Last year our friend Alex showed me some fun spring baskets she made for her boys for their Easter Egg hunt. She learned about them from the Waldorf School and she explained how she did it. I was excited to make some for this year. I intended to start the project early so I'd have time to share this with you in case you'd like to make some for your egg hunts (though wish it would have been sooner, so you'd have ample time to create them for your festivities.) This is a great hands on project for children to help with. Bracken and I started ours last Tuesday and today, a week later, they're ready for use. I love these cozy, green nests for the eggs.
Step One: Pick your baskets. I picked two that we already had around the house. I had gotten them from the thrift store at one point. If I would have gone to the thrift store and chosen some for this specific purpose, I would have chosen baskets that were more rounded and not as upright and squarish.
Step Two: Line them with aluminum foil. Little hands love to help with this.
Step Three: Spread a layer of dirt.
Step Four: Spread wheatgrass seeds generously across the surface. (I used up the last of what we had. I could have used even more to cover the entire surface.)
Step Five: Cover seeds with a layer of dirt.
Step Six: Water. I chose not to poke any holes in the aluminum foil to let the water drain out because I wanted to use these baskets again in the future. I didn't want to ruin them. Without drainage, I was afraid that I would over water them though, because I tend to do that. Jeff lightly watered them every day when he watered the other wheatgrass he had growing. He had a good suggestion: spraying them with a spray bottle would keep them moist without the worry of overwatering.
Step Seven: Watch them grow! We put our baskets in the window and watched for them to pop up. I don't remember when we first saw signs of green coming up, but it took about a week until the grass was as thick and ready as we wanted it to be.
Step Eight: Place your eggs in your green, grassy nest and enjoy! (These are some harboiled eggs I took out of the fridge right before photographing and they were wet with condensation.) We haven't had our egg hunt yet, but I placed some eggs in the basket today to show how they looked all tucked in there. These natural colors from our hens are wonderful on their own, but we plan on dyeing some as well. If the grass gets too long for your liking (it grows quickly) than you can take some scissors and give it a trim.
Bracken came over while I was taking pictures to give it a test spin (complete with spider man rain boots and colorful elephant pants.) He's delighted with these grassy baskets! And so am I.
I think this could be the start of a fun spring tradition...
