Oester - Easter

Happy Oester and Easter to all! We had great fun creating our spring table this year. Last year's pom-pom chicks and knitted bunny held court with our wool gnomes and wooden farm animals.


We found some lovely, wooden egg ornaments at our favorite craft-based thrift store (Legacy in Sebastopol), and turned a few fallen branches into a seasonal tree as well. While I first learned about seasonal trees (a true space saver in a small home where a nature table can be hard to squeeze in!) from my crafty neighbor, Miss Teapot, I also read about this idea in Amanda Soule's Creative Family. Our little one loved decorating the tree, and I think we'll find other seasonal lovelies to hang from its branches as time moves forward.

While, "Six Ways to Use A Sweater" will be a future blog, I can not resist sharing that Angora sweaters make wonderful bunnies for the children's Easter baskets! Try using this bunny pattern to create your own bunny from a thrift shop sweater. I got into the spirit of the season while working with real bunny fur, and my son loved holding the bunny to his cheek.






The garden truly sprung into the season with a rush of blooms, leaving plenty to gather for a nice arrangement for our table. Our cal's only bloom once a year, timing this year's performance perfectly for the holiday. Over the years of hanging out at Dragonfly Floral, my friends taught me a few good tips for floral arranging. For example, always clean leaves away from stems that will be submerged under water - not only does it look cleaner, the leaf debris quickly creates mold and dead flowers. Also, use garden items such as mint for a filler. Gather twice as much filler and flowers as you think you will need - a good arrangement is full rather than sparse! Filler should be placed in the vase first, with other flowers arranged last in strategically, showy places.

My little one wanted to be a part creating Easter's magic, so we worked together to create a few special eggs. He likes mess and hands-on opportunities, so we opted to blow out our eggs. A couple of small pin pricks in the top and bottom of each egg, and one messy bowl of yolks later and we had four eggs ready for decorating. Next, we pulled out our Stockmar Beeswax Block Crayons and colored polk-a-dots and zigzags all over the eggs. We decided to use our favorite fruit - blueberries - to dye our eggs. After some good smushing of berries mixed with water and a tablespoon of vinegar in an enamel pot, we had the makings of splendid, natural dye. 20 minutes of simmering and we had some truly special eggs!

We topped off our day's creations with rhubarb - strawberry galettes. After reading Barbara Kingsolover's Animal, Mineral, Miracle, I am more convinced than ever that we need to eat seasonal fruits from local farms. She raved about rhubarb, and what do you know - we loved it! I come from a long line of pie making women, and I share no greater joy with my son than passing on a love for cooking. He has learned to love dough - pizza, pie, bread - and to get flour covered while helping me concoct our dish de jour. Making pie is always a special, nostalgic process for me, and I loved watching his little hands at work. The rewards of our labors were sweet in many ways!

Oh, a two-year old's delight can reinvent the holidays for all of us!