Healthy and Green Living » Easter

The Best Candy

Melissa Breyer — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:00:33 +0000

By Melissa Breyer The candy and kids dilemma kills me. My kids love candy, but candy’s rotten for my kids. High-fructose corn syrup, artificial coloring, bovine gelatin, oh my. So I think, “Sorry girls, no candy, unh unh.” But something about total restriction goes against my instinct–and surely enough, a New York Times article, 6 Food Mistakes [...]

Have an Easy Green Easter

Melissa Breyer — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:04:11 +0000

Maybe Easter isn’t the number one most offensive holiday for inspiring reckless consumption, but it has it’s share of eco-maybe-not-so-friendly traditions. For starters, it’s the second top-selling candy holiday (after Halloween). Picture this: 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies, 16 billion jelly beans, and five million marshmallow chicks and bunnies (AKA Peeps) are produced for the [...]

DIY Festive Felted Easter Eggs

Melissa Breyer — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:28:57 +0000

I am seriously charmed by three things: Eggs, fiber arts, and crafty holiday projects. I’m seriously charmed by many things, but these are the whims that have my heart today as I’m thinking about Easter. I have played with felting and wool roving before–most ambitiously when I tried to craft myself up the felted rocks [...]

Why Buy Organic Flowers?

Cait Johnson — Sat, 10 May 2008 13:00:53 +0000

Many of us will be buying or sending flowers for Valentine's Day and Easter and Mother's Day. You may not know that it is now possible to send organically-grown flowers. There are very real and important reasons why this is the best choice.

Go Green for Easter

Jana Ballinger — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:04:07 +0000

By the Care2 Staff

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail. And what does he find? Plastic eggs and fake grass and Easter candy that bears absolutely no resemblance to any taste found in nature. Oh no!

So what's a greenie to do when hippity, hoppity, Easter's on its way? Check out this guide to a healthy and green Easter, including all-natural egg dyes and instructions on growing your own grass, plus recipes for some fabulous springtime dishes and desserts sure to satisfy Peter Cottontail's sweet tooth without sending him straight to the dentist.

Homemade Natural Easter Egg Dyes

Melissa Breyer — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:32:41 +0000

The year the Easter Bunny brought my kids only organic yogurt-covered raisins didn't go over so well, but at least my daughters are gung-ho for dying Easter eggs with homemade, plant-based dyes. We rummage and smoosh and boil, and they are amazed and delighted by the colors we can come up with. They have fun, and I am relieved to be free of synthetic food dyes.

Certified food dyes approved by the FDA include colors synthesized from petroleum derivatives and even coal tar. While other food dyes based on natural ingredients come from things you may not care to ingest: Have you heard about carminic acid? It is a commonly used red food coloring, which comes from the dried, crushed bodies of pregnant female scale insects called cochineal. Yum.

Fresh Spring Decorating with Nature Ideas

Cait Johnson — Fri, 14 Sep 2001 23:15:46 +0000

There is nothing like the natural world in Spring for giving all of us a breath of fresh air just when we need it most. After a long and dreary winter, it's a pleasure to sing the praises of flowers and eggs and nests and birds!

Magic Egg Ceremony

Cait Johnson — Sat, 04 Aug 2001 15:12:05 +0000

This simple, traditional Spring Equinox ceremony is one way to begin focusing on creating the life you most deeply long for.

Sprout a Natural Grass Easter Basket

Annie B. Bond — Fri, 30 Apr 1999 21:58:39 +0000

Instead of using plastic imitation grass in an Easter basket, why not give your child a natural Easter basket, filled with sprouted wheat berry grass?