these are so sweet and will be the perfect touch on easter/ostara morning.  i think i will leave little nests all over the yard and in the house tucked here and there and not say anything about them until everyone catches on.  love the eggs and bunnies and symbology of this fertile time of year.  love the hunt...the excitement and thrill of tiny treasures.  and as you also may know, i LOVE crafting out of recycled materials.  love this project.

(i recently fell in love with the artbarblog.com and that is where i got the idea.  she's got some cute ones.)

materials:

• chopped paper – construction paper, newspaper, catalogs, magazines
  

• paper cutter or scissors (or a shredder would be best!)
• elmer’s glue + thick paint brush
• one bowl of the size that you want your bird’s nest to be
• plastic wrap
  
  

how to:

first, cut our paper into strips about 1/4″ in thickness and vary the strips in length from 6″ to 12″. next, put plastic wrap on the inside of the bowl you want to shape the nests with.  mix glue with water (half and half), and brush it all on the inside of the bowl on top of the plastic wrap.  then take individual strips and arrange them criss-crossing around the bowl.  after a while, paint on more glue which helps keep the layers down.  add more paper strips, until about four layers are formed.  put some of the strips around, like a real nest and others just across so the pieces stick out. when your fingers got too sticky, wipe them on a wet towel.

let the bowls dry overnight. then….get someone to drumroll with their hands on the table…another with their feet on the floor.  lift the nests out of the bowl and peal off the plastic. voila!  the most beautiful and delicate nests!

this was such an epic day!  we invited a bunch of our friends with little ones and had people bring all kind of bits and bobs and dyes and such to have an egg art party.  obviously, mimosas were had and shared for us "big kids" and sweet and brunchy potlucked yum yums too.  i was so surprised at the creativity that happened. it was pretty magical.  i experimented with natural dyes which i made prior and brought in jars.  check this website out (radmegan.com) for amazing recipes to do so...(click the picture below to do so).

on the table, we laid art paper to line it and protect the table from spills and splatters.  next time, i will mos'def put high quality water color paper because it was a serious masterpiece when we were through.

everyone brought so many awesome things to experiment with.  i brought stamps and gold stars (which were my fave), crayons, glitter, mesh netting, string, rubber bands, stickers, oil to add to some of the dyes to create a marbled tecture and my collection of egg cups to display them when they were finished...to name a few.  my friend jen even brought a real batik wax and candle situation to get crazy with. wow.  this is my idea of a good time.  mimosas, sunshine and wunderlust.  the kidlets and adults were equally enthralled in their creative masterpieces.  try this at home!

after a day or two of weeding our garden beds and cleaning up the winter debris, we got all our seeds out.  i went to "seedy saturday" where heirloom seeds are sold and traded and brought home the beginings of a bountiful harvest.  we got out the egg cartons i collect to plant our seedlings for the year.  my little man always helps me with this on the spring equinox.  there is something so magical about this for me.  we have such sweet convos about the changing of the seasons, what we loved about winter, what we are excited for about spring, and looking forward to in summer.  i always braid in notions about how the seeds we are sowing in spring will be so fun to enjoy all summer.  we talk about what we will make with the fruits and veggies that will grow and the picnics, bonfires, and potlucks we will share them with our friends.  i love this day.

i cut down the center of the carton, separating the two halves and cutting off the little side tab to recycle it.  then i stack the two together and fill with organic soil.  loji loves doing this part.  i usually leave cleaning the porch off after winter rains and pine needles dropping until after we plant our seedlings. he also likes poking holes with his pinky and placing seeds in them.  he tries to convince me that all we should grow is watermelon and corn and i explain to him, or try to, because i halfway agree with him, why that isn't what we are doing.

then because the soil isn't packed down at all and you want to keep it pretty loose for the seeds to sprout, but don't want it spilling all over the sides...we water the first few times with a spray bottle. i used a sharpie to write on the sides of the egg cartons what seeds were which.  i usually use popsicle sticks to label them, or clothespins that have snapped apart, but was pretty much fresh out.  so, a sharpie it was...

then, i put them on baking sheets or pans so that the watering doesn't make a mess and put them in a sunny window.  it takes only a day or two to start seeing the sprouts.  loji and i make bets which will come up first and run to check every time we think about them.  radishes and brussel sprouts won the first round this year.  if you have a good farmers almanac use that or google where you live and what gets planted outside when.  i also use this step to help loji learn to research things that interest him and help him find out things he'd like to know.  today we will be planting our lettuces, arugula, kale, cilantro, dill, beets, broc., and brussel sprouts.  since the cardboard of the egg crate will be a bit moist, it is so easy to tear them each individual sprout in an egg cup right off and plant the whole thing right in the ground.  before i do this, i pinch a little whole in the bottom for the roots to easily grow right through.  the carton itself mulches right into the soil and actually protects the youngster in the ground a bit.  love this time of year.  kinda giddy like a school girl.

y'all betta' get ready for this.  you will literally be smothering this chimichuri on every single thing you eat until every last speck of green is swooped by fingers and tongues from the jar.  f'reals.  it is fresh, tangy, and such a fla'blamo flavour pop that anything it gets to hang out with on your plate will be made light years more glorious.  pop rock candy might make a come back if they made a chimichuri flavour.  

now, i know i have mentioned this before, but i believe that the best recipes are the ones that live in your head.  ones with no real weights and measurements, it's more about handfuls, bunches and pinches.  that's how i love to cook.  

chimichurri is a pesto'esk herb sauce that can vary a lot in ingredients based on it's spanish and italian influence.  it's from Argentina and is used as a sauce or is a sublime marinade on meats.  i personally love it so much, i could swirl it into my cereal and smile.  my biggest crush, david rocco, made a version close to this one on his show, dulce vita, and i've been savouring the flavour ever since.  whoa. have you checked that show out?  best ever.  i want to marry him, his wife and his whole rustic italian life when i grow up. 

throw a couple garlic cloves in the food processor with a small handful of capers.  buzz these real quick and then fill the bowl with parsley (cleaned and chopped a bit.  discard the bottom 1/3rd of the stem but keep the rest...it's filled with flavour).  now pulse those all together.

once it looks a bit like this, scoop out the herby delish into a mason jar.  now squeeze a whole lemon into the jar.  if it's an organic lemon, zest it prior  to cutting and squeezing, for extra brownie points.

throw some sea salt "up in the mug" and drizzle extra virgin olive oil into the jar until it is just covering the goodness.  taste and adjust seasoning if needed.  i love doing this with green apple as a scooper.  

some things i use this churri on:

• as a salad dressing...add a bit more oil and or lemon juice for added drizzle factor and use on an arugula, green apple, feta and caper salad. boom. so good.  straight sexy time salad.
• a marinade for virtually ANY meat.  it is a dream on halibut, beautiful on venison, and chicken was born to be drenched in it (umm, that sounds bad).
• pasta. pizza. bread products. oh. my. gawd.
• piled up on a melty brie round on a cheese plate.  expect proposals.  people will bow dow to you on one knee.  i might be exaggerating. i might not be. try it and you will see. 
• as a face mask.  okay, i am kidding.  but i have contemplated it before.  it's that good.