It's Easy Being Green

If you’re looking to green up your New Year’s celebration with some eco-friendly bubbly, the selection is still pretty slim.  Not many in viticulture (growing grapes for wine) have jumped on the eco-bandwagon.  But there are a few lines out there that might be worth a shot.  Look for these options at your local wine shop:

1)  Dom. de Montbourgeau Cremant du Jura – $21.99 Hand-harvested grapes come from an eight-hectare farm run by the founder’s granddaughter.

2)  Avinyo Cava Rosado - $25.99 Four small organic farms supply the winery; the winemaker consults a 300-year-old book for farming tips.

3) Foreau Vouvray Brut – $26.99 12-hectare farm managed organically; yields intentionally held down to privilege quality over quantity.

4) François Pinon Vouvray Petillant Brut - $20.99 Supplied by 14 hectares of organically managed land, with a variety of microclimates and soil types.

Are you looking for a quick, homemade hostess gift to whip up for a New Year’s party you might be headed to?  Read my post on Homemade Liquers and Cordials.  They would make a tasty option.

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As it gets closer to New Year’s Day, more and more people will begin to take down their holiday light displays.  I know I usually like to have it put away by then because I’m done looking at it, at least for another year.  This year I put up very few lights because the house we’re renting has extensive gutters and aluminum siding.  On top of that, I don’t have a ladder that will allow me to get too crazy with the decorations.  I also noticed that several strings of my lights don’t work.

Mini-LED Lights

I’ve been wanting to switch over to LED light strings but am waiting for the cost to come down a little and for my strings to quit working.  If you’re in the same conundrum, wanting to switch over but not sure what to do with the old lights, you should check out this Christmas Light Recycling Program.  Holiday LED’s will recycle the old strands you mail them and give you a 15% off coupon for new strings of LED lights.  That’s a pretty cool deal and a great way to properly dispose of your old lights.

Have you made the switch to holiday LED light sets yet?  If so, what do you think?  If not, what’s keeping you from doing it?

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Are you egg-nogged out yet?  I can’t seem to get my fill of the drink that is delightfully bad for us!  Sometimes the usual old flavor gets boring though.  So how about this alternative recipe for Homemade Banana Eggnog:

I cup plain or vanilla yogurt

1 banana, cut up

2 Tbsp. honey

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

Place all the ingredients into a blender and process for 20 seconds or until smooth.  Yum!  The recipe makes 2 servings.  If you’d like to turn it into a winter warmer, your favorite brandy or even a banana brandy would taste pretty good in this one.  Do you have any eggnog recipes that you’d like to share?

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By now you might be booting extra family out the door or finally getting to see loved ones who didn’t make it that far before the grips of old man winter trapped them at the airport.  Either way, this weekend you might begin to get antsy and wonder what to do with all the aftermath of Christmas (hopefully it was a good one to you and your family).

Last year, I discovered some creative ways to recycle your Christmas tree.  You can check them out by reading this post called Christmas Tree-cycling.

We’ve been receiving a lot of gifts by mail this year and thus have dealt with an overload of packing materials.  Most people think you can only throw all that stuff out but luckily you don’t have to.  You can donate those packing materials back to shipping stores.  They’ll gladly re-use them and keep them from just a one-time use before going into the landfill.  You can also call the “Peanut Hotline” at (800) 828-2214.  For more about packing materials read The Joy (and horror) of Packing Peanuts.

For electronic items or toys, hopefully you opted to power those items with some rechargeable batteries.  That’s really the best option.  But once those batteries lose their charge and aren’t useful anymore you can still recycle them instead of throwing them out.  Visit the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation for more details on where to send them.

I’m not a parent yet but I think purging old toys and donating them is a wonderful idea, especially after the holidays when the kids are overrun with new things to play with.  There are several ways parents run this but the most popular seems to be when the parent sits down with their child and asks them to pick out a toy they don’t use anymore (one for each new toy received) and then donate them to charitable thrift stores.

Did you get a new cell phone for Christmas?  How about donating the old one if you don’t want to keep it around as a backup!  A group called CollectiveGood will take your old cell phone and you can write it off as a tax-deductible donation.  If you live near one of 1500 UPS stores spread across the U.S., you can head over to their location.  Each store has a free envelope so you can drop off items like cell phones, ink cartridges, digital cameras and MP3 players and send them in for recycling.  The shipment is also free.  Thanks UPS!

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Are you looking for a steaming hot cup of chocolate to warm you up and satsify your sweet tooth?  You might want to try some real, homemade hot cocoa then.  The stuff you buy in packets at the store can be good but the homemade stuff can be even better.  Try this recipe out:

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

2 Tbsp honey

2 cups warm milk

1/4 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp powdered milk (optional)

Blend cocoa and honey in a cup.  Add a small amount of the warm milk to make a syrup.  Pour that syrup into the rest of the warm milk and add the vanilla.  If you’d like richer cocoa, pour the milk mixture into the blender and add the powdered milk, blending until combined.  Pour the contents back into a pan and heat until warm but not boiling.  Of course you can always top off of your homemade cocoa with another sweet treat like marshmallows or a candy cane!

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By now your mailbox has probably seen the biggest stuffing of the year, brimming over with cards and letters from family and friends both near and far.  But did you know there is a way to recycle all those cards instead of just tossing them in the trash?

You can cut the fronts off of the cards you received and send them to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children.  The children can make and sell new cards from the old ones they receive and of course raise money for a wonderful program.  Just mail your card fronts to:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, 100 St. Jude’s Street, PO Box 60100, Boulder City, NV 89006

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With just a few days left before Christmas, many people are probably busy switching gears into wrapping mode.  All of my wrapping is done but I know many last minute procrastinators who don’t wrap until the 11pm witching hour on Christmas Eve.  There are many ways you can make the wrapping process a little greener this year.

First, consider alternative ways to wrap your presents instead of using the traditional roll of paper purchased from the store.  You can use just about anything.  One of my personal favorites is using the “funnies” from the newspaper.  It’s colorful and fun!  You can also old posters, maps, sheet music and any other piece of recycled paper you can think of.  People have also suggested wallpaper scraps, scarves, pillowcases and fabric remnants.

If you’re more into bags, a lot of the shopping bags you get while doing the holiday shopping could double as gift bags once you get to wrapping.  You can just use some ribbon and tissue paper to dress it up a notch.  Clothing can be rolled up tightly and tied with a piece of ribbon before sticking in a stocking or placing it under the tree.  Large items in a box can be hidden with a blanket or by tieing a scarf around it.  Small items like jewlry or cell phones can be hidden inside the tree.  I’ve done this a couple of times and have gotten a lot of enjoyment watching my recipient trying to find their hidden gift and then see their surprise when they finally pull it out of the branches.

It’s also good to think about how you can recycle all that wrapping paper.  A lot of municipal recycling programs can’t recycle the glossy, printed wrapping paper.  If that’s the case you might want to consider going for the old fashioned look by using plain craft paper.  You can use rubber stamps to dress up the wrapping paper and decorate it yourself.  Than you can rest a little easier knowing that mountain of paper won’t be headed toward the landfill.

Do you have any suggestions on how to reduce, reuse or recycle your gift wrapping?  Please share them if you do!

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