Living Easter Baskets--Wheat Grass is Better than Plastic

A couple of months ago, I saw this idea in a friend's copy of the Spatulatta Cookbook. They describe it as something you can make for a gift, but when I saw it, I immediately knew that we had no choice but to make these for Easter this year. How could we not?

I've always been opposed to using plastic grass in our baskets, in part for environmental reasons, and in part for aesthetic reasons--it's just kind of gross. For the past few years, I've shredded green construction paper in our shredder to make grass. It's nicer than plastic, but still not great environmentally.

This is a very easy project, and we did it with our playgroup. We opened a plastic grocery bag inside the basket and pulled down the sides (as if we were putting a trash bag in a trash can), filled the plastic bag with soil, and covered the top of the soil with a generous amount of wheat grass seeds. Then we carefully trimmed around the plastic bag and cut off the excess. We watered gently, and we've kept them under the skylight in our bathroom ever since. Every day we spray them with a spray bottle of water to keep them moist but not soaked.

Our only mistake was planting them too early. These photos were taken today, ten days after we planted them. They're going to be up to the ceiling by Easter, so we'll have to trim them. The good news is that there is plenty of time now for anyone else who is crazy enough to grow grass in an Easter basket to grow some in time for the upcoming holiday!

Since there was no way to hide this project from the chicks, and since I wanted them to be able to plant their own baskets anyway, I told them that instead of the Easter Bunny bringing baskets, we will leave out our grass baskets and he will fill them while they're asleep. I figured that explanation was as (il)logical as any other plan the giant globe-trotting (but silent, because bunnies are quiet, as Ninna reminds me every time we talk about him) rabbit might have.

I am seriously so excited about these baskets, and if all goes well with the filling and the egg hunt, I plan to do these every year.