Naturally dyed easter eggs

Every year my mum and I dye our Easter eggs together. We have tried several different techniques to do so but the one we love most is a completely natural one - and that is the one I’d like to share with you here.

What you need:

• A big bowl of onion peel

• Eggs (not boiled yet)

• Little ferns, single flowers, leaves or whatever else you’d like to use

• Old stockings

• String, scissors

• A big saucepan (with boiling water)

• Optional: vegetable fat

Instructions:

1) If you haven’t already, collect little flowers, ferns, leaves or other plants that could adorn your eggs.

2) Cut the stockings into pieces (they should be big enough so that you can wrap them around the individual eggs)

3) Place one leaf or flower on one egg and tightly wrap a piece of stocking around it (we use string to hold the stocking together)

4) Once all eggs are covered in stockings, add the onion peel to the saucepan with boiling water.

5) Once the water takes on colours, put the eggs in. Leave them in the boiling water for about 10 min.

6) Cut the stocking and remove the leaves/flowers/plants.

7) For extra shine, roll the eggs in vegetable fat (when they are still hot!).

We hope you and your loved ones enjoy these heiter eggs!

Images & words: Katharina Geissler-Evans, heiter magazine

Die deutsche Version findest du hier.

Calming rose bath

Making your own skincare and bath products is surprisingly easy and hugely rewarding. There’s a sense of alchemy in mixing together potions and lotions and inhaling in the intense scents of essential oils and the powdery soft aroma of dried petals. In this post I’m sharing a bath tea that will balance the skin and the heart as well as creating more of a ritual to your usual bath time routine.

Personally I think there’s nothing better than a scented, warm bath at the end of the day. It’s a beautiful way of creating a bit of self-care and letting go of the days to-do lists and inboxes.  

This rose bath tea is an easy but beautiful way to amplify the therapeutic affects of a long soak. It contains Epsom salts which are said to help sore muscles, as well as a rose petal tea and some gorgeous essential oils.

Rose is not only a beautiful plant but a wonderful one for dry and mature skin too. It has a lovely healing effect on it and soothes redness, repairs stretch marks and maintains skin elasticity and cell regeneration. The scent of rose has many therapeutic effects supposedly including reducing stress and healing a broken heart.

If you wish to try another herb you could do this with lavender, calendula or even try a more savoury herb like Rosemary!

To make this recipe you’ll need:

2 tbsp dried rose petals

1 tsp dried rosehips

Approx 500ml just boiled water

8 drops rose essential oil

2 drops geranium essential oil

1 tbsp Epsom salts

First of all make the tea for your bath with the rose petals. Place the rose petals in a tea-pot of boiling water and leave to brew for a good 10 minutes. Strain out the rose petals and discard. Add the salt and the essential oils to the rose scented tea. Add into the bath. Enjoy!

Becky Cole is a farmer’s wife and blogger based on an ethical farm in Northern Ireland. She shares seasonal recipes and natural living tips over on her blog and you can sign up for her Nourish Newsletter and free seasonal eat sheet over on www.beckyocole.com

Image: Katharina Geissler-Evans, heiter magazine