Tea Party
Wow! All In This Tea.
Organic Chinese farmers
and one man with worms.
3 months ago
25 Green Days of Christmas
Day 13 --
Reuse It
I read these ideas in the Chronicle a couple of weeks ago and can't get them out my mind.
First, using strings of burnt out Christmas lights as ribbon substitutes. This is genius. At least it would be in my family.
And this one - buying an old couch pillow at the local thrift store, opening it up and using the stuffing as snow on the mantle. That is, if you need snow on the mantle. I don't, but if I did I would wash the pillow first. It's clever.
Eat Local Challenge
Don't let the 25 Green Days of Christmas be misleading - this is still a careening blog about eating local foods as a way to reduce my carbon bite.
My initial picture of eating local was somehow being able to stomach gruel and mushy potatoes that grew wild Einstein like eyebrows that would have to be composted before cooking. It was a scary prospect that I tentatively entered.
Pollan showed me the door, Kingsolver opened it and the Eat Local Challenge blog was there when I stepped in. Nearly every day for those first weeks I would visit the ELC website and take heart that I wasn't crazy and people weren't starving or ugly because they had chosen to eat foods grown where they lived. The people on the website seemed to not only lead regular and varied lives but they were eating really good food. And they could cook. There was no gruel. They cared about the environment and how their food was grown and labeled. And that gave me hope and still does.
So it's no surprise that the Eat Local Challenge blog has been nominated as the 2007 Food Blog of the Year. WooooWhooooo! I want them to win.
They're doing great work and they include everyone. If you have ever compared a piece of fruit from say, another country, to the same fruit grown closer to your home and put the fruit grown nearby in your mouth, you have met the challenge. It's not always easy but it does generally taste better.
If you want to join the fan club and maybe get this work more press you can vote here. It only takes a second.
I also have to mention the Food on the Food blog, which was nominated for Best Food Blog of the Year for Humor. Sometimes I spit the way the laughter rises up so fast reading it. It's embarrassing. The author, Tammy, makes eating local food worthy of stand up comedy. But even better. And she can cook - with kids. The cute guy has a crush on her.
The humor category ballot is here. The blog is Food on the Food.
25 Green Days of Christmas
Day 11 --
Used Books
I salivate over new books. Shiny, untouched covers. Pages that have never been folded. The scent of printing still fresh. I create altars of new books next to the bed with milagros and reading glasses, scrapbook worthy page markers, a holy glass of filtered water. My adoration knows no ends.
And one of the best gifts I received this year was a used cookbook from Thrift Books. It was like someone opened the window and a rush of fresh air entered the room.
The cover isn't shiny, there is a permanent crease in the corner and the edges are worn soft. The pages don't crack but are soft like old jeans. And I love it.
I carry it into the kitchen and set it on the counter. It doesn't stay out of the fray, relegated to the kitchen table, but gets in the action with flour and eggs. It's not afraid of the splattering that happens every time I turn on the food processor. It's like an old friend that visits when the laundry is on the living room floor. And then helps fold it.
Aside from Thrift Books being less expensive and the fact that reusing anything when possible is a terrific -- Thirftbooks uses a minimal amount of packaging for mailing.
Ideally buying used books at a local independent book store would be the green of all greens. Great choirs would rejoice. But Thrift Books is a great second choice.
25 Green Days of Christmas
Day 8 ---
Fruit Trees
Give fruit trees. Plant fruit trees. A kumquat is on my Christmas list.
Day 9 --
Farmers' Market Artisans
For the last six weeks I've been looking for the woman that makes ceramic butter dishes with tops the shape of farm animals, painted in mottled shades of kindergarden paint. They are individual works of art and I should have bought them for gifts immediately upon seeing them. But I didn't.
And every week that the doll maker is there I stand in the center of her display and pick a doll for every little girl I can think of. But I've yet to buy one. The time will come. I can guarantee it. I only hope she will still be there.
The wooden bowls at the market always draw me in too. I run my hand over the smooth rims, test the weight, inquire about the wood and dream. It's so fun.
Then there are the Sunday morning jewelry makers. My favorite is Gary Khler and Blue Flame. I'd like to give one of everything they have.
I don't know that it's more green to shop at the farmers' market for Xmas gifts but it feels good to be outside. It feels good supporting independent artisans, buying locally produced goods. It feels good not being bombarded by ever more merchandise and add on items at check out stands and so many choices the simplest one becomes a compromise to get out the door.
Day 10 --
Keep It Simple
One year the cute guy and I were traveling on Christmas in a country where we didn't speak the language. We were on the move, traveling light and came up with this idea.
On the afternoon of Christmas Eve we set a gift budget of $5 each and set out to get gifts.
The cute guy bought a paint brush and red paint, found a piece of cardboard and painted a checkerboard that folded in the middle. With the remainder of money he bought a silk drawstring bag that he filled with two types of beer caps he found on the roads to and from town and we spent Christmas day playing checkers in a noisy jungle bungalow. It was one of the best gifts I've ever received.
And surely one of the simplest.
25 Green Days of Christmas
Day 7--
Give something that you already have.
My Mom does this all the time as my brother clearly pointed out this evening.
She once gave me socks that someone had given her. I love them. Their soft and too big and perfect for the couch. And she gave the cute guy a walking stick that has teeth. He growls each time he takes it out.
I once gave a friend my original four pieces of Fiesta Ware. She thinks of me each time she uses them on the table and I love that. We are creating history, building stories.
The cute guy is almost as good as my Mom at giving stuff away. I'm a beginner. He said he could make gifts of his musical instruments. I flinched which seemed a good test that the gifts would be good.
He suggested I could give away a couple of my little bowls. That flinch was bigger. "No way. I love those bowls."
He suggested some of my vases. I gave him the stare.
For me flinching is good though as it means the gift has meaning; it's not a throw away.
Somewhere in between, between flinching and not flinching, is the right shade of green. And if I'm not sure I can ask my Mom.
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