Declaring food independence

Over at MNN, we're pushing a campaign spearheaded by Kitchen Garden International, the same organization that asked for the WHO Garden (White House Organic Garden - and it did happen!). The campaign is called Food Independence Day.

What's it all about? Basically they are asking all of us to declare food independence by making our 4th of the July feasts from local foods. That's not all, though. They are calling upon the first families from all 50 states (the governor's families) to do the same. To show their support for the local foods in their states.

I challenge you to rise to this challenge. 4th of July is on Saturday this year which means many of us will be able to wake up and go to a farmers market. You can get the freshest, best tasting foods. You can help pump money back into your local economy. You can show your small local farmers that you appreciate their hard work, and you want them to continue doing what they do. You might not be able to buy everything for your celebration from local producers, but consider buying what you can.

MNN has created a clickable map that takes you to recipes that can be made from local foods that are available in each state right now.

I'm not sure what my menu for the 4th will look like yet. I may not know until I get to the farmers market on Saturday morning. But I know most of the food will be fresh, delicious, natural and local.

And don't forget the liquid refreshment, either. If you can buy beer or wine from local breweries and wineries, go for it.

If you're having a BBQ or cookout this 4th, I've got some tips for greening your BBQ.

Have you checked out the $1 charity fundraiser that I’m participating in with a group of other fine eco-bloggers? We’re trying to raise money for an environmental group and those who donate get to vote on who gets the money. Please consider voting and donating a dollar.

Three secrets to eco-fun for Father's Day

This month, Lynn and Corey from Celebrate Green have sent us some tips for Father's Day which fall on June 21st this year. That' s only three weeks away, so it's time to start planning how you're going to honor the dad(s) in your life this year. Lynn and Corey have some ideas that are eco-friendly for us.

-------------------------------------

Let's face it, as much as we love dad, he can be a tad difficult to shop for. It's not so much that he's picky. It's more that his needs and even wants, tend to be simple. He's happy with less which of course, makes him a perfect candidate for green giving.

So this year, why not come up with great gifts that honor dad and the Earth and that cost little in terms of money or the planet, And whether we're talking about your dad (if you're reading this), or your kids' father or grandad, be sure to look for ways to put more meaning in the greening.

Start by focusing on doing instead of buying. What if your dad were king for a day? What would would his perfect day look like? Would he sleep late? Enjoy breakfast in bed, or brunch served outside? Would he like to work in the garden kids by his side, fly a kite or go for a hike? Would he love to see his bike sparkling clean or that light that's been broken for years, fixed? Whatever his wishes might be, consider how you can make them come true by planning the perfect day. And before each activity, you can loudly proclaim, "By order of King ____, we, your loyal subjects are thrilled and delighted to accompany you as you ________." (And don't forget to make a crown and award it in a ceremony for which you--and/or your kids, write a heartfelt script.)

Make or embellish a gift. According to www.ShopLocal.com, more than 50% of those polled said they are never fond of their Father's Day gifts. So one more tie or pair of socks doesn't cut it. Again, look to your dad's likes for ideas. If he's into reading, make him a clock from a book on a subject to which he's addicted, or choose a favorite old CD and do the same. (You can purchase clock works for under $10 from a crafts store, or if you have an old clock and are handy enough to take it apart and recycle the works, all the better!)

Most dads can never have too many t-shirts. Purchase organic cotton ones, then have kids personalize them using fabric crayons. When a friend and and her brothers were small, her mom gathered all the children together for this project. Years later, when their dad had worn out the three tees, mom turned them into pillows.

Or why not repurpose a beloved, out-of-style shirt, into a pillow--no sewing required. If dad used to dig cowboy apparal and has a favorite fancy shirt stowed in the back of the closet, wrap it around a pillow and set on dad's favorite chair. Keep the memory, lose the embarrassment of him, heaven forbid, wearing the oldie out in public!

Think gifts from the heart. Whether you're six or sixty, you have personal gifs to offer dad. To make your offer even more meaningful, let him know you'll do something special for him once a month for a full year. You could make him a calendar with your monthly contribution written on each date or secretly add them to his PDA, phone or digital calendar.

Below are some ideas to use as a jumping off point. When you think about your relationship with your dad and your own talents, you'll come up with 12 perfectly tailored gifts.

• Send him notes in his lunch.
  
• Make him brownies or his favorite treat.
  
• Go for a walk together.
  
• Take a lesson from him in anything he likes to do (fishing? woodwork? cards?)
  
• Shine his shoes.
  
• Accompany him to an activity he enjoys.
  
• Teach him something you know how to do.
  
• Make a video about dad.
  
• Wash his car.
  
• Write poems or stories with dad as the hero.
  
• Go camping if he enjoys this, even if it's at home or in your yard
  
• Plant a tree, bush or flowers accompanied by a handmade wooden plaque with dad's name and date.
  

-------------------------------------

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and co-authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, available at www.CelebrateGreen.net

Image: Joe Shlabotnick

Eco-friendly wines for your Memorial Day BBQ

I've put up quite a few wine reviews on Mother Nature Network in the past couple of months, and I thought that I'd do a roundup here for those of you who are going out to choose wine for your celebrations this weekend. I only review wines that I like - if I drank it and I didn't like it, I won't write about it because I'm really not an expert. I'm just a wine lover who knows what I like. 

The links will take you to my full review.

Live a Little Really Ravishing Red - an organic, fair trade Shiraz from Africa. I payed $8.99 for the bottle.

Bonterra 2007 Viognier - I loved this white California wine that's made with sustainable grapes. It's a little more pricey than my usual wines - $22.99 - so I won't be drinking it every week.

Red Truck Petite Sirah and Sauvignon Blanc - These are the wines I'll probably serve at my own summer BBQ's. These California wines are inexpensive - $10.99 a bottle. They are both great wines to pair with cheeseburgers.

Napa Wine Co. Sauvignon Blanc - I liked this wine, but at $17.99 a bottle, I'll probably reach for the Red Truck Sauvignon Blanc more often. It's a great cheese and crackers wine.

Organic ReLeaf Wine - This red is a fabulous Friday night pizza wine at an every Friday night price $8.99. The wine is from Africa and the winery treats their employees well, an added bonus.

Montebelli Fabula 2006 - A 100% certified organic Sangiovese (the grapes that Chianti is made from). This wine is good, but it definitely needs food to bring out its finer qualities. Great with pasta, and fabulous with roasted red pepper and provolone - maybe not so great for your BBQ, though. I paid $12.99 for the bottle.

Bonterra 2007 Zinfandel - If you're putting blue cheese on your burger on the grill this weekend, get this wine. It was an amazing pairing. I like Zins, and this one is a keeper. At $11.99 this wine made from organically grown grapes is a good value.

Do you have a favorite, reasonably priced (below $20 is reasonable in my eyes) eco-friendly wine that you think I should try? Tell me about it in the comments.

A fair trade mother's day basket

I don't particularly like gift baskets when you order them from a company that puts them together for you. There's always items in there that are useless or at least not to the recipient's tastes. But I think putting together you're own gift basket with useful and appreciated items is thoughtful and personal.

Mother's Day is this Sunday, and if you need a gift for a foodie, then I think creating a gift basket with fair trade products is a great way to go. What can you put in the basket?

• Wine - There are many fair trade wines out there. I did a review on one Live-a-Little Really Ravishing Red, a South African Shiraz, last week on MNN. If you are unfamiliar with fair trade wines, try going to a larger wine store and ask for some recommendations.
• Chocolate - My personal recommendation for fair trade chocolate is Divine, but there are many really good fair trade chocolates out there. In my region, I can get them at Wegmans, Whole Foods, and I think perhaps Trader Joe's.
• Coffee/Tea - Fair trade coffees abound at many grocery stores and there is usually some selection of fair trade teas, also. If you're adding tea, you may also be able to find fair trade honey to go with it.
  
• Baked goods - Use fair trade chocolate, cocoa or sugar to make some decadent treats to put in the basket.
• Vanilla - If the mom is a baker, she'll be happy to have some fair trade vanilla for your spice shelf.
• Flowers - Fair trade flowers are available, but not everywhere. Click here to see some national sources. If you can't find fair trade flowers and still want to shower mom with some, go with a local grower.

What do you think? Would your mom be happy to get this as a gift. I'm a mom, and I know I would be.

Simple, earth-friendly, meaningful crafts for Mother's Day

Lynn and Corey from Celebrate Green have sent us some great crafts for mother's day.

Moms, I would advise you send a link of this post to your kids' dad and with a note saying something like, "Hey, I think the kid would get a kick out of making a picture frame jewelry holder for me for mother's day."

Dads, your kids will love spending time with you making something meaningful for their mom and these ideas are light on the pocketbook, leaving you with some cash to buy some local flowers or fair trade, organic chocolates to the gift.

And don't forget grandmoms. They love getting homemade gifts from their grandkids.

_________________________________

Money is tight right now. But money doesn't have to stand in the way of honoring your mom (and Mother Earth). You can make a beautiful and more importantly, meaningful, gift for Mother's Day. And what mom would not be thrilled to receive an item infused with meaning made by hand from someone she loves?

Here are a few ideas. Most cost little to nothing in money or environmental terms because you're rescuing items that often are tossed or left sitting in a closet or drawer.

Picture frame jewelry holder

1. Choose an old picture frame and remove any backing. You can decorate the frame with paint, fabric or other appropriate decoration to match mom's bedroom or bathroom decor or leave it plain.
2. Cut a piece of window screen that overlaps the back of the frame 1/2 inch. (Remember when the dog charged through the screen and ripped it to shreds? If it's still lying around, here's the perfect use for it.)
3. Staple or nail the window screen to the back of the frame.
4. Screw in some cuphooks along the bottom of the frame to hold rings and/or in the top corners to hold necklaces and bracelets. Earring backs fit through the screen.
5. If you want the holder to hang, add a picture hangar to the back. Otherwise, it can sit on a small easel or rest against the wall.

Picture ball
No doubt you've got bunches of photos lying around from B.D. (Before Digital). One picture ball uses up 20 of them. This is a fun project that takes about a half hour and while a little tricky, once you get the basic idea, they're easy to make. Craft several with different themes--you as a baby, you as a teenager, you and your siblings. Watch how one is made here or see the directions here.

Meaningful charms

Most moms have a several necklaces from which they can suspend charms. How about adding to mom's collection with a little creative crafting?

Any object in which you can punch a hole can be turned into a charm. Think about your mom's talents, work or leisure activities. For a teacher, make a pencil charm. For an artist, one from a tiny paint brush. If she's sentimental, a delicate baby spoon that belonged to you.

Artists are using this technique to create amazing and wonderful jewelry from objects that would normally be tossed. One of our favorites is Susan Lenert Kazmer.

Here's how to make the watch charm pictured here.

1. If your mom has an old watch that sits in her drawer, ask her if you can remake it, or pick one up at a yard sale (although it will be more meaningful if you use one one she already has).
2. Remove the face.
3. Glue it into a bottle cap.
4. Punch a hole in the cap near the top.
5. Fashion a loop from a piece of wire.
6. Add to a necklace or present on its own.

And here's a "charming" container for any small gift

1. Remove the label from an empty soup can. Wash it. Paint mom's favorite color. Let dry. Glue paper or ribbon all the way around the top edge. Punch a hole on each side near the top and insert a piece of wire through the two holes forming a handle. (You can string on some buttons and charms after feeding one side through as done in the example.)
2. Once this is done, mash down on the top of the can so that the opening is no longer round, but more oval (although you don't have to do this either if you prefer a perfectly round can).
3. Glue on decorative accents and /or words cut from newspapers or magazines. A quote about mom or simply the words, "I love you, Mom," will work well.
4. If you have a shredder, fill the can with shredded paper (from a magazine to add color if you like). Fill the can leaving just enough room to rest the gift on top.
5. The can later can be filled with flowers and hung outside.

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and co-authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, available at www.CelebrateGreen.net

Going Green for your graduate

Little Darryl is graduating from college next month. Only no one calls him "Little" Darryl anymore because he's 22. Darryl lives next door (when he's not on campus), and he was 11 when we bought our house. When we first moved in, he mowed the lawn for us until we got our own lawn mower and over the years he has done lots of yard work for us, fixed our kids' bikes, driven us to the airport at some outrageously early hour, and I can't remember what else. 

There will be some definite celebrating on my block when Darryl graduates. Lynn and Corey from Celebrate Green have come up with some ideas for greening a graduation celebration and some eco-friendly gifts for the grad. I just might be able to get an idea for my neighbor from it and you might be able to get ideas for your own graduate.

Giving a graduation party? 

• Easy to make it greener by not over buying food and composting leftovers
  
• using tap water instead of buying bottled
  
• if you do purchase beverages, buy glass bottles over cans, cans over plastic; 
  
• provide recycling bins
  
• use reusable plates, cups, utensils and napkins; buy organic and local when possible
  

Gift green-minded grads with something that appeals to their eco-altruism 

• Shares in a socially responsible investment fund
  
• A Tis Best gift card that allows the graduate to choose from among hundreds of charities to give money to
  
• A trip via a socially responsible eco-travel organization or a volunteer trip
  

Other ideas for graduates that will most likely align with their eco-values:

• A digital camera with a reminder to take only photos wherever she travels
  
• A treefree paper journal and recycled pens
  
• A gift certificate to a CSA so they will start off their new lives with fresh, local food
  
• A local coupon book for sustainable items and organic food like this one that is                                available in six cities around the U.S.
  
• Books like Making a Lviing While Making a Difference: Conscious Careers for an Era of Interdependence or Green Jobs: A Guide to Eco-Friendly Employment.
  

e-cards vs paper cards

I got an e-mail yesterday. It was asking if I would promote an e-card website with a specific spin - since mother's day is coming up, shouldn't we honor Mother Earth and send our moms an e-card instead of a paper card. You know, save a tree.

Here's what I want to ask you. How would your mother respond if you sent her an e-card instead of an actual card for Mother's Day? Forget the fact that my mom doesn't use a computer, if she did, and I sent her an e-card instead of actual card, I would never live it down.

I do send e-cards when I think the occassion and the recipient call for it. Susan and I send Hallmark Hoops and YoYo e-cards to each other all the time. Hoops and YoYo can brighten anyone's day.

But e-cards and e-vites set a very different tone than paper cards and paper invitations. Every once in a while, I pick up a little extra work, ghost writing web content. I've written many articles you'll never see my name on about greening weddings, and one of the things I always offer up as an option is sending out wedding e-vites, but I always add that sending an e-vite instead of a paper invitation will set a certain tone for your wedding. A very casual tone. Send a wedding e-vite, you're more likely to get people showing up in clothes from the Gap.

I'm all for making this world greener. But I think that people are most important. So, if it's very important to my mom that I buy her a paper card, then I'm buying her a paper card (and if I can find one made on recycled paper, that's a plus). For other things, like inviting our friends to our annual Christmas party, e-vites are very appropriate. 

The environment is very important, but it's not everything. If you've got a hip, tree-hugging mom who would appreciate an e-card for Mother's Day, then go for it. If your mom treasures her cards, then give her a card. I don't think dishonoring your actual mother to honor Mother Earth is worth it.

I've lost a week

Running the book fair at my kids' school has been a lot of fun this week, but I wasn't able to be as on top of my writing as I thought I'd be able to be (I fancy myself Superwoman, you know, but in reality...).  I'll be back to posting regularly next week. I've got a book review and a cleaning product review planned plus I'll be going to the Go Green Expo this weekend. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about that. 

And if my thinking is correct, I've been a bit calendar challenged lately, Adam Shake from Twilight Earth will be back with another guest post so put your thinking cap on - he's always got something to say that will make you go, "hmmmmmm."

If you're gearing up for St. Patrick's Day next week, I've got a slow cooker corned beef and cabbage recipe up over at MNN. Very easy and very tasty - see picture.

Have a great weekend!

10 easy ways to be more sustainable with St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is in two weeks, and you don't have to be Irish to celebrate it. Fun story before I get to this week's 10 easy ways. This past summer when I was in Ireland, I looked up some family information. According to one of the sources I found, my ancestors on my mother's side kidnapped St. Patrick way back when. There's no way to know if this is true, but it's kind of cool (although I'm sure St. Patrick didn't think so).

Anyway, to make up for the alleged sins of my ancestors, I'm making it my job to green up the day that honors St. Patrick just a little bit. Here's ten easy ways.

1. Make that corned beef grass fed and that cabbage organic.
   
2. Cook that corned beef and cabbage in a slow cooker - it will save a little energy. (disclaimer: I have not tried this recipe, but I may.)
   
3. If you're going on a pub crawl, get your beer on tap instead of in a bottle (and order Smithwicks if you can - it's not greener; it's just the best Irish beer I know).
4. Skip buying a new "Kiss me I'm Irish" t-shirt, even if it's organic. No one's going to kiss you just because you're wearing it, and it's a waste to buy a shirt you'll only wear once a year.
5. You don't need the headband with the four leaf clovers bouncing on top  of it or the green plastic bowler hat. Don't buy cheap stuff you're just going to throw away the next day.
6. If you're planning a part at your house, send e-vites instead of paper invitations.
7. Read the story of St. Patrick to your kids from a book borrowed from the library.
8. Make Irish Potato Candy using all organic ingredients. I wanted to point you to a place where you could purchase some, but I couldn't find one.
9. I was able to find some organic, fair trade chocolates from Sweet Earth Chocolates, however. They have some chocolate, peppermint shamrocks if you feel the need to give someone chocolate on St. Patrick's Day.
10. Download Irish music instead of purchasing physical cd's. I highly recommend the traditional Irish folk music of Beyond the Pale.

Do you have any other tips for greening St. Patrick's Day?

Image: Statue of St. Patrick in St. Patrick's Cathedral, London

Divine praise

Short post today - the boys are off from school and I have to fit in working and mommying on a Monday. I wanted to share with you some praise I have for the chocolate that I bought the boys for Valentine's Day. I took the advice that Lynn and Corey from Celebrate Green gave me when I interviewed them for MNN, and bought the boys a small amount of really good, Fair Trade chocolate.

I bought them each a small bar of Divine milk chocolate. That was it for the candy. We gave it to them mid-morning Saturday. About a half hour after we gave it to them, my nine year old came up with one of the four small squares from the bar.

"Mom,  you've got to try this. This is the best chocolate I've ever had." He gave me a piece. He took another piece to his dad. 

A few minutes later, my six year old came up with a piece of his bar for me, and took a piece to my husband, too. He thought it was so good, he had to share it. They each gave away half of the best candy bar they ever had. My boys are awesome.

It was really, really good chocolate. I've had various fair trade and organic chocolates before, but this was by far the best. 

I'll be writing more about fair trade in the weeks to come, but for now, if you see this chocolate on a shelf, grab some. The small bar only cost $1.45 - certainly pricier than a Hershey Bar but worth every penny more.

10 Easy Ways to Be More Sustainable with Valentine's Day

Only eleven days until the holiday where we celebrate love. Of course, showing our love to the people in our lives is paramount on Valentine's Day, but showing our love to people all around the world by helping to make sure they have a healthy earth is important, too. Here are ten easy ways to be a little more sustainable with your celebration this year.

1. If you're eating out, find a local restaurant that serves most of its food from local sources or small organic farms. A good place to locate one is at Localharvest.org.
   
2. If you're eating in, buy what you can locally, and make sure your ingredients are organic and all-natural.
   
3. Use soy or beeswax candles to set the mood.
   
4. Make a card from things you have around the house instead of buying one.
   
5. Buy organic, fair trade chocolates. Try Sweet Earth Chocolates if you can't find any in your local store.
6. Give locally grown flowers (if you can find them this time of year) or at least make sure the flowers you give were grown organically.
7. Don't buy new music for your in home dinner. Go to Pandora.com and create a Frank Sinatra station. All night long you'll have a swinging rotation of Frank and his Rat Pack buddies along with some of his other contemporaries and some of our contemporaries like Harry Connick, Jr. and Jamie Cullum. It may not be your normal nightly listening, but for Valentine's Day, it's perfect.
8. Buy her recycled jewelry.
9. Buy him a pre-owned box set of Die Hard movies or James Bond movies.
10. Agree to forgo gifts altogether. Your love is enough, right?

Image: aussiegall

Valentine's Day: Lovin' Green While Saving Green

Valentine's Day is a little less than two weeks away. I'll be having several posts, both here and on MNN, talking about ways to show your love to the earth over the next week or so. 

Everyone likes to get a Valentine's card, and if there was ever an appropriate time for a homemade card, Valentine's Day is it. Making a card from what you've already got around the house is more earth friendly than buying a pre-made card, it can save you several dollars, and it's more personal than a manufactured card. 

Today's post on homemade Valentine's cards comes courtesy of Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson , a mother and daughter team who co-authored Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, available at www.CelebrateGreen.net. Lynn and Corey have graciously allowed me to reprint their advice.

The card

Valentine's Day is the second biggest holiday for greeting card sales. Literally billions of cards are sent each year and most come from virgin trees. Making your own cards from recycled and or unconventional materials leaves trees standing and your sweetheart thanking the stars for your creatively thoughtful gesture.

And what to say inside a custom card?

You may not believe you are a writer, but honestly, can a professional truly express what is in your heart in a more meaningful way than you can? Even if you believe she can, just for the fun of it, why not give it a whirl? You (and your love) might be pleasantly surprised. Here are a few pointers for producing poetic prose:

· Five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables--that's haiku, a simply beautiful form of poetry that you'll catch onto quickly. Read a few, then give it a try.

· Of course, a letter or free verse is always an option, or if you're really wanting to knock your partner's socks off, how about writing a sonnet?

· These sound to difficult? Here's an easier, but still romantic idea. Take each letter of the words "My Valentine," and next to it, write something about your beloved. Here's an example:

M My heart
Y You are the only one I'll ever love

V Very best
A Always my partner
L Love you forever
etc.

· If your words don't capture the exact tone you're looking for, remember that laughter is a gift - even if it is unintentional.

Beyond the card

And if you're feeling creative, how about making some seeded paper or thinking inside the box? Select a small box. Cover the outside with pictures of you and your honey or appropriate words cut from a magazine. Inside, place some stones on which you've stamped words of love, a small bag of beans with a tag that says, "I love how you've always BEAN there for me," or come up with a (much) better play on words and items to go with it.

Image: Sister72

Happy New Year!

Are you all ready to stop the holiday celebrating? I'm exhausted. But I'm not complaining, really. We've had time with family, lots of good food, dinners with friends, and times of giving and sharing. And it's not done yet. 

If you look over to the right, you'll see a new feature in the sidebar. It's my official "mini-ad" from Mother Nature Network. If you click on it, it will take you directly to my food blog. Things are ramping up at MNN for our official launch in early January. I'll let you know when we head out of beta and into not-beta. What do you call it when you get out of beta? Are you simply "officially launched?"

If you're on Facebook, you can become a fan of MNN. I'm a fan. My friend Katie is a fan. Come on, I know you want to be a fan, too.

This week on MNN, I'm doing three days of do-good, easy New Year's resolutions that you can adopt as your own. Check it out.

Resolution #1

Resolution #2

Resolution #3 (will post link when it goes up later this afternoon)

I'll be silent until Monday the 5th. I wish you all a very happy and healthy new year.

Look What I Did for my Christmas Party

Okay, after yesterday's post on not screaming about how green your holiday celebration is, I am going to show you one thing I did for my Christmas party over the weekend. I'm not very crafty so I'm a little proud of this (not that it was difficult at all).

Instead of going out and buying poinsettias to help fill in a few of the bare spots around the house, I pillaged my neighbors holly tree. I only took from the branches that overhang in my yard which is totally allowed.  I put holly branches on the top of my china cabinet and put some in vases, too. Look at this:

Poinsettias, pretty as they are, are not grown locally. That means they have to be shipped far. In the past, I've bought them from the cheap produce place that imports all their stuff from Mexico and South America. To sell it that cheaply, I can only assume it's not grown in any manner resembling organic. Add those facts to the whole "we need to go lighter on Christmas spending mentality" around my house (and every other house in the U.S.), and I decided to nix the poinsettias this year. 

The holly option was certainly local, taken from a tree that requires no chemicals to sustain it, and free. I've got a bunch of vases in the basement, so I didn't even need to buy those.

Now, while it's my opinion that we shouldn't go screaming our greenness at our holiday celebrations, it's acceptable to do a little showing off in this forum. So, what have you done differently this year, or added or taken away this year, in the name of being green?

Subtle Green Holiday Party Ideas - Not Happening

You know, I was going to make a list of green party ideas that didn't scream "I'm a green party idea." As I was thinking about the list, it occurred to me that it isn't the food or the decorations or the lights that would be the ones screaming "I'm green." They are inanimate objects and very few people are going to wonder if your candles are parafin or soy, your turkey is free range, or your lights are LED. The only way your guests are going to know these things is if you scream about them.

So here's what I think. I think that your holiday celebration isn't about celebrating green. It's about celebrating the birth of Jesus or celebrating the miracle of eight nights of burning oil lamps or simply celebrating friends and family.

So go ahead. Make your holiday party as green as you want. Buy the free range turkey, serve the organic wine, play holiday music downloaded via mp3's instead of going out and buying physical cd's, buy all your linens from a thrift store, and re-wear last year's Christmas sweater. Just keep your mouth shut about it all.

Don't spend Christmas dinner talking about why your real tree is greener than your brother's artifical tree. Don't let everyone know that the paper plates your using for dessert are made from recycled materials and are completely compostable. Don't make this holiday about being greener than everyone else at your table. Be a gracious greenie this holiday season.

Oh, and the above picture is this year's tree that we decorated last night. And I'm not going to tell you if we bought it from a local source or if the light's are LED. I know and I don't need to scream about it.

Free Christmas Music - MP3's

It's easy to see how buying your music via mp3 download is greener than buying a physical product. What's even better than music that's greener? FREE music that's greener. A while back I did a post with the places where I find legal free music downloads. Two of those places are iTunes and Amazon.

During the holiday season, both sites offer free Christmas music. iTunes usually offers two songs each week, with the new songs being offered each Tuesday. This week's offerings are from Faith Hill and Brian McKnight.

Amazon has a much bigger selection of free Christmas music than iTunes. They are doing a 25 days of Free music. Today's free selection - Greensleeves done by Vince Guaraldi. Much cooler than Faith Hill or Brian McKnight. The selections are free all month so if you've missed days 1-10 so far, it's not too late. A new selection is introduced each day. They also have a free holiday music sampler with artists like Bing Crosby and The Beach Boys. If you poke around a bit, you can find other free music, too.

So there is my early Christmas present to all of you - free music. Get downloading.

Last minute addition: I'm adding this to the list because I just found out about it. My favorite radio station in Philly, WXPN, is doing a 12 Days of Local Christmas Music. All the downloads are from Philly Local bands. Today is day 3, but you can download past days' songs, too. And, of course, it's FREE!

Better Holiday Candles: Soy and Beeswax

I need candles for the candle holder in fireplace candle stand. We don't light the candles in there that often, so it's been a couple of years since I bought them. The last time I bought them, I went to the dollar store for them. I was able to fill the stand with candles for less than $10.

I need new candles for it, and I priced them out over the weekend - to the tune of $48. Have candles really gone up that much? No, the conventional dollar store candles are still available at the dollar store. I'm not willing to buy the conventional candles anymore. I'm looking to buy soy candles. Here's why.

Conventional candles are made from paraffin. Paraffin candles are made from petroleum and emit harmful carcinogens when burned. Their creation is bad for the earth's environment and their use is bad for the environment inside your home.

In contrast, soy candles are made from soybeans and are non-toxic. No carcinogens are emitted when they burn. They usually cost more than paraffin candles, but they burn longer. They don't need to be replaced as often. 

Another option is beeswax candles. Beeswax is a completely renewable resource. Beeswax candles burn longer than paraffin candles and they are almost dripless making them a good candle to put on top of a tablecloth - no difficult wax drips to try to clean off. Like soy candles they bur clean, and like soy they are more expensive than paraffin.

Sometimes better, cleaner, more environmentally friendly costs more. This is one of those times. I don't know if the soy and beeswax candles burn long enough to cancel out their higher cost. I do know that I'm not willing to pay $48 for the candles in my fireplace. I'm either going to find them cheaper or do without for now.

But, considering it's the holidays and a lot of candles are going to get burned in the next three weeks or so, I thought I'd let you all know what the better choices are.