It’s time to get creative…safely!
It’s egg-decorating time! This weekend, I’ll be dyeing eggs with my little cousins, but where do we start? First, we need to consider the egg. The grocery store has cartons with countless choices and labels. Which one do you buy?
Certified Organic? Free-Range? Certified Humane? Animal Welfare Approved? American Humane Certified? Cage-Free? Free-Roaming? Food-Alliance Certified? Food Alliance Certified? United Egg Producers Certified? Vegetarian-Fed? Natural? Omega-3 Enriched?
The Humane Society provides the above list along with brief descriptions of each at www.humanesociety.org under the fact sheets tab. The only label that feeds the birds an organic, all-vegetarian diet is Certified Organic. It is also one of the very few labels on this list that are verified by third party auditing. This means that no pesticides or antibiotics are consumed by the bird or transferred to the eggs or to you. Therefore, Certified Organic eggs are most likely to be without known or probable carcinogens that may lead to breast cancer. Who knew preventing cancer could start with safer eggs?!
And now it’s time to decorate! To avoid the risk of using dyes filled with toxins, there are many ways to make your own. This could be more fun than just dipping those eggs in already made versions because hey, who doesn’t love spending even more time on egg coloring festivities?! Kids will enjoy making their own colors and it also provides them with a great environmentally friendly experience. Below are a few websites that I found that have some cool recipes to make plant-based dyes for all different colors! Have fun!!
https://shop.lakewinds.com/store/Natural-Egg-Dye-Recipes-W4698C18760.aspx
http://simplehomemade.net/how-to-color-eggs-with-natural-dyes/
http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-188
