Though my ancestors hardly came over on the Mayflower (my grandparents and great-grandparents were Eastern European Jews who came through Ellis Island), I enjoy getting ready for Thanksgiving and hosting my friends and family every year. This year, I am trying really hard to reuse, reduce and recycle. Check out what I am doing below, and then tell me if I get an A or not.
Reuse
I set my table with items that I use every year: my grandmother's delicate china, my mother's beautiful silver, and my very favorite festive tablecloth. I also make use of antique serving bowls on my table, and except for paper napkins, I do not use any disposable items. Before I serve dinner, I mix and match my appetizer plates along with serving pieces I have picked up at garage sales to create a homey setting for hors d'ouerves in the living room.
I reuse the food I serve, too. We eat leftovers, of course, and I plan to use the picked-over turkey carcass and the giblets to make a classic turkey stock. Extra whipped cream (homemade from organic whipping cream) is great as a post-Thanksgiving treat in coffee. Cranberry sauce tastes delicious on turkey sandwiches. And my dog loves table scraps!
Reduce
Kudos to my in-laws who win the prize for reducing fossil fuel the most of any of our guests. Rather than fly in from the lovely city in South Carolina where they retired after way too many freezing Midwest winters, they travel the 900+ miles to our home in their Toyota Prius. My father-in-law, famous for his frugality (driving costs less than flying), is really an environmental hero in my book.
I will reduce the environmental impact of raising a turkey this year by buying an organic turkey from Whole Foods. In the past, I have bought a natural turkey from them, but I am looking forward to the authentic flavor and lower environmental impact of the bird I will cook.
On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, I will head to the final farmers' market of the year here in Evanston. It takes place indoors, and though local farmers cannot offer up the delicious tomatoes and peaches of summer, I will stock up on locally-grown apples for a pie my husband has promised to make, sweet potatoes for the annual sweet potato and marshmallow fluff side I must make or my friend Grace will never speak to me again, and Brussels sprouts, for a healthy addition to our laden table. I hope to pick up leaks, radishes, carrots, and some locally-made organic goat's milk soap. By buying as much local produce for my feast as I can, I will help reduce the use of fossil fuels needed to bring in produce that might travel much longer distances.
I will also substitute local pumpkins, gourds, and dried flowers on my table and throughout my home for an abundance of fresh flowers. I love flowers, but buying a big bouquet of flowers flown in from a tropical place does not do much to reduce my carbon footprint. Plus my daughter and I plan to use mini-pumpkins to hold the place cards at our table. They look great, and writing out 15 names on cards certainly keeps an 8-year-old busy.
And though we all love left-overs, I plan to cook slightly smaller amounts of food this year. I do not want to toss out any food left in my fridge that I discover, say in late December.
Recycle
Feel free to check out the recycling bin in my alley on the Sunday night following T-giving. Not only will it contain many empty wine bottles (Grace's husband, Bill, became an oenophile when their now teen-age triplets were babies--he spent a lot of time at home then, understandably--and he always brings wonderful wine to our table), but you will also find clean sparkling organic cider bottles from the kids' table, all the clean paper goods we did not need to toss into the garbage.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Living with more respect for our earthly environment means a change in habits, but it can be both beneficial & rewarding. Our forebears had not choice: use it up, make it do, or do without was the watchword. Because we don't have to doesn't mean we shouldn't try to.
Keep up the good work! What's wrong with putting the tea bags into the composter? My elderly parents (80 and almost 90) have a big composter in their small backyard in Portland. Everything goes into it -- Tea bags, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc., etc. As a result, they have a wonderful garden every year. They've been living greener lives for a while. They take the bus, ride the train, or walk everywhere: The post office, the library, the grocery store, the grandkids' house, downtown. We should try to be more like them.
We are looking forward to spending another happy holiday with you and yours! Now, what did you say about sweet potatoes and marshmellows? Yummmmmy! Grace.
Hi - I found your site on Sermo, and thought I'd develop a pertinent meditation here....
Every day we make choices about using resources. Historically, we do so from a standpoint of unprecedented abundance. Not that life hundreds of years ago was necessarily "nasty, brutish, and short". Rather, today we have the capacity to use earth's resources in manners and magnitudes unheard of by our ancestors.
Our consciousness is thus very different from that of our ancestors. While they may have been afraid of running out of resources as individuals or villages, due to situational or seasonal impasses, today we must consider running out of resources as a species - even as a planet.
All the more, then, we should focus on what we have. An imperative to "reduce" strikes at a deeper psychological level, inspiring scarcity, and perhaps making us more likely to overuse. Our impulse to "reuse," meanwhile, is innate. We are creatures of habit: we like having a home, wearing our favorite shirt, eating from family china. Tune out the manic advertising that portrays everything newer and bigger as better. Finally, remember the world's tendency to "recycle" is natural and immutable. The law of conservation of energy, for instance, suggests our personal energy does not run out, it is merely transformed, and shared.
Consider how readily our abundance today meets our basic needs. Then use just what we need. Think of how easily our earth provides for our life, and revel in this. This brings a natural union of using just what you need, reusing, and recycling, and being thankful for everything. I think this is a good start to Thanksgiving.
Cheers!
_______
http://inmedicinasres.blogspot.com/
Post a Comment