Easter Eggs Made with Natural Dyes

I dyed Easter eggs using natural dyes recently after seeing the process here.  I found it on Pinterest originally.  If you've noticed I haven't posted many blog posts lately, you can blame it on Pinterest.  I spend way too much time looking around.  If you are on Pinterest and wish to "follow" my pins, my boards are at http://pinterest.com/shari3139/.  

Thought I'd show you my 4th burner pot I first saw on "Food In Jars" -- linked on the left side of my blog.  The pot comes with a handy wire basket -- great for steaming veggies or boiling eggs.  I also intend to use this pot to process small batches of canned jam this year.

Anyway,I got some unusually results with the dyes.  I think I may have had some uniques chemical reactions because of the method I used to hard boil the eggs.  The recipe I used for the perfect boiled egg called for salt and vinegar in the boiling water.  I got a bit of a salty coating on my eggs and had to scrub it off (which also took off some of the brown tint too.  So odd!).  I think if I had boiled the eggs in just water, my results may have been different.  

I made dye baths with red onion peel, grape juice, red cabbage, beets and paprika.  I found it funny that they are all kind of the same color at the beginning, but create such different colored eggs.
The instructions are different for each color, but none of them were hard to make or took any exotic ingredients -- just boiling water, white vinegar, and the item that contains the color.

I found the red cabbage to have the most interesting result.  I got dark teal and pale teal all in the same batch.  The beets gave a nice mottled pink color.  The red onion was supposed to create jade green, but mine look more like a burgundy with a green patina instead.  The paprika made a nice pale orange and the grape juice made a dark lavender color.

I think they turned out quite lovely.  This is what I have left over after giving my friend, Cristin, some of them.  She contributed some of the red onion skins and she assisted me with making the dyes.  She made a fun creative project even more fun -- and the good music and a great bottle of Concord Wine helped too.  Good times!

Spring is here!

The last few weeks we've had absolutely amazing weather!  Spring came early -- last week we had temps in the mid 80s.  It was the perfect ending to a terrifically mild winter!

The chickens were very restless and needed to get out of the coop.  I put up a movable fence to give them access to grass, bugs, and dirt.  It isn't going to keep any raccoons out, but I lock up the coop at dark to prevent any catastrophes.  Netting over the top should keep hawks out -- I hope.  

Their first day out, all of the ladies dug into the dirt and rolled and flapped around in it.  Nothing like a good dirt bath to ring in the warm weather.  

The girls are all doing very well.  Olivia was sick for a couple of weeks -- she seemed lethargic and wobbly.  She didn't eat much either so I thought she was going to die.  Happily she survived.  :)
I also thought a few plants I purchased last year had died, but they also survived.  Below is a cold hardy kiwi that I thought had died last summer.  Tah dah!  It's back!

The rhubarb and asparagus are growing well and I will harvest some of it this year for the first time.

Now that all the trees are flowering, the weather is going back to normal.  It is dropping below the freezing point at night which is going to cause a problem for our fruit crops.  I'm trying to protect my pear tree by covering it with a garbage bag tonight.
The best thing about this weather is that I get out of work much earlier now.  This is the first summer in 6 years that I will be able to work in the garden in the afternoon and evening.  How exciting is that?!?

Northern Michigan Snow Storm

My husband and I braved a late winter snow storm last night and today in order to head North for his birthday.  Our hotel room "with a view" that we booked was warm and cozy but the view was pure white.  This morning, we had a great view of the people trying to dig their cars out of the hotel parking lot.  Charlie had a blast driving around in this stuff.  I had a good time snapping photos from my car window.  It was gorgeous, sticky snow that caused a lot of broken trees and power outages.  

What I'm Crafting

I am not a pro at knitting -- but I do enjoy sitting down with a nice skein of yarn and trying to make something out of nothing.  Right now I am making a dishcloth out of a cute variegated cotton yarn I bought a couple of weeks ago with my mom.  She gave me some directions for this checkered cloth and we got started together on the new project.
Mom has probably completed 2 of these things by now, but I am not that fast.  I am about 1/3 done with my first one.  My stitches are often uneven -- but hey, it is only a dishcloth.  What a forgiving project for a beginner to start with.  I'm happy to give out the instructions if you comment on this post with your e-mail address.

What I'm reading

The Feast Nearby has been a pleasure to read this winter.  I'm almost done with it and I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested in eating local foods, putting food by, and simple living.  Robin Mather writes about the year after she lost her job in Chicago and her marriage.  She moves to West Michigan (near and dear to my heart) with her dog and bird to heal and regroup.  The book is more a collection of essays grouped by season -- talking about how she sources local foods while sticking to a strict budget.  At the end of each chapter, she includes a half dozen recipes/techniques to use and preserve the various ingredients she highlighted.  I'm excited to try some of them this year!

Next on the list to read is this book:

Folks, this ain't normal looks like it is going to be one that really makes me think.  I've read the first chapter (I had to take a peak) called "Children, Chores, Humility and Health".  Joel Salatin (you may have seen him in the film, Food, Inc.) jumps right in discussing what he thinks is wrong with our society today - how removed we are from how life has been for centuries.  We no longer raise our own food (some of us are trying to learn though), chop our own firewood, etc.  I'm curious to see where he takes this book.

I'm always open to suggestions for good books.  Please share if you have read anything interesting lately.

Going Dutch

I got these tulips the other day and had to photograph them before they faded.  They are live tulips (not cut flowers) and they were on clearance at the grocery store.  I knew they only had about two days left to look pretty, but it didn't bother me -- I have other plans for them.  I am going to plant the bulbs this Spring and enjoy them next year when they grow again.  These flowers were less expensive than buying the bulbs alone.
My Dutch (frugal) heritage is showing -- not only was it a great buy, but the flowers are from the Netherlands as well.  I am 3/4 Dutch and come from an area that is packed full of Dutch people.  Ever heard of Holland, Michigan?  Holland is just down the road from Grand Rapids.  They have a tulip-time festival every Spring.  So many gorgeous flowers!
Anyway, I definitely crave Spring right now.  We've been pretty lucky with a mild winter, but I'm ready to get my hands dirty in the garden again.  I'm dreaming up my plans for this year's garden right now -- what I want to grow, what did and didn't work last year, etc.  What do you plan to grow this year?  Leave a comment if you are a gardener as I'd love to know your plans.

Snowy weather

Such unusual weather this year.  Michigan has been unseasonably warm and free of snow -- until this week.  Well, I guess we had one snowy day in December... but that is about it.  Finally in mid-January we got a nice load of the fluffy stuff and some cold temperatures.  I saw a forecast of 40 degrees and rain showers for tomorrow so I guess it will be going away again.  

Don't get me wrong -- I don't like cold winters and this warmer weather suits me just fine.  I'm the type that likes snow in December (gotta have a white Christmas) then by January 1st I want it gone.  So, I guess I've been fortunate so far.  It makes one wonder if this odd weather is part of a natural cycle or if Al Gore was right... 

Anyway, after feeding the chickens and breaking the ice out of their waterer, I snapped a few photos off the other day.  You can click on the photos to make them larger if you want (especially the first one -- you can see individual snow flakes!).