Growing in Lent
We are starting a new Lenten tradition this year… growing our own Easter grass!
“Behold, I make all things new.”
I had the chance to talk with some dear friends the other day about Lenten traditions. I shared that one of our favorite things to do is the Lenten Path from Catholic Icing. It is a beautiful way to visualize the days of Lent and also to think of special sacrifices and prayers for each day.
We are planning to do the Lenten Path this year again, but we are also excited to add a new tradition… growing our own Easter grass in an Easter basket. My friend who shared this fun idea said that she and her family plant the seeds on Ash Wednesday, and by Easter time the grass should be nicely growing. I’m not a very prompt person, so luckily, from what I have read, even if you start the seeds at least a couple weeks before Easter, you should still have some beautiful Easter grass by Easter.
Not only is planting grass seeds in an Easter basket a super fun activity, it can also be a beautiful symbol of how the purpose of Lent is really to help us to grow in God’s love.
We created this free printable for you with tags you can attatch to your grass growing baskets. Each tag has a beautiful scripture passage about growing and seeds. There is also a blank tag if you want to add your own phrase (like “Grow in God’s love!”) or perhaps the name of your child.
We took advantage of some unseasonably warm weather over the weekend and planted our seeds in Easter baskets outside.
We lined our baskets with waxed paper* (as suggested on a blog we read, but you can also use a plant saucer that fits your basket). Then we filled the baskets with about an inch of soil, sprinkled the seeds, covered the seeds with a bit more soil, and watered the seeds.
*Update: We wondered if waxed paper would really hold up. For us, it held up for about 2 weeks, then it started to leak when we watered the grass. We would not recommend using waxed paper, unless you are going to have the grass in the basket for fewer than 2 weeks. When we noticed the leaking, we ended up transferring the grass and soil to plastic take-out containers that happened to fit nicely into our baskets (we painted the containers with acrylic paint, so they would match the baskets).
Watering the seeds can be a great opportunity to talk about how God showers us with His graces to help us to grow in His love.
After only a week of growing the grass inside a sunny room in our home, our grass is about 5 inches high. (It can be trimmed if it gets too long before Easter.)
Update: The waxed paper liner only held up for about 2 weeks. We transferred our grass and soil to a plastic take-out container (painted with acrylic paint to match) to avoid leaking.
We are not experts on the details of how to plant and care for this Easter grass, so we followed the suggestions from these two blogs:
Do you want to explore more about seeds and growing? We’ve enjoyed these two books…
We are currently studying the early AD times, and enjoying this book: Who is Jesus? His Life, His Land, His Time. We recently read a passage about the mustard seed… and that the mustard plant can grow to about 10 feet tall! We are thinking we might plant a mustard seed this summer… what a great way to bring Scripture to life!
If you are looking for a simple book about seeds, we love this beautifully illustrated book about seeds: Plant Secrets by Emily Goodman.
Have you grown Easter grass before? Or are you going to give it try this year? We would love it if you want to share your ideas! Please submit a comment in the form below.
May God bless you and your family on your Lenten journey!
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