Easter Baskets

(Alternatively: How To Tie Up Seven Children Without Any Rope)

It was because of the gaggle of children that flocked to my house most afternoons. It started with only two but then three others joined, though not yet as regularly. With Mai and Völund in the mix we had seven children. All wanting to play and all wanting to run far away.

I needed to find a way to keep Völund close to home while letting Mai play with the bigger kids and not feeling stuck with her little brother. If the kids all wanted to run off and play, why not make them want to stay instead?

So it was I began coming up with projects and activities to do as soon as the after-school-rag tag group of kids started to show up at my door. Project in hand, I could sit on the porch, or in the front... I won't say lawn, since there is no ground cover of any kind in our yard. Just bare dirt. Dirt, sidewalk, chair, wherever I ended up I could do my projects and keep an eye on Völund so neither sibling had to be left behind or held back.

Spring in Texas is in full force during March so I had started to turn our attention to plants and growing things. We gathered dandelions and made tea. I had them collecting and cracking acorns for days until we finally made cookies and shared with every kid that had helped, even if it were the smallest bit. We collected plant samples, and made fairy gardens. During the day me and my kids went on nature walks and everywhere I looked the weather was beautiful and the plants abundant. Then one day Mai spotted the cattails growing in a ditch while we drove across post and I knew we would use them for our next activity. Basket Weaving.

How could the kids resist making their own baskets? I would definitively have them hanging around my yard. When they grew bored of the novelty of the cattails, as they certainly would since the work is repetitive, I could sit and work and not feel that two hours after school were being stolen from me. The kids could run and ride their trikes around the circle and come and check my progress - and there I had it, an invisible tether tied to each of those kids that kept them safely in my sight.

Gathering the cattails was fun. We went while the other children were in school. Mai gets hers done rather quickly so we always have plenty of time to do other things. Völund threw rocks and poked sticks in the stream and Mai clambered all around. She even rescued her brother from a spider!

When we brought them home that afternoon, as expected, the other kids were completely star struck. I cut the tough ends off the cattails and let them play with the stalks. They made stews and mud buckets and magic wands, all while I worked nearby.

My first task was to sort and dry them. I tried making a basket while they were still green as a trial but quickly learned the drying step could not be skipped. I laid them out and placed a small tree limb over them to keep the wind from blowing them away. It took two days to dry them since it was overcast during that time. They could have stood to be dried more than that but I was eager to make the baskets.

While I waited for them to dry I turned my attention to the basket handles. I decided to make little rope handles out of corn husks. This I had the children help me with by tearing the husks into strips. Völund helped by dropping rocks into the bowl to hold them beneath the water. This day we were in the back yard and the kids went from trampoline, to teeter totter, to sipping their cold juices, to watching me twist the strips into a rough cord.

Once the cattails were dried, I soaked them in the bath tub. I timed it just so the soaking would be done by the time the kids usually came to our house. I thought it would be good to keep them wet as I worked so I dunked a towel and kept them bundled and pulled them out as needed. Once again my little helpers gathered around and we made baskets. We were actually doing it!

The weaving took multiple days but each day the kids would stay close by and watch and ask to help whenever I got to a new and interesting part of the weave. They would do three or four folds and then run off again on their bikes but never strayed far since they didn't want to miss anything.

Jacob was gone for work during this week so I also had many quiet evenings to myself. I had finished the bodies of the baskets but Easter was getting closer and closer and I needed to finish these up! I had to speed along the work instead of waiting for after school. I started working on the finishing details in the evening. I would turn on ridiculous true crime shows or cultural documentaries and work in the night while our dog, Kairi, sulked because I wasn't throwing the ball for her.

I let Mai and Völund choose what colors to decorate their baskets with. Mai helped mix up the food coloring in the water and set the corn husks strips in to soak. Völund cried that I wouldn't let him get into the water but was happy the next day when I let him "paint" with the water on his finished basket.

Mai on the other hand saw Völund painting and decided to get out her real paint and do hers. By the time Good Friday came along it was all done. Mai and Völund showed the neighbors their baskets (who were suitably impressed) and brought them with us to the evening service at church, even though they were still empty. They were just so proud of their work. They wanted to show and tell everyone!

Easter morning is what I was excited for. I am so happy we got them done in time! It was so cute watching them explore their baskets that morning!

That's our latest after school project. But what should I do now? Let me know if you have any ideas. Thankfully a mulberry tree is keeping all of us busy right now but the berries wont be ripe forever.

Until next time!
-Lydia