Bring Back May Day Baskets!

 (From the 4/12/21 Just the Essentials Newsletter)

We have a friend who was telling us about how she makes a couple dozen really nice May Day baskets and spends May 1 making people feel special. Actually, she was saying how much fun SHE has doing it more than about how it made other people feel. It has me thinking about who I want to surprise in a couple of weeks with a little basket of goodies!

When I was in elementary school, we always made the baskets every year. Our grandmother was an elementary teacher, and Maryanne remembers dancing around the May Pole at Mimi's school, but I missed that. Bringing those baskets home to give away was so exciting! We only made one at school, so more were made at home. Mrs. Bortzfield and Mrs. Brubaker were older ladies who lived alone, and they were my targets. Mrs. Bortzfield always had candy any time she saw me, and Mrs. Brubaker had a huge zinnia patch outside her kitchen door and always let me take as many as I wanted.

May 1 doesn't always have a lot of flowers around here. Nowadays, there are a lot more bulb flowers like daffs, tulips, and hyacinths, but other than the tiny pansy plants we got at Sunday School for Easter, there weren't many flowers. We were forbidden from touching the dogwoods. 

This led me to searching the woods behind the house. The trees were a mixture of evergreens and hardwood, and that was where I found Dutchmen's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria). They dropped me to my knees. I've written about that moment before; it started my fixation with plants. This tiny, perfect string of pants hanging on the line immediately stole my imagination and at 6 or 7 I was certain there were fairies hiding nearby giggling at my amazement. There are a lot of small things that can go in a May Day basket other than flowers. A few pieces of candy, a bar of floral scented soap, a small candle, some incense, some tea... you get the idea! There are a ton of spring crafts for kids (or adults) out there, and this is one that caught my eye:  

                  https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/printable-bug-paper-rings/ So cute! 

 Some inspiration:

Hand made Baskets

We have a few metal baskets HERE

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