I was in Florida visiting with family last week and the sunny weather has really put me in a "Spring-y" mood. Now even though the Chicago weather still seems a little chilly and a lot cloudy, I am looking forward to working on my new balcony garden, going for walks around the 'hood and dying Easter eggs!
Well, we normally buy brown free-range or organic eggs, and I really don't feel l
ike going out to buy special eggs just to dye, but can you really dye brown eggs? Won't they be ugly? Apparently, no! I found
this great site that gives you recipes for dying brown eggs pretty shades of red, blue and an orange-yellow, and the best part is that you can make the dyes while making dinner instead of buying yet another pack or Paas. (not that Paas is expensive or inconvenient, since you can get it pretty much anywhere, but I am just happy not to have to toss or recycle MORE packaging. We have enough of that around here already!) Here is another web page that has
instructions for using onion skins to dye the eggs! I love that idea since it basically makes use of something I would otherwise just toss. And here is one more site that has good ideas for natural dyes that would probably work really well on white eggs.
I think my son is going to like dying eggs for the first time this year, and maybe he will start to associate this Easter tradition with the start of Spring, just like I do! Maybe as he gets older, he'll think it's cool that we can use food to dye eggs. If you have older children, the
y might even be able to think of more ideas and you could work on the dying as more of a science project than an art project!
As the season changes, many people clean out part of their lives that are often neglected...refrigerators, baseboards, under the beds, etc. Why not focus some energy on your bathroom and vanity cabinets? There might be tons of scary chemicals there that you regularly put right on your and your family's skin...which is, after all, your largest organ.
There are several organizations who are working hard right now on our behalf to win a battle with cosmetics and baby care companies over transparency and ridding their potions of harmful ingredients (which they somehow seem able to do when selling their products overseas...hmm). Hopefully this will help take some of the burden off of us as consumers, because shouldn't we just be able to assume everything that's for sale is safe to use? But until then, here's a good place to start:
This is a link to a great site called the
Good Guide where you can see how what you buy/eat is rated when things like Health Performance, General Nutrition, Additives/Preservatives, Artificial Colors of Concern & Certifications are taken into consideration. They also rate products/companies based on Environmental Performance, Toxic Waste production/handling, Global Warming, Energy & Water Management as well as social aspects like Social Performance, Philanthropy, Labor & Human Rights, etc. They don't have all the brands or products that I use yet, but they do have a fairly comprehensive listing and encourage your to contact them with other products you use. So check it out for yourself and see where the companies that you are giving your money to rank in the areas that matter to you...and hopefully all of the categories matter to you!
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