greenliving

How does one make what has traditionally been an orange and black festival, a green one? And I’m not referring to hanging out green pumpkin tea towels such as the one my mother recently sent me!

In our family, festivities have always been about including a little bit of charity in them. Isn’t it strange for example, that at thanksgiving, a time to give thanks, most people are busy preparing meals and filling their homes with store bought ‘necessities’, as opposed to thinking of what they can ‘give’ back - be it to family, friends or strangers. Isn’t that what the essence of thanksgiving is all about? Being grateful for what you have instead of wondering what you can get?

For Halloween, this year, as with all years, my two children get to select the number of sweets they realistic can have. My 4.5 year old has chosen ‘6′ and  my son, ‘3′. The rest they give away to charity. We have yet to select a charity of choice- our donations are spread between Big Brothers and BC Children’s foundation - any suggestions?

Other ways to go green this year, can include some or all of the following:

Decorations: If you don’t have mini helpers who are eager to make, draw and create their own little decorations, and if you don’t feel you have an artistic-enough soul (or time) to imagine up your own, then go ahead and buy some from your neighbourhood store. Try and get some that you know will last for the next few years or that can be recycled. Invest in a few good pieces and your home will look spooky, yet chic!

Sweets: Recycle them by donating them. If you can, make you own and that’s sure to be appreciated. Or if that’s too much trouble and you are going to buy them, then ensure you purchase healthy candy-popcorn bags, strips of fruit leather or fruit candy etc are all excellent choices.. There’s enough cheap sweets going around. If possible, consider buying sweets with the minimum amount of wrapping involved -little boxes of smarties for example are a good choice as opposed to individually wrapped candy.

An even better option would be to buy non-candy treats such as pencils, sharpeners, erasers etc. Just make sure they are not plastic, contain lead or are small enough to present a choking hazard.

Candy bags: You don’t need to buy a new bag each year. Invest in a bucket that can be reused. Or be creative - strong sturdy paper bags can be decorated and will hold plenty of loot. You can create bags from old pillowcases, t-shirts or discarded containers. Just make sure they are washed before you begin your decorations. Kids will have as great a time creating them as using them!

Pumpkins: Nowadays, a lot of farms offer special treats- hay rides on tractors, train rides through spooky tunnels and a chance to visit their petting zoos- visit some of them when it’s time to pick up your pumpkin. Not only will you be supporting local farmers, but the kids will have a spooktacular time doing it. And when your pumpkin begins to spoil, don’t forget to toss it onto your compost heap.

Costumes: This one is usually a big expense, and the kids outgrow their own costumes fairly quickly. It’s easy to create costumes especially as there are a lot of online resources available.  Think of recycling your old clothes and inventing something new. Or how about visiting thrift stores to see what hidden treasures you can find there? Making masks and accessories are all part of the fun.

Party invites: Send them by email rather than posting them. This way, you’ll get a quicker response too.

Party food: And when it’s finally party time, consider serving wholesome healthy food and snacks. The choices are limitless and with it being pumpkin and squash season, it’s easy to get creative - pumpkin soups, pumpkin cheesecakes, pumpkin pies, home-made cupcakes etc.

Happy Halloween!

Some excellent resources to check out include:

www.greenhalloween.org

www.costumeideazone.com

www.familyfun.com

www.recipesource.com

Today, I was thinking of the top 10 things we do at home to save energy and be a bit more green. Here they are:

1. We recycle everything - glass, aluminium, paper and other metals

2. We’ve unplugged all appliances that are not being used on a daily basis, like certain lamps and food processing equipment.

3. We buy at least 70% of our food from local organic farmers.

4. All our cleaning products are  biodegradable and environmentally friendly.

5. All our bath/body products are made with natural, organic materials and are parabens free.

6. All my new cosmetics and creams are organic/mineral/made with natural products.

7. We take only cloth bags to the stores and shops so we cut down on plastic bag usage.

8. My husband takes public transport at least 3 times a week to work.

9. We all have stainless steel bottles for our water and a stainless steel thermos for coffee/tea, which we make at home and fill up and take with us on trips.

10. We have got rid of most of the plastic in our house-plastic storage containers have been replaced by metal or glass ones, plates are also melamine or metal as are cups, trays, spoons and ladles. We do have plastic- some of the kids toys, parts of their backpack etc. But we hope to gradually replace most of the existing plastic with more environmentally friendly material.

What are the top 10 things you’re doing?

Last week, my son was diagnosed with a severe allergy to nuts. Not just peanuts, but nuts of all kinds. Of course, the first reaction any parent has is probably, why him? We don’t have a history of allergies in our family and neither does my husband. My daughter is fine and can consume all kinds of foods, so why him?

The next step (once I recovered from the ‘why him, why me’ phase), is learning as much as possible about allergies, and nut allergies in particular. One of the things I’m trying to do is go completely organic. Yes, it’s more expensive, but I’m sure I can cut down on other stuff to pay for the food bills. Another way to make it more affordable is to cook/bake at home as opposed to buying processed, ready to eat meals. And this is actually much easier to do than one would expect, and not that time consuming. I’ve always cooked lunches/dinners, and our breakfasts usually consist of cereal on weekday and pancakes on weekends. So that part’s been easy and now it’s just a question of substituting organic for non organic food items. What I am beginning to include is baking cookies, making my own granola bars, muffins etc. So we can still have the stuff we love, just not out of a box. Much healthier and once I get the kids roped in to help, a lot more fun too.

So, why organic and will it help?

Organic refers to food that contains no preservatives, no added chemicals, fertilizers, coloring or additives and is not genetically modified.  With regards to meat, the animals are reared without any antibiotics or growth hormones.

The benefits of an organic diet are numerous. To name a few:

1. Organic food contains lower levels of pesticides – Up to 70% of pesticides which appear in conventional food are banned in the production of organic food.
2. Organic food does not have any synthetic additives- They do not have artificial food colors and flavors, preservatives, nitrates and sulphites, artificial sweeteners or monosodium glutamate (MSG). Food is preserved and sweetened naturally.
3. Organic food has significantly higher levels of nutrients – Depending on your choice of produce, organic food is shown to have higher amounts of salicylic acid and more Vitamin C, iron, calcium, magnesium and phosphorous.
4. Organic livestock production does not use antibiotics or growth hormones- In a lot of cases, antibiotics or growth hormones are injected into cattle to make them larger, fatter and hence deliver more meat. In organically reared cattle, they are allowed to grow and develop at their own pace, and without any synthetics injected into their system.
5. Organic food is free of Genetically Engineered (GE) ingredients – Organic farmers do not use GE seeds or irradiation methods. Instead crop rotation and use of natural compost produces a richer soil in which to grown and harvest their produce.

As to will it help with curing his nut allergies? I don’t know the answer to that as yet. I do hope that my research and providing him and the rest of my family with good food will give me the positive answers I’m looking for. And till then, I know at least that they are enjoying a nutritious, healthy meal each time they sit down at my dinner table to eat.

It’s been 7 years since I quit smoking, so finally, I can bring myself to write about it, without receiving smarmy looks from all my smoking friends!

Fact: One tree is cut to fire-cure every 300 cigarettes rolled in paper, which if you smoke a pack a day = one tree every two weeks.

Fact: Each time you light a cigarette, you’re not just blowing smoke, but up to 4000 chemicals into the atmosphere, including benzene and hydrogen cyanide.

Fact: In producing cigarettes, over 11.6 kgs of pesticides are used on crops, and their residue finds it’s way into rivers and steams and of course, the soil.

And finally, think of all the littering that happens with all those smoked out butts! It takes around 18 months to 12 years for them to finally decompose! In the meantime, the chemicals continue to pollute the grass, beach, woods..or whereever they’ve been dropped, not to mention the serious harm they could cause wildlife, which may unsuspectingly ingest them.

So, if you are thinking of quitting because of your own health reasons, now you can add the above facts to help you reach that decision even faster!