Easter Show!

The D+C Show

Friday, March 29th, 2013

What's hoppening for Easter this year?

Dave and Cindy discuss Easter festivities. how to spring clean your garden, and composting. Libbie Summers, author of The Whole Hog Cook Book, has some great recipes for Easter and shares with us how brunch in the forest really feels like with the Easter Bunny. Dave & Cindy play Easter Trivia. 

It is time to go and spring clean your garden! Get all of the leaves out of the yard, clean up the flower beds

Compost! Compost is the poster child of organic matter. Compost is any kind of decayed organic matter, you can make your own or purchase a bag or truckload. Finished compost looks like rich soil, it is dark and crumbly with an earthy smell. By the time the compost cooking process is complete (weed seeds, fungus spores, and other undesirable elements that may have gone in to your compost bin) all elements should no longer be viable.  Composts can be added to your gardens at any time, either turned in to the soil or used as a mulch or top dressing.

It is advised that you keep perennial weeds, pesticide treated material, and diseased plants out of your compost bin, most every other form of plant material is fair game, such as:

Grass clippings

Leaves

Garden Waster (from weeding, deadheading, pruning…)

Vegetable peels

Sawdust

Straw

Paper

So, compost, plant new flowers, get your container gardens going, plant some tomatoes, herbs, lettuce, and the like. 

Check out Libbie's Salted & Styled video for the Spring and Easter! The theme is having brunch in the forest with the Easter Bunny. This is the way Libbie Summers lives and her inspiration was a carrot, the woods, stark areas so there are pops of yellows and oranges; think about how food inspires our every day lives. You tube: A Food Inspired Life, Libbie Summers. 

Libbie's suggestions for last minute preparation for Easter: Ham with Lavender White Chocolate Mashed Potatoes (recipe on Salted & Styled and our blog)

Dave is making modern Easter Eggs by using sharpies to write messages on colored eggs - make them artsy and wish people happy Spring wishes. Dye eggs creatively using everything such as pens, acrylic paint, markers, glitter, (yes it can be used some time other than Christmas), and of course try to experiment with natural dyes like Dave; that way you will be able to create your own personal colors. Dave has some suggestions for natural dyes:

Red: Lots of Red Onions Skins (boiled)
Canned Cherries with Juice
Pomegranate Juice
Raspberries

Orange: Yellow Onion Skins (boiled)
Carrots (boiled)
Paprika
Chili Powder

Yellow: Chamomile Tea
Orange or Lemon Peels (boiled)
Celery Seed (boiled)
Ground Cumin (boiled)
Ground Turmeric (boiled)
Green Tea
Carrot Tops (boiled)

Green: Spinach Leaves (boiled)
Fresh Basil (boiled)

anything with large amounts of Chlorophyll 

Blue: Canned Blueberries
Large Amount of Purple Grape Juice
Red Cabbage Leaves (boiled)

Violet Blue: Violet Flowers (no lemon juice)
Red Onion Skins (boiled)
Red Wine
Hibiscus Tea

Lavender: Small Amount of Purple Grape Juice
Violet Flowers + 2 tsp Lemon Juice
Tea bags

As a guideline, use up to 4 cups for vegetable solids and 3 to 4 tablespoons for spices per quart. Mash up fruits. Also a nice new trick: try baking your eggs this season for coloring.

Cindy and Kay Brown had a lovely luncheon with a fundraiser for the Environmental Learning Center, the theme was Easter Bonnets and Dave was the judge! 

Check back tomorrow for Dave's Easter Trivia to share with your Easter party which will be posted tomorrow morning !

written by Alexis Corry, L+L Designs