GardeningNude

Giving From The Heart - 2009 Holiday Green Gift Guide Resource Ideas

We live in an increasingly materialistic society in the United States, and often take all the “stuff” we have for granted. With our communities surviving a very difficult economic time, it seems important to pull back on the gift giving and push forward with giving from the heart. It is not about how many gifts we give; it is about the love in our hearts when we give them.

When you do give a gift, consider giving a good-for-the-earth-gift. Green and sustainable gifts are the best gifts because they keep on giving even after the holidays are over. Try gifting your friends and family with green and sustainable presents this season and make a difference for our world. Below are a few of the best green gift giving guides online; great resources for you and your family to tap into this holiday season.

Sustainability expert and landfill rescuer, Kay McKeen, runs a School & Community Assistance for Recycling & Composting Education center in Illinois, also known as “SCARCE”. This organization has rescued millions of books from the landfills for free donation to local and international schools. SCARCE staff spends hundreds of hours educating locals on the benefits of living green and this year have built a terrific online green gift guide. To view SCARCE's local-to-Chicagoland Green Gift Guide online, visit their web site – http://s-c-a-r-c-e.org or telephone (630) 545-9710.

Another online gift guide is annually published by Inhabitat.com, which is a sustainable design blog site, and features an entire website filled with easy to navigate categories listing green gifts specifically for the 2009 season. To view Inhabitat.com’s Green Gift Guide, go to this web site - http://greenholidaygiftguide.inhabitat.com.

Treehugger.com, a Discovery Channel Company, has one of the most fantastic green guides out there for the 2009 holiday season. They present many categories of gifts combined with beautiful full page photography to give you a close-up description and view of why the products they recommend are considered good for the environment. To view Treehugger’s Green Gift Guide, go to this web site - www.treehugger.com/giftguide.

When you buy gifts this holiday season think “green and healthy” to help planet earth, it is definitely the best purchase choice. What are my favorite green gifts? I have several listed this week on my gardening blog, The Casual Gardener, and a wonderful wind sculpture in here on Gardening Nude.

However, my preferred green gift is “time”. Our days are filled with such busy schedules that it is difficult to find time to breathe, let alone share it with others. Case-in-point; the top photo of my daughter snuggling with one of her best friends playing a shared video game. That was important time for these two little girls – friend time. We all need more special shared moments in our lives.

Taking the time to specifically be with a good friend or someone you love, just to hold their hand or play a game together, means more than almost anything you could possibly buy for them. Do it this season and be rewarded with returned love and more. 

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Win A Recycled Wind Sculpture For A Christmas or Holiday Gift and Help Keep Metal Out Of Our Landfills!

My favorite recycled green gift of the year comes from two fantastic artists who are long time friends and partners, Barbara C. Ryan and Elsa M. Mikus. They run an awesome shop based on a green concept which keeps metals out of the landfills. Tempest In A Teapot is a small business which specializes in recycling teapots and silverware into beautiful wind chime creations. 

After starting their arts and crafts business, the ladies were soon happy to see Tempest In A Teapot’s products available in art shows, galleries, and gift shops through out the United States.

Barbara and Elsa were kind enough to send the teapot wind chime (see photo) for Gardening Nude to give-away to one lucky reader for the holidays. This teapot wind chime is valued at $175  and is approximately 24” tall and 10” wide. There are seven silver spoons that hang below the teapot, one of the spoons is engraved with the artists signature.

TO WIN THIS TEAPOT:

1. Sign up to become an email subscriber to this blog. Do that by going to the upper right hand corner of the page and entering your email address, then follow the instructions.
2. Sing about this blog on Twitter.com (you must belong to Twitter to do this.) Create the message of your choice with the phrase  “www.gardeningnude.com” in the tweet. You can say anything you want about the blog or contest – hopefully positive! :-)

(An example: ‘Go to www.gardeningnude.com to learn about being green and healthy!’)

A random number generator will be used to determine the winner on THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4th, so start tweeting ASAP. Every time you tweet the Gardening Nude URL you will be re-entered in the contest for more chances to win!

If you would like to see more selection and order one of these awesome recycled gifts, please go to this link - - Tempest In A Teapot.

And the winner of the Teapot Wind Sculpture is - -

::DRUMROLL PLEASE::…………………..

Randomly selected Twitter person who used “www.gardeningnude.com” in a tweet - “@genewrites” from the Gene Was Here Blog. Congratulations Gene – you won yourself a fantastic green holiday gift! :-)

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

GAIAM’s Kitchen Compost Pail – A Great Way to Encourage Garden Composting – A Video Review

Composting is one of the easiest ways to create incredible soil for your garden which requires very little or any amendments. Compost is “black gold” and the first step to composting is getting your kitchen bi-products inside your home out to the larger composter behind your home.

Truly, compost pails are a neglected part of the composting process because of their simple nature, yet many people give up on composting without really trying at it because they do not like the smells or issues related to “rotting” veg material sitting on their kitchen counter. A compost pail combats that problem.

This stainless steel compost crock* was sent to me from GAIAM, an awesome company focused on providing products to customers who value the environment, a sustainable economy, healthy lifestyles, alternative healthcare and personal development. They are keeping life green – and this crock is a part of that by encouraging better composting. See the below video review I made for the compost pail:

Compost pails hold kitchen scraps. A pail should be large enough to hold at least a day’s kitchen compost and perhaps two – this crock holds more than that easily. Here’s some advice on utilizing a compost pail in your kitchen, with a mention of some of the better features of this particular pail:

• Wash the pail on a regular basis. Rinse with warm water and soap. I like to dry it with paper towels I might have already used but not diminished much, then I put the paper towels in the compost pail as it is great material to compost. Good idea for reusing paper in the kitchen.
• Empty the pail every two days or whenever it fills – with the lid and charcoal insert GAIAM’s crock uses, it keeps odor down considerably, so can be kept longer.
• Fruit flies become far less of a problem with this pail due to the lid structure. Be sure to keep your pail lidded for prevention of fruit flies.
• Regularly sterilize the pail with hot water and bleach. This prevents harmful bacteria from becoming a problem.

Please get a kitchen compost pail soon; it’s a great holiday gift and will encourage the user to really consider composting in a more serious light.

I loved GAIAM’s stainless steel kitchen compost keeper after testing it for almost two months, and plan on using it for a long time because it was really easy to use and has a terrific non-stink charcoal insert in the lid. No compost stink in the kitchen is fantastic! It helped remind me to bring the material out to the garden composter, instead of tossing it down the garbage disposal. All around a win-win product.

If you would like to learn more about the above composter and perhaps order it, just click this link.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

FYI – I also posted this on my gardening blog – http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com, but felt it was so useful for composting, I should post on my “greening” blog as well. Enjoy!

*This product was sent to me at no cost - I tested it for two months in the kitchen. My review is wholly honest, my own opinion, and not based on additional payment from the Gaiam company in any form. In fact, my agreement with them is that I would review their product in a totally honest fashion, keeping my readers and viewers needs at the top of the priority list when considering this product’s recommendation and use.

Why Butter Bell Bowls Are A Cool Idea – Try It - Plus a green BOOK GIVEAWAY!

 

Allergies are torture for me. I am allergic to everything from dogs to dust to trees to soy beans. No kidding. If allowed, my allergies will keep me in a perpetual state of stuffiness, sinus infections, and bronchitis.

Learning to control my mold and soy allergies have been particularly difficult. No bread, no wine, no cheese, no beer, no mushrooms, no chinese food. Sometimes I have no choice but to eat an allergen food as there is nothing else available. Mostly, I sacrifice.

Because of the lack of spreadability issue, I have rarely used real butter – I always use margarine. Recently I discovered that most margarine’s are made of soy beans. There is also a lot of controversy over margarine versus butter due to the trans fat content levels.

Therefore, I have decided to try a technique for storing real butter which leaves it soft and useable inspired by Vanessa Farquharson, author of Sleeping Naked is Green. This was a really interesting green read. Vanessa decides to make one serious green change to her life every day for a year. She learns how to turn off her refrigerator, lower the temp on her water heater, stop wasteful practices, and so much more. Part of her change of using no refrigerator was to utilize butter from a butter bell bowl.

While I am green, I am not green to the extreme. Like everyone else, I prefer taking easy, simple, baby-steps. However, this butter bowl idea holds weight because it could allow me to break my margarine addiction and possibly take my allergies down a notch. Anything to get our family healthier and feeling awesome. Besides – my mouth starts watering every time I remember the fresh taste of butter on a hot tortilla right off the griddle!

After careful research, I decided to purchase my butter bowl at Williams-Sonoma. It is surprisingly easy to use. If you look at the top photo on this page you will see butter inside the “lid” of the butter bowl.

All you have to do is turn the lid over and spoon the butter in.

Put a small amount of water in the bottom of the bowl – it acts as a seal for the butter so it will not go bad while sitting out without refrigeration. Be sure to change the water every couple of days or so.

Then turn the lid upside down and place it on the bowl with the water just covering the lid’s opening. Easy!

Without a doubt, this butter bowl has been an awesome kitchen gadget which I will now keep FOREVER. Fresh butter which is easy to spread and helps my allergies. Love it!

Three copies of Sleeping Naked is Green is sitting on my office desk right now and I will give away all three copies randomly chosen from whoever leaves a comment listing a good idea for going green in the kitchen.

Please leave a comment below before next Friday – July 3, 2009. Then follow me on Twitter (@shawnacoronado) to qualify and good luck!

THE CONTEST WINNERS HAVE BEEN RANDOMLY SELECTED FROM THE AWESOME IDEAS IN THE COMMENT AREA BELOW. AND THE WINNERS ARE – MARIANNE, KRISTA, AND GAYLA - - - CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS FOR THE AWESOME IDEAS!! 

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

 

Get Yo' Green on Tuesday - Stop Over-Consuming; Reuse and Recycle Basic Items In Creative Ways

Making a difference from a green perspective means thinking about consumption. What are you throwing away that you could be reusing? Why buy something new when the items you have are perfectly good? We Americans consume more of the world’s natural resources than most of the globe. It’s time to stop that behavior and start making a difference.

What this means is that the little things count. Our resources are used to create millions of small items - not one giant item. Little things that fill our lives every day like aluminum foil, plastics, boxes, toys, and clothes are all recyclable or reusable. Recycling ordinary things in a creative way can save valuable landfill space.

For example, I collect stationery boxes, using them to store memories and knick-knacks. Boxes can be reused for many reasons other than their original purpose – like gift boxes or travel kits. Another creative idea, and my favorite use of a stationery box, is the below purse I made for a holiday party.

HOW TO MAKE A PURSE FROM A STATIONERY BOX

 

Supplies:

One Attractive Stationery Box, String or Cord, Drill, and Glue or Hot Glue

Steps:

Step 1 – Clean box out and decide which should be the top of the “purse” and the bottom of the purse. Choose a drill bit for the drill that allows for the size of the string or cord being used.

Step 2 – Close box and drill four holes in the box bottom. If there is a lid, be sure that two holes are drilled directly through the lid and box while box is closed. Two more holes should be drilled equidistant from each other through the bottom of the box. See photo.

Step 3 – Drill two holes in the top of the purse to hold the purse “handle”. See photo.

Step 4 – If there is a lid, drill one hole in the top of the purse directly through the lid while the lid is open. Be sure to center the hole, it will be used for the purse closure knot. See above photo.

Step 5 – Drill one final hole parallel to the closure hole. This will be used to hold the closure loop. See above photo.

Step 6 – Cut string, feed through holes on the bottom of the box, and knot to form the “hinge” on the bottom of the purse. See below photo.

Step 7 – Cut string for handle. Be sure to measure the length you want - making it a long strap or short dependent on your requirements, then feed through two holes on top of the box, making knots on the interior.

Step 8 – Cut string for closure knot. Form into a thick knot. Feed end through top lid hole. Place a spot of glue on the interior of the lid, drop string end into glue, then close the lid for a moment to make sure the string will not block the box’s ability to close. See below photo.

Step 9 – Cut string for loop. Knot the bottom of the loop, then feed loop up through hole on top of purse.

Step 10 – Pull knots taught and dot glue on all interior knots to prevent string from fraying and to hold the string in place. See photo of interior of purse.

Step 11 – Let dry.

Next time an opportunity presents itself, please do not throw away a valuable resource. Instead, consider a creative way to reuse the little things in your life. They may be small, but are important resources for so many. Make a difference for our world today - every little bit counts.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Get Your Green On Tuesdays – Teaching Children Recycling and Green-Crafts

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: the “greenie” mantra. One of my favorite ways to practice the 3 R’s is to save trash from the landfill by recycling it in the form of a craft.

Being the first week in January, my kids and I took down all our old calendars. Instead of tossing the calendars in the recycling bin, we decided to re-use them. Similarly, I have been saving some full-color folders from the Chicago Art Institute, awaiting a good excuse to reuse them for a craft.

We are reusing these products to make bookmarks which can be used for writing notes on [by writing on the back of the bookmark]. It is an easy craft children and adults of all ages and helps teach about how to rescue reusable products from the landfill. One 12 month calendar and one folder made an amazing 90 bookmarks - all beautiful and artistic.

RECYCLE CRAFT - MAKE BOOKMARKS OUT OF USED CALENDARS AND FOLDERS

Tools Needed:

Old Calendars or Folders – any colorful paper product which has a “stiff” feel so it will not fold or bend when being used for a bookmark.

Scissors or Paper Trimmer (I prefer a paper trimmer because it is quick to measure and cut)

Step One: Disassemble calendar, separating staples or cutting pages off the holder.

Step Two: Measure and mark 2” X 8” rectangular areas on the full-color design. If you are using a paper trimmer you can eliminate “marking” the rectangular areas and simply measure with the measuring marks on the trimmer.

Step Three: Cut as many 2” X 8” bookmarks as possible with paper material. Save leftover scraps to make smaller bookmarks.

Step Four: Recycle remaining scraps.

Step Five: Give as gifts or use yourself. We like to use the bookmarks when reading reference material - we write notes on the back-side of the bookmarks.

Happy Crafting!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Get Yo' Green On Tuesdays - How to Save Money and Save the Earth During the Twelve Days of Christmas

I'm dreaming of a green Christmas, Hanukah, and Kwanzaa. In an amazing salute to the holidays I have created my very own GREEN "Twelve Days of Christmas" Sing-A-Long.

Wanna be green this season? More ecologically friendly? Well, start humming the tune - everyone sing with me now:

On the first day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the second day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

I'm sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the third day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green;

I'm using a live tree, sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the fourth day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

I'm reusing bows, using a live tree, sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the fifth day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

I'm GIVING ORGANIC WINE, reusing bows, using a live tree, sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the sixth day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

I'm wrapping gifts with fabric, GIVING ORGANIC WINE, reusing bows, using a live tree, sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the seventh day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

I'm using LED light sets, wrapping gifts with fabric, GIVING ORGANIC WINE, reusing bows, using a live tree, sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the eighth day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

I'm buying locally made gifts, using LED light sets, wrapping gifts with fabric, GIVING ORGANIC WINE, reusing bows, using a live tree, sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the ninth day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

I'm giving a farm co-op membership, buying locally made gifts, using LED light sets, wrapping gifts with fabric, GIVING ORGANIC WINE, reusing bows, using a live tree, sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the tenth day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

I'm preparing an organic meal, giving a farm co-op membership, buying locally made gifts, using LED light sets, wrapping gifts with fabric, GIVING ORGANIC WINE, reusing bows, using a live tree, sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the eleventh day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

I'm giving recycled products, preparing an organic meal, giving a farm co-op membership, buying locally made gifts, using LED light sets, wrapping gifts with fabric, GIVING ORGANIC WINE, reusing bows, using a live tree, sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

On the twelfth day of the holidays I'm giving the gift of green; 

I'm composting holiday dinner waste, giving recycled products, preparing an organic meal, giving a farm co-op membership, buying locally made gifts, using LED light sets, wrapping gifts with fabric, GIVING ORGANIC WINE, reusing bows, using a live tree, sending email cards, and converting to CFL light bulbs.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com

Monday Whazzup - Make Green Holiday Gifts and Bring Family Together

Scarf making fabric - $30. Hot cocoa - $1. Scissors - Free. Spending a snowy afternoon with your children making inexpensive, green-packaged, no-sew, thoughtful homemade gifts - Priceless!!!

Why spend hours at a shopping center agonizing over the ridiculously expensive, overly packaged, tremendously materialistic holiday gifts, when you could be spending that precious time with a child or friend? Making homemade gifts for the holidays sounds trite and dated to some, but for my family it is a valuable opportunity to learn how to give greener, more eco-friendly gifts while spending really special time together. Building family community is so important, and the process of making the crafts is a gift all by itself because of the fun we have working together.

Surrounded by scarves, my daughter holds the completed efforts of our scarf-making afternoon of fun.

Our homemade gift of choice this year is a scarf made out of fleece. It is a no-sew project, which means we do not use the electricity of a sewing machine or utilize chemicals or glues of any sort which might be harmful to the environment to make our gift.

While it is possible to measure and mark precisely, of course, my daughter and I choose to use an old scarf as a template. We lay out the yards of fabric, smooth it down, and I cut the long strips which will become the scarf.

While I do this, my daughter is snipping fringe designs on the end of each scarf. It is easy work although time consuming, so while we work, we talk about life, school, and family. She and I laugh hysterically at our secret jokes and she tests each scarf to make sure it is "perfect". We discuss what it means living a greener lifestyle; it does not mean we have to be extremists, it does mean we are trying to do our little part every day and children can be an active part of this experience.

 

Soon our project is done and our hot cocoa is empty but we are left with the memory of a beautiful afternoon where we have truly made a difference in each others lives. We have saved money, done something green, and spent time together.

Encourage your family and friends to become closer - make a craft together for the holidays and build a healthy community of relationships. Many are alone and depressed during the holiday season, so when you spend time together, you can truly change a life and brighten someone's day. I know my daughter and I brightened each others afternoon - we are still smiling.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com