Making Everyday a special day
If you're like most people, you find yourself looking forward to the days that feel special - the holidays and birthdays. The days where you have time off, or a friend visits. You know the feeling - those few weeks leading up to a holiday when your house is spotless and beautifully decorated with anticipation of having guests. You've got that one outfit picked out in your closet just waiting for an occasion to wear it.
What's been missing in this equation? Your every day! Everyday should be as special as any other day of the year! How can you change that?
This post is perfect for anyone who wants to make everyday a memorable occasion whether with friends, family, or just by themselves. It's a little different from the usual "how to plant a tree" posts, but what you will do is so simple and easy. You should be able to do this in less than 30 minutes on an evening.
What is the Secret?
Foam Eggs! Foam Eggs are special eggs that help you to grow plants up through them for months. When planted with soil, they allow plants to soak up water and nutrients from soil without letting the soil dry out other plants nearby. In addition, they can hold weight against gravity so you can use them as stepping stones (more on that later).
When I was growing up in Japan, every year (on March 3rd) my mother would plant some kind of tree in each of our rooms so that we could decorate with them on New Years day. They were usually evergreens with beautiful flowers on top.
In the US, this idea is more popular for Christmas trees and Valentines day rose bushes. For weddings people will sometimes order special flowers to be planted in foam eggs at their wedding reception centerpieces so they can enjoy those flowers long after their wedding.
For these purposes, I'd like to use them for special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, and for decoration purposes in my home.
Here are some facts about foam eggs:
Foam Eggs are environmentally friendlier than real eggs because they don't require a hen to lay them and therefore do not depend on the destruction of any animals. They are reusable if you find the type that doesn't stain (they all stain). The cost is significantly less due to the fact that foam egg sacks can be bought in bulk from a number of online stores and you only need 2 or 3 packages of seeds planted in each egg. These seeds should be either bamboo or bamboo + red spider lily varities. (If you want a picture of how they should look like, PM me and I will send them to you.)
I was able to find a variety of foam egg sacks at Nippon Kodo in San Francisco on Haight St. (this is a cool store if you're into Japanese crafts), but they were a bit pricey so I ended up getting mine at this online store. You can buy a small pack of 12 eggs for around $10, or if you are planning on making more of these than having them around your house for decoration purposes, then buy the larger pack with 100 eggs. They are much less expensive and have the exact same dimensions as the smaller 12 egg package. As for stains....I suggest making sure you either apply a waterproofing product on the outside of your eggs, or exposing them to direct sunlight and avoiding direct sunlight from the top.
Foam Egg Packaging
DIY: Foam Egg Planting
Step 1: Find some eggs (I got mine at Nippon Kodo in SF) Step 2: Cut the foam egg packaging open and make sure there is no glue present Step 3: Take out all of the eggs Once you are done removing all of your foam eggs, fill up 2-3 inches (5-7 cm) with soil with enough water to cover the soil. You can use plants that are already growing in your house or buy some plants before planting your seeds.
Step 4: Fill the rest of the foam egg with soil Step 5: Place your plant seeds in the foam egg Step 6: Place your eggs in a plastic bag and place them in your refrigerator for 12-24 hours to allow the seeds to germinate With some persistence, this planting would take about 3-4 weeks.
Step 7: You will see seedlings coming out! I didn't get any pictures of me planting my beans, but it was pretty straightforward - just poke holes into the soil and push your seeds down.
Step 8: Water them as they come up! It's important to avoid overwatering as they grow quickly. I recommend using a soaker hose for this. The plants will bloom in about a month.
Foam Egg Decoration
There are many purposes for using foam egg plantings, but I think this is the most practical application: use them as stepping stones! Your home does not have to be empty to start using these as decorative items because they will do the same thing as real stepping stones (absorption of water and nutrients from soil). Instead of knocking your pots off or stepping on them to get it out of your way, you can use these foam eggs as stepping stones! Step onto one and you can enjoy your plants/tea/plants even more as they are growing up through the egg.
Here is an example of what I have in my home:
For those of you who are wondering where these foam eggs came from, they were bought from the same store that I got mine at. You can read more about them here. (A note on this page: To get to this particular page, click on the "Products" link at the bottom left hand corner of their page. The page will automatically load, but you can just scroll down the page to see these eggs.)
I hope you enjoyed my post and found it interesting as I did. If you have any questions about planting or the foam eggs themselves, don't hesitate to leave a comment. I'm happy to answer them and will be more than happy to help. Also, see if you can design a better way for your plants to grow up through their egg if there is one that people would like! ^_^
***Please note - this post was written by an American who has never visited Japan before. The translation of the photos/instructions may not be 100% accurate because of this fact.
Conclusion:
If you're interested in Japanese crafts, I highly recommend visiting Japan just for this reason. The culture is so interesting and the people are so friendly. (Check out my post on Japan here!) Although my home is not exactly a shrine as far as it looks goes, I've been enjoying adding some more of these little touches to my home. They definitely make me feel like I am hosting a cool "furnishings" section in my home. ^_^ Please share your ideas on using foam eggs or send me pictures of some creative ways to use them! :)
Feel free to use this image: http://www.pixiestudio.