The neighborhood I grew up in used to be a grapefruit grove. So consequently at the high point of my childhood home we had 12 grapefruit trees surrounding us. It was a daunting task trying to figure out what to do with so much fruit. As a kid I used to sell brown paper bags full of grapefruit for $5.00 and the best days to sell were days when you knew there were a lot of tourists in town (Fiesta Bowl, Super Bowl, Parada del Sol, etc.)

We definitely couldn’t eat the fruit of 12 trees and there wasn’t much inspiration surrounding grapefruit either. Sure we would end up eating a few as a “breakfast treat” or at least that’s what my dad would try and convince us of the supremely sour fruit. I do miss the intoxicating scent of all the citrus blossoms in the spring though and the sight of hundreds of bright fruits adorning trees in your own yard. Now that I’m older, I do have to say that I’m a fan of citrus and miss the plethora of the harvest sometimes. And, since I’m on my quest for sustainability I’ve also discovered a lot of different uses for the warm weather fruit.

The December issue of Sunset magazine had a great recipe for homemade Rosemary Limoncello. Limoncello is an intensely flavored liqueur typically served as an after dinner drink on Italy’s Amalfi Coast and adjoining Sorrento Peninsula. This is the perfect time of the year to make this homemade liqueur in the desert southwest because of the availability of lemons. If you don’t happen to have good access to lemons in your neck of the woods, you can order direct from some citrus orchards out here. The recipe recommends using Meyer lemons because of their fragrance. But you can also achieve excellent results using Eureka lemons. A local Arizona citrus orchard is McClendon’s Select. The Limoneira Orchard in Southern California offers Meyer lemons through their mail order business. Ojai Citrus also does mail order with mixed boxes containing a variety of citrus choices. You could also get a nice variety of swing-top glass bottles to put your limoncello in for giving out to friends and family once it’s matured. To me, it sounds like a great and different way to enjoy this year’s citrus harvest. If you have a favorite recipe using the refreshing flavors of citrus, let us know about it!

Rosemary Limoncello

Courtesy: Sunset Magazine, December 2007 edition

You will need:

18 lemons (washed and dried)

one 4-inch rosemary sprig (washed and dried)

2 bottles of 100 proof vodka (750ml bottles of Stoli or Smirnoff)

4 1/2 cups sugar

1) Peel lemons with a sharp vegetable peeler, taking only the zest (top layer) and avoiding any white pith. Put rosemary in a 1 gallon glass or ceramic container with a tight seal. Add zest to jar.

2) Pour 750ml. vodka over rosemary and zest; seal container. Let sit undisturbed in a cool dark place for about 40-days.

3) On 40th day, in a saucepan, bring 5 cups of water to a boil and add sugar. Cook, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Let sugar syrup cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.

4) Pour syrup and remaining 750ml. vodka over lemon-vodka mixture, stir and seal container. Let sit in a cool, dark place for another 40 days.

5) Pour limoncello through cheesecloth into a large spouted pitcher and divide among gift bottles. Limoncello will keep indefinitely in the freezer. Recipe makes 10 2/3 cups and will fill ten 8.5 oz. bottles.

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!

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!

Think about offering a service like baby sitting to somone who really needs it.  If you know an avid traveller, offer up some pet sitting time.  You could grant special favors like cleaning the house from top to bottom.  Or you could present a spa at home day where you provide a meal, massage, pedicure and a drawn bath with candles.  A popular thing to do is create a coupon booklet with several different favors so the recipient can “cash them in” whenever they want.  Maybe you have a special skill or hobby that someone close to you has admired.  You could spend a day teaching them everything you know about that skill or hobby so they can get involved themselves and maybe make a special project together.

Non-material gifts will save you money and save the environment too.  Have you ever put together a non-materialistic gift?  What did you give?  Share your stories!

Today is my birthday and my girlfriend bought me one of the best birthday presents ever! She picked up this little device called a Solio. It’s basically an array of 3 solar panels that open up like a flower. The panels have an internal battery and produce enough power to recharge just about an cell phone or mp3 player you might have on the road with you. It’s great because while you’re driving, you can harness the power of the sun right on your dashboard. You can also take these devices out into the field and not have to rely on an wall power or other random outlet to recharge your phone.

I’m super excited because over the last month I started travelling more for my job. It can take me to some really remote, out of the way places and this is one simple way I can make sure I have power for all my portable devices while living a little greener! I can’t wait to take it out with me on the next trip to see just how well it works. If you’d like to learn more about the Solio line of products, head on over to the Solio website.

Because Valentine’s is such a consumer frenzy, it’s hardly anything but eco-friendly.  But that seems to be changing a bit as the green movement gathers steam.  Sam’s Club has announced that they are now selling Fair Trade Certified roses.  These roses are sold directly from the farm to the store so there’s no middle man waiting for his cut of the profits.  However, these roses are grown in Ecuador.  That’s a major problem for me!  How much energy are we wasting just to get those damn roses to the United States?  Sure, we’re benefiting the children and villagers in Ecuador that work these rose farms but we’re doing little for the environment.  I guess it’s a good step but I’d rather buy roses at least grown stateside.  If there isn’t a rose farm in your neck of the woods you could purchase a different type of flower from a local grower.  After all, who said you need to bow down to the pressure of buying a dozen red roses for Valentine’s Day?  It’s over done!

Here’s some simple tips:

1)    Think homemade.  Make your own card this year by hand picking some scrap booking supplies.  It will mean a lot more to your significant other.

2)    Just like you might be conscious of the food your purchasing at the grocery store, be conscious of the flowers and chocolates your purchasing for Valentine’s Day.  Is there a small, local chocolate shop where you can pick up some cocoa delights?  You’d be supporting a small business and saving precious resources at the same time.  Is there a flower farm nearby where you can purchase locally grown flowers?  That too would save precious resources and support your local farmers instead of buying those awful roses transported all the way from Ecuador.

3)    Make a romantic meal at home using organic and sustainable produce.  If your community still has a farmer’s market going this time of year, see what you can put together.   You just have to spend a little extra time shopping instead of grabbing whatever is the first thing available on the shelves of your local store.

For the love oozing between the sheets, I personally enjoy TreeHugger’s guide on How to Green Your Sex Life.  They have all kinds of links to sustainable sex products and other fine things that might get you in the mood.  If you’re looking for some “hot” green underthings, you should check out Inhabitat’s Sustainable Skivvies Blog.  My comment was, who knew going green could be so hot?!

As we move from the Christmas holiday into the New Year, you might be thinking about hostess gifts or party favors to dole out at all those New Year’s parties your headed too. If you’re over baked goods, why not consider whipping up some homemade liqueurs and cordials. I home-brew my own beer and have been happily handing out a pale ale I brewed this summer. Beer and wines require advance planning though, so unless you have some ready to be bottled up, I suggest homemade liqueurs. The tasty and sometimes exotic concoctions you find lining the shelves in the local liquor department can usually be made at home with little effort.

I have about three very old paperback books that are filled to the brim with just about any liqueur recipe you could think of. Any fruit, nut, herb or otherwise worldly flavor can be steeped into just about any neutral spirit. The main player is vodka but there are also recipes dealing with whiskey, brandy and other liquors. Most recipes consist of making a simple syrup to sweeten the liquor and the addition of something to flavor it like vanilla extract, chocolate extract, etc.

Tracking down usable recipes can be a quandary though since homemade liqueurs seem to have been little more than a passing fad during the cocktail heydays of the 1930’s through the ’60s. While there aren’t many liqueur recipes spread about the internet, you can find plenty in a book that’s currently offered called Cordials from Your Kitchen . That should have plenty of recipes for any aspiring homemade-liqueur maker to dabble with. I found my small collection of liqueur making books at used book stores and thrift shops…places you can easily find things several years old that people don’t want anymore. All you have to do is find some nice bottles to dress up your liqueur and you’ve got a great gift to hand out while wishing a prosperous and happy New Year. Below are a couple of great recipes you can try out:

Ginger Honey Liqueur

A spicy, full-bodied liqueur. Try it warmed up on a cold winter night.

• 3 tbs. finely minced, peeled fresh ginger root
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1, 3-inch long cinnamon stick broken into pieces
• 2 whole cloves
• 3 cups brandy
• 3/4 cup honey

Combine ginger root, lemon zest, cinnamon stick, cloves and brandy in a large jar. Stir well to mix ingredients. Cover tightly and let steep in a cool, dark place for 1 week. Shake jar occasionally. When steeping period is complete, strain and filter the liquid. You can use filters found for filtering wine at your local home-brew shop or you can just use a coffee filter. Combine honey with the filtered brandy mixture. Pour into bottles and cap tightly. Let age at least one month before serving. Recipe found in The Village Pantry’s Treasury of Homemade Liqueurs by Janet Reda.

Pear Liqueur

A tasty treat with flavors of the winter season

• 1/2 lb. mature, ripe, firm pears
• 2 apples, peels only (any variety will work, but Red Delicious works good)
• 1 clove
• 1/2″ cinnamon stick or pinch of ground cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 2 coriander seeds
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1.5 cups vodka or brandy

Cut the pears into strips (don’t pare) and place in a jar with all the other dry ingredients including sugar and the two apple peels. Add alcohol to cover. Steep two weeks, shaking the jar every two days to mix the ingredients. Strain and filter. A coffee filter works great. If you’d like the liqueur to be sweeter, add simple sugar syrup in small quantities (about 1 oz. to 4 oz. of liqueur) to establish a sweetness ratio. Then add to the whole bottle accordingly. When the recipe tastes perfect and you’ve recorded it in your recipe book, purchase more pears and make larger amounts for cooking, drinking and gift giving. Mature pear liqueur about 2 months. Recipe found Homemade Liqueurs by Donna and Mel Meilach.