Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Our very first egg hunt, 2017

Photo of green and orange eggs in a little rustic willow basket
Our own Easter eggs--I wove the basket from my own willow
For two weeks before Easter, we saved an egg every day from our white Leghorn hen--she's the only one who lays white eggs from our flock, and as the shops around here only sell brown eggs, we're lucky to have her!  We were determined to dye them and have an egg hunt in the garden, so we planned ahead.

Our first attempt at dyeing failed, because of the lack of actual food coloring at any local stores (Partner went looking for it and came back with "natural colouring" which did not work whatsoever).  Luckily for our second try, I had some leftover packets of Kool-aid which my mother sent me for dyeing yarn (works great on wool and animal fibers).  I only had orange and green left, but that was just fine by us.  Maybe I'll ask her to send me some red, blue, and yellow for next Easter.

Anyway, the Kool-aid dyed the hardboiled eggs brilliantly--just add boiling water--and we invited some friends over for lunch and egg hunting a few days before Easter.  They have a little girl just younger than Franklin and though it was a gray day, the two of them enjoyed both finding the eggs and hiding them for each other.
Photo of a little boy in a garden, holding up a dyed Easter egg with a huge smile
I found it!
Did I mention Franklin broke his arm that week, too?  His cast is under his hoodie in the picture;  luckily the arm's healing nicely and he should have the cast off in another week's time.  He was playing at the park with friends and fell off something that spins.  He's been quite proud of his cast and the story behind it.