Easter Eggs, the way Mother Nature intended

I've been experimenting with natural dyes for Easter Eggs. The biggest difference between these dyes and the artificial ones that come in a box is that the natural dyes require quite a bit more time, several minutes, to get a good color. Plus, I was using brown eggs, so that made it even more of a challenge to notice a color change! These are the three colors we had the most success with:

Pinkish--I started by soaking beet skins in a couple tablespoons of vinegar overnight. The next morning, I took out the skins and added about 1/2 cup of water. This was uber-convenient, because I was making beets and greens for dinner last night while prepping for coloring eggs today!
This was the most vibrant dye.
**I tried throwing some beet skins in with the eggs when I hard-boiled them. We used both brown and white eggs, and it didn't do a thing.

Orange/Yellow--I love cooking with turmeric because of it's beautiful color. It is also beautiful on egg shells! Same method as for coffee grounds: boil 1 tablespoon of ground tumeric in 2 cups for about 15 minutes. Let water cool completely and add a couple tablespoons of vinegar to each 3/4 cup of liquid.

Blueish--Boil about 1 cup of frozen blueberries in 2 cups water for 15 minutes. Let water cool completely and add a couple tablespoons of vinegar to each 3/4 cup of liquid.

In the pictures, the eggs that are super-dark were hard boiled with a couple scoops of coffee in the water. Anastasia didn't want to do a coffee dye dip, so we didn't. But, those eggs that were hard-boiled with coffee and then dyed in either the beet or blueberry dye are a really neat earthy color.

If I had spinach, I would've attempted green eggs. But, I only wanted to use what I already had in the house, so no green eggs this year. Check back in 2010 for more colors!