this past year! So many new chicken owners; I lovingly refer to us as “chicken tenders”. So it seemed like a good time to gather my thoughts for an overview on getting your hens ready for winter. This article focuses on smaller backyard flocks because this is what I’ve had the most experience with, and what most newbies start with.
For us backyard chicken tenders there are specific city rules and responsibilities. I go over some of those and other local chicken keeping resources in my post, Chickens in the Hood. I also bear my soul in the sobering blog, Fresh Eggs to Chicken Soup, about when we decided to cull a flock of our hens a few years back.
Transitioning to Winter
Transitioning hens to winter can be smooth when you follow a few simple steps… Yes, even if we’re rushing after a freakishly early snowstorm and weeks earlier than normal! Just pat yourself on the back that you’ve taken a step to lessen your reliance on corporate food systems and get a good pair of gloves for winter chores.
Keeping chickens over the winter really comes down to keeping them dry and out of the wind along with giving them plenty of food and water. This should give you happy hens down to -20°F. But, let’s get real- nothing is happy colder than that. Like at any other time of year, being with your hens and knowing their routines is your best offense.
If there’s one thing you get out of this article, let it be that chickens are tough birds! While cold by itself can harm chickens, the thing that can really harm your hens is that sneaky combination of damp + cold together which causes frost bite faster. We’ll cover this in depth later on. For now, we’ll go over three area; the coop, the hens, food + water, but of course they all intermix along the way.
The Coop
Coops come in all shapes and sizes. If you ever need coop inspiration check out Egg|Plant Urban Farm Supply’s annual “Chicken Coop Tour”. So, what might work in one yard/coop/flock may not in another. I’ll give basic ideas that can be used to fit your chicken coop no matter the shape or size.
Current Coop, notice covered run area
Coops need ventilation, but not wind. This can seem antithetical. Think of it this way- we leave our coops uninsulated but cover the 6’X6’ mesh window in winter. Heat, and most importantly moisture, will escape between the roof trusses this way.
Once upon a time, when we were chicken newbies, we insulated our coop. Airtight. Too well. Luckily, that was during the warmer winters of a decade ago. But, even with lows around 20°F I noticed a LOT of humidity in that coop.
Poop in the Coop
As air gets colder it loses its ability to hold moisture. Add to that, the fact that chicken poop also contains all the urate (what humans would pee separately) and you’ve got a high percentage of water to deal with. The urate is also where that ammonia smell comes from. Most people keep a minimum of 4-6 hens in a relatively small space in urban/suburban settings.
So, let’s imagine it’s one of those -10F mornings and they’ve been in there all night (PS- chickens poop in their sleep) cooped up… then they go outside with colder temps, and maybe some wind chill, the dampness surrounding their combs quickly becomes frozen and you’ve got a hen with frostbite in a few minutes.
With colder but dry combs as the hens come out of the coop, they’re much less likely to get frostbite. So, you can see how important good ventilation becomes!
One of the basics is keeping chickens dry – and if you didn’t notice over your honey-moon period of chicken keeping over the summer- chickens release a LOT of poop, around 1/3 – ½ pound per day depending on the breed. That $#% needs somewhere to escape! If you’re really interested in the chicken digestive tract, and not squeamish about lots of chicken poop pictures, Check out Fresh Eggs Daily’s post: All About Chicken Poop.
Poop Plate ready for scraping off poopsicles!
Here’s where I’ll give a big Shout out to the “Poop Plate”. This is any board (or piece of metal for really easy scraping) that you put below the roosts to catch poop, because remember chickens poop in their sleep! This makes cleaning the coop so much easier in winter.
The back side of the fencing is covered in plastic, notice no snow on that side!
Lots of northern chicken tenders enclose their chicken run to some extent. I usually tack on an old clear plastic shower curtain or some garden poly. This lets light in, but keeps wind and snow out. It can even get a little like a greenhouse on calm, sunny days. I tend to wrap just two sides, because the whole idea is to have them outside, and it’s only on the coldest days that I’ll confine them into either the inner coop, or the coop + run.
How Cold is Too Cold?
As always, I think watching your chickens and see where they hang out is your best chance for raising happy hens. There’s no hard and fast rule to how cold chickens can survive because it depends on the breed, any wind and relative humidity. But generally, if it’s not getting above 0°F I don’t let mine out. If it’s only going to get to single digits, I tend to let them out in the afternoon- and keep them in the run so they don’t get so involved in scratching they forget how cold they are. This usually only happens a handful of times every winter.
We also try to have a solid covering in place for winter over the run, this really helps keep snow out. This not only makes it nicer for the girls in winter, but also in spring when everything melts having snowpack underfoot becomes one HUGE mess! Ask me how I know 😉 *We usually have small run areas, 4’X6” or 3’X8’.
I know some of our chickens hated going into the snow and would only venture out after others had forged a path. Others would fly into the middle of a snowy backyard without a care. Both are normal. Both are OK.
Hay There!
Add more hay. We use hay in our garden to insulate plants, and in our coop to insulate the chickens. We’ll be trying the deep litter method again this winter. This is the practice of adding more hay to the spent bedding throughout the winter and letting it decompose in place. While this sounds gross, it’s actually pretty cool, *if* you can keep the moisture down. The idea is come spring, you’ll have some finished (or nearly finished) compost for the garden. The decomposing hay and chicken poop give off heat, a nice bonus during our cold winters.
You’ll also want to make sure that ALL the chickens can comfortably fit on a roost up off the ground as sleeping on the floor invites disease and is colder. They also appreciate a roost off the ground outside in winter!
Coop Heaters
A point of contention for some chicken tenders is whether to heat the coop. Heating the coop can keep your chickens from getting acclimated to the winter temps and they’ll end up staying inside more; getting less fresh air and less chance to move around and forage. It can also pose a fire hazard if a cord is near or on the ground. You may think you’ve got the cord tucked away, but seriously chickens can be worse than rock stars at an after party.
We never heated our coops until a friend gave us this heater with her hens that we added to our flock. I will say they serve a purpose. It goes back to we do use a timed light bulb to add light hours to their days. Adding light keeps chickens laying eggs more consistently. Chickens slow down and speed back up their laying with the seasons, unless given a little supplemental light. We usually set it to go off an hour or two before normal sunrise, starting around November, going until February. I’d suggest starting earlier in the morning rather than at night, because a light that suddenly goes off might catch a hen off guard. This means a hen could spend the night on the ground and will end up more stressed out as a result.
The Hens
It never fails, I always have that one hen that starts molting about the time the temperature dips. I take care to give hens molting in cold weather extra dry spaces, as girls without feathers around their necks or under wings are the only hens that might have a hard time staying warm enough.
In general chickens are very capable of keeping themselves warm. While they aren’t exactly like wild birds (think chickadees and cardinals) remember they are birds. Some birds hang out in Minnesota (and even colder places!) all winter long. That said, cold tolerance varies with breed; larger breeds being the best in cold climates mostly due to body mass.
Frost Bite + Comb Care
Frost bite can harm our hens quickly and permanently. It can happen within a few minutes but is avoidable. The bigger, thinner and more ridged the comb, the easier it is to get frostbite. I’ll give a shout out to pea combs here. Those tiny, barely-there combs hardly ever get frost bite because they have good blood supply and are so close to the head. Big floppy combs, while adorable will need some extra care in a typical Minnesota winter.
You can see a bit of frostbite on this buff’s comb, black tip and then white.
When it gets “January Cold”, as my kids call it- I bring out the small jar of coconut oil and place it above the wood stove to have at the ready. Coating the combs and wattles creates a waterproof barrier between the skin and the cold. Not very insulating, but it keeps the wet off. And remember Cold + Moisture causes frostbite faster on combs. Have I pounded that in enough?
Even so – I like to push the limits and let my girls outside as much as possible, and mine have gotten frostbite. You’ll first see white tips on their combs. Then they will turn black. Really bad cases the affected parts will fall off. This is very painful for your hens, and we try to avoid this at all costs.
Food + Water
As always, give your hens plentiful feed, indoors and outdoors, as long as it can be kept dry. I tend to up their protein during the transition time too, this especially helps that one hen who’s always molting. The protein can be ground up nuts, leftover beans, or a few extra meal worms. I also make up some fun winter treats like garland from produce past its prime; like apples, kale/broccoli leaves, cabbages, and even cranberries. Another favorite treat to feed inside the coop (because it is dry and full of extra energy for when it is really cold and they are stuck inside the coop) is the “Flock Block”
Some people put dog waterers inside, and this just seems like a mess waiting to happen. If you have a smaller backyard coop, please do not put an open topped heated dog waterer inside your coop. Chickens will walk through, poop in, and just get wet (wet = cold) with open water inside a coop.
We use a simple heating pad under the regular waterer which is raised up off the ground. This keeps the water clean, and thawed on all but the coldest of mornings. We just inherited a heated waterer unit and plan on using this outside the coop for an additional water source during the winter to replace the extra water dishes I fill up in the summer.
The girls love snacking on my harvested microgreen trays before composting.
I will typically add a tablespoon or two of Apple Cider Vinegar to their water once a week just to help their systems. ACV is one of my secret winter weapons to keeping my flock healthy.
I also keep greens around for them for calcium and for something to work at in the winter. I am a huge fan of brassica leaves for my hens. This gives them a great boost of calcium, plus so many other nutrients. It also keeps them busy. I toss over the lower/larger broccoli, cauliflower, beet and kale leaves all summer. I purposefully leave some brassica plants standing in the garden as long as I can to break off leaves and parcel them out to the girls. Later in winter/early spring they get leaves I’ve frozen for them.
Keep it FUN
Adding some herbs, like thyme, mints, lemon balm or oregano to their bedding isn’t necessary, but is a nice extra line of defense. Thyme and oregano have serious herbal benefits with anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant effects. I add herbs to their bedding, which they scratch in too, to give them a leg up on any congestion issues they might get. *I use thyme tea to sooth my own sore throats and coughs too.
For a real treat, we’ll string up a cabbage, or set out a chicken treat stick. We plan to give them some ‘garland’ for a Christmas treat – and if you missed it, I just presented my girls with a pumpkin Rooster- ha! I wanted to leave with you a reminder that keeping chickens is FUN!
I’ve got some video on winter prep under my “Chicken TV” Stories on Instagram, if you’re looking for visual how to’s!
Me and my old girl Sassy
I hope this helps prepare you for a FUN winter of chicken keeping in the bold north! Let me know if you have other tips and tricks for keeping your hens happy all winter long!
Many of you have been asking me about vegetable gardening this year and I love it! I wanted to take this chance to cover (more of) the bases at once.
Specifically, you’ve been asking me about planting seeds versus getting plants later – not sure how COVID 19 will affect things this season… While I don’t have a crystal ball, I have been looking into things, and talking with local garden centers and farm stores, communicating with seed companies and plant distributors here’s what I can gather…
Seeds Stocks
Purchase seeds from local stores, near me in White Bear Lake places like Hugo Feed Mill, Costa’s Greenhouse, Niemczyk Gardens, Egg Plant Urban Farm Supply and Bachman’s are all stocked with seeds (if they carry) and growing out plants for you. Many online seed companies are waaaaaay behind in orders, not taking orders for a while or just closed to everyone but farmers for this season. Places like those above carry seeds from some of the best known and trusted, organic companies around, like Seed Savers Exchange, Renee’s Garden and Botanical Interests. For browsing beautiful varieties check out my earlier blog post about Seed Companies.
My Local Favorites:
Hugo Feed Mill: Phone orders, 651-429-3361, prepayment with curb/dock side pick up. Here’s a BLOG all about this Hugo institution.. Costa’s Greenhouse:orders@costagreenhouse.com or Call 651-653-1269, curbside pick-up. Free delivery over $125. (greenhouse opens April 24th) Here’s a BLOG I wrote about them. Bachman’s Maplewood: Online or phone (612-861-7311) ordering, Curbside or Delivery. Niemczyk Gardens: Online preordering, pickup, (greenhouse opens April 25th) Egg Plant Urban Farm Supply:order@eggplantsupply.com, call back for payment, curbside pickup.
White Bear Lake Seed Library: email wblseedlibrary@gmail.com for FREE seeds, detail on their BLOG. Scheduled seed pickup on Saturday April 25 from 9-10 am at the White Bear Lake library’s parking lot. To pick up seeds on this date you must have your order in by Friday April 24 at 7pm.
Farmers Markets: Yes Farmers markets will continue to run, but with an increase in interest in growing your own food, and market restrictions, it just makes sense to purchase what you can ahead of time. And many farmers markets won’t start until many gardens are fully planted.
**Sadly, all of the small local spring plant sales put on by garden clubs, master gardeners, and even the Friends School Plant Sale are cancelled for this season.**
Hugo Feed Mill
Buy from Locally Run Stores
Same goes with buying plants later in the season (Once spring finally wins this drawn out battle over winter). Try to shop local and small companies that have online or phone ordering with curbside pickup in place. The above stores all have that happening.
Typically, April 15 is our last frost date in MN, but who knows what typical is these days. Tomato plants likely won’t be in stores until much closer to May, when our climate can handle them without cover. So let’s look at what you can get going sooner rather than later!
Seeds to Start + When
There are lots of seeds you can start outside before the frost is gone, such as: peas, spinach, lettuce, kale, radish, beets, kohlrabi, carrots can all be started NOW! Many of the seeds listed will start germination at soil temps of 40-45F. And, even though we’ve been cold, the soil is warming up well!
The next week or two will be a great time to start broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, Swiss chard and other brassicas outside as well.
If you feel like trying something new, how about making a tiny Greenhouse of your own! Cutting a milk just in half, poking some holes on the bottom and planting cool weather crops in them is a great way to jump start the season! Just don’t plant carrot seeds in these, as root crops don’t tolerate transplanting.
Starting seeds Indoors
**Use only seed starting mix (not garden soil) when starting seeds!**
anything that is sterile with perlite or vermiculite works
The time for starting peppers from seed has mostly past, unless you get the fasted maturing varieties and can wait until August to harvest.
Tomatoes started in Soil Blocks
It’s getting right on the edge of time to plant tomatoes, but still worth it, look for faster maturing varieties- tip* Cherry Tomatoes usually produce a few weeks earlier than full size varieties.
Now and up to the next two weeks is a great time to start both summer and winter squash, cucumber and herb seeds indoors.
Don’t forget the easy to start flowers too, marigolds, cosmos, calendula and nasturtiums love a little head start!
I know this is a LOT of ‘overview’ info, but I wanted to cover the basics in one swoop. If you have other questions, please ask away… And I know we all have lots going on right now, but gardening is a truly calming and rewarding adventure- I hope you give it a try!
**If you are interested in learning more, I’ll be adding a recording of my “Vegetable Gardening Basics” class to my website soon! Stay Tuned!
And, because we all do better together, **please add to the list of places you know that have seeds to start for your garden, or that will have their greenhouses filled with safe and healthy food plants!**
I hope this helps you sort through some of the unknowns of starting your garden this season!
For this suburban Homesteader this means dyeing your Easter Eggs with whatever you’ve got in the house. Plus this means you can actually eat them without worrying about ‘extra’ chemicals.
Bubbles on a dipped egg right out of the dye
Natural dyed Easter eggs have a simple yet stunning charm, plus I think the process is much more manageable for parents with younger kids…
I know we’re all busy but if you can chop a few veggies and simmer them while boiling the eggs you’ve got this!
Another great part is that the kids drop the eggs in the liquid dye containers (old yogurt cup, mason jars, what you have) and then wait to see their creations until the morning!
Natural Dye Basics
My boys got into the ‘science’ part of this with labeling the dyes
These natural dyes take at minimum 3 hours to really set in, and we let ours soak overnight. So, the ‘hands-on’ time for kids is more in the prep of the food items.
I love introducing the idea that food can be used for crafting as well as nutrition with my kids. My boys also love guessing which will be the most blue, dark, beautiful etc. I appreciate the added layer of anticipation this process invites.
That being said – there are obviously as many ways to do this as there are chickens who lay all those eggs, so YOU DO YOU!
PS: All chickens also appreciate the over cooked cabbage, beet peelings and blueberry mash!
If you happen to have a LOT of eggs coming in from your chickens, try making my Homestead Strata recipe!
My Favorite Fruits and Vegetables for Easter Egg Dyeing (*depicts color of processed egg)
Yellow Onion Skins:
Boiling Onion Skins
*RUSSET RED I had saved these for a few weeks, but you may have enough for a small batch just laying in the bottom of your veg bin (or is that just me?) Boil in water 40 minutes to release the color
Lavender Flowers:
*OLIVE I usually have some older and not very fragrant bunches of dried lavender flowers (and leaves and stems) around. Rinse them off, crumble into a pot and boil for 30 minutes.
Red Cabbage:
Boiling chopped Cabbage
*EASTER BLUE I used the wilted outer leaves plus a few more, 6 or 7 leaves in all and chopped them randomly to help them release their beautiful colors. Boil for 30 minutes.
Beets:
*DARK RED I also usually have a few remaining beets from last fall’s gardens in the bottom of my veg drawer. These slightly shriveled beets are perfect for taking thick peelings off of to use for dyeing (and I still save the beets to roast) Boil for 30 minutes.
Grape:
*BLUE/GRAY I usually forage some wild grapes every Fall and freeze the extra juice. So I’ll add some water to the juice I had already boiled to thin it out to have enough to cover the eggs. *This could work well with purchased juices too!
Blueberry:
*BRIGHT BLUE I used a half cup of frozen blueberries and 1 cup of water. Not the most cost effective food use, but wow were these eggs turned vibrant and a fun compliment color to the red cabbage. I mashed and boiled for 5 minutes.
Turmeric:
*YELLOW I use powder so no need to simmer, just mix with water and vinegar before dyeing the eggs.
Egg Dyeing Process
For me part of the beauty of this process is the anticipation it builds by just leaving the eggs in the dye overnight- my kids are used to this way now, so they know what to expect- but if explained to kids as both a science experiment and a way to wake up to a surprise, you really can’t go wrong!
You basically chop up veggies or mash fruit, boil to extract to colors, cool and strain.
Hard Boil the eggs and cool.
Then get into a container that works for submerging however many eggs you want to dye. Once in the container, right before you’re going to dip the eggs, add 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar per cup of liquid. Then let the kids dunk the eggs and wait!
One difference between this and the commercial dye kits is the colors can rub off more easily, so be gentle. Also I find the beet dye usually oxidizes to brown within a day, so I added a bit of cherry juice this time (remember just use what you’ve got!) to help it hold the red. I also recommend polishing with a little olive oil once *completely* dry.
So we leave our sit/soak overnight – and the kids love scooping them out in the morning – we let them air dry and then GENTLY rub them with olive oil. Project done. Kids feel like artists. I like that I didn’t buy anything extra.
Always Experimenting
I finally got to the point of laying pretty flowers and leaves onto these before dyeing and I loved it. I ended up boiling the eggs with the imprints tied on in the onion solution (with vinegar). I followed THESE basic instructions and ended up happy for my first attempt. I can’t wait to try again next year!
Bottom Line: we love making homemade Easter eggs!
Beets, Tumeric powder, Red Cabbage
We’ve come a long way since the first time I tried dyeing eggs without the fake colors and extra plastic + packaging.
But ever since that first year, we’ve been hooked!
Here’s another idea with a match up of natural dyes used to finished colors from this year.
These colors are from what you get when left overnight. Let me know if you give this a try, I love seeing everyone’s photos!!
There’s something so fun and even empowering in using regular household things to create art. Plus – We will be able to eat the hard boiled eggs without worry of added toxic dyes.
Happy Spring and Enjoy the return of all the eggs!
