I feel a little guilty that I didn’t even try to make SCD Easter candy this year, but we did at least do Easter baskets.
1. Real Easter eggs the girls dyed: Many were dropped by Eliana during the artistic process, but they still count, right ;)
2. Egg-shaped sidewalk chalk
3. Handmade (by my crafty neighbor) pom-pom bunnies
4. Seeds and bulbs/corms to plant in their own gardens: carrots, beets, dill, parsley, annuals, gladiolas and freesias.
5. Plant markers/stakes
6. Bubble blowers
7. Lara Bar (one of the few purchased foods she tolerates)
She also had an Easter egg hunt at school. I was disappointed that the parents were asked to bring plastic eggs filled with candy, but her teachers were happy to accommodate her. I sent 5 large plastic eggs (it’s really hard to find small non-candy items to put in those tiny eggs) with the following: lip balm from Whole Foods (not as safe as homemade, but one of her favorite things), 1 small box of organic raisins (a rare treat), clear stickers that showed through the egg and looked like an underwater world (my husband’s project), and two egg-shaped chalks. The teachers requested that I put her name on them and when they collected all of the eggs from the kids to redistribute them in equal numbers, they simply gave Eliana hers, along with a few others that had no candy.
Honestly, it’s the activity that she loves. Since the preschool Easter egg hunt over a week ago, she and her sister having been playing egg hunt with the empty eggs everyday. And I’ve already explained that when she hunts for eggs at church she won’t get to keep most of the contents. Thankfully, she’s pretty used to this kind of thing, and we try to make up for it in other ways.
Oh, and I should mention that the baskets of both girls are almost identical, except that Sofia received a chocolate bunny. That’s the whole reason she loves Easter ;)
I’d love to hear how you approached Easter non-traditionally this year, whether SCD or otherwise.
SCD Easter Basket
Why I Love My Vita-Mix Part VIII
I can make quick, easy, and economical compost.
For you gardeners out there, you know how long it can take to make compost if you utilize a traditional compost pile, especially if you’re like me and don’t turn it that often.
Last year, being the frugal-minded gal that I am, I decided to make compost out of a crock pot full of fish from which I was trying to make an SCD broth for my daughter. The harried mom in me beat out the frugal gal and left the pot on the counter all night. After that, I wasn’t comfortable serving the food to my daughter and I didn’t want to just throw it out. So, I ground it up—bones and all—in my Vita-Mix. Then I just poured it around some cauliflower and broccoli seedlings that I had in my Square Foot garden at the time.
The benefit: beautiful plants. (Please ignore the weeds in the photo. I promise that my garden normally looks tidier than this. Really.)
The drawback: Serious cat attraction! Yeah, I know. You’re thinking the cat problem should have been obvious to me before I put the homemade fish compost in my garden. But hey, I’m just another hardworking mom like you, trying to squeeze in a little gardening ;) And we don’t even have cats, but apparently every cat in the neighborhood got the memo. So, I solved the cat problem by mulching around the plants with leaves.
Click here to read more about making compost with the Vita-Mix.
And if you want to read more about composting in place (without a Vita-Mix), check out Patricia Lanza’s Lasagna Gardening book. I love her sheet mulching method, which can utilize both aged and new compost, as well as her description of a tomato-cage composter.
Since spring is upon us, I’d love to hear your unusual composting techniques! Or cat foiling methods ;)
