Natural and Sustainable

Packaging your presents in borwn paper sacks is the most paper-saving alternative to gift wrap. But, there are penty of pettier, eco-options out there this season. Three awesome ideas are:

• Three-Friendly Papers: Try Fish Lips Paper Designs’ recycled-paper gifts wrap and Paporganics’ hemp wrap. Or keep it totally tree-free with Moonrock Paper Company’s uncommonly elegant creations, handmade from cotton scraps discarded by T-shirt and hosiery manufacturers.

• Gift Bags: Endlessly reusable, bags are your best colution for green gifting. Lucky Crow’s super stylish gift bags are machine washable and adorned with sock monkeys and other adorable designs.

• Do-It-Yourself Wrap: Rummage through your closets and cabinets to uncover old paper products such as calendars, newspapers, maps, wallpaper scraps, old magazines and fabirc such as scarves, and bandanas that are destined to be discarded. Tie up your packaging with biodegradeable-cotton ribbon and skip those needlessly wasteful gift tags.

**Over at Wii Rally, Lynn Little reports that Nintendo had record sales during Thanksgiving shopping weekend with more than 653,000 Nintendo DS systems and 350,000 Nintendo Wii consoles were sold in the United States alone. Read the whole story here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Decorate responsibly by purchasing eco-sensitive accessories. Check out Viva Terra for some ideas.

Your kids model their conservation habits after yours, so when you make an effort, the whole family does. Eco-friendliness is about change. Start with these tiny changes that have a huge impact on the earth.

ACTION:

1. Water Savers:

A. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth. Proper brushing requires at least two minutes and that’s eight gallons of water down the drain. Yearly savings of for a family of four is 23,360 gallons and $234.

B. Cut down on your shower time by one minute. Seven gallons of water flow through the average showerhead every minute. Yearly savings for a family of four is 10,080 gallons and $101. Install a low-flow showerhead, and when it comes to the toilet, if it’s yellow let it mellow and if it’s brown………….

2. Energy Savings:

A. Wash half your laundry in cold water. A whopping 90 precent of the total energy used each cycle goes to heat the water. Yearly savings of a family of four is 72 pounds of carbon and $33.

B. Don’t preheat the oven (unless baking bread or pastries). If you turn the oven on when you put the food in, you save half a pound of carbon each times. A yearly savings of a family of four is 78 pounds of carbon and $22. Look for Energy Star labels when purchasing appliances, and unplug them when not in use.

3. Waste Reducers:

A. Dry your hand with dish towels, not paper towels. Even if you buy a roll of recycled paper towels, you still have to toss them in the trash after use. Yearly savings of a family of our is 59 pounds of paper and $44.

B. Use a water filter instead of water bottles. American’s drink 56 billion 16-ounc bottles a year, and ferwer than 15 precent are recycled. A yearly savings of a family of four is 730 plastic gallon jugs, and $620. Buy in bulk to cut fown on packagins, and opt for reusable containers over plastic bags in your child’s lunchbox.

**Need some gift giving ideas for Christmas or whenever really? Check out Summer Minors ides on Creative Mom Cafe. She suggest giving a coupon book and making the coupons for chores or a plate of cookies, etc. Read how here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Don’t use pesticides on your lawn.

Anyone can start living a more Eco-Friendly lifestyle. All it takes is one step in the right direction to get started. Here’s how:

1. Safer Paint: Many companies now offer no-or-low-VOC paints, like Benjamin Moore’s EcoSpec, Yolo, and Anna Sova in a huge array of colors.

2. Stain Trick: Pour boiling water on a stain spot as soon as possible and it will come out like magic. You don’t need to use soap or chemicals.

3. Greener Cleaners: Organic skin care is an easy way to decrease toxic exposure to the elements. Try any of the organic varities that are at your local health food store. There are so many to choose from and most of great for you and your baby as well.

4. Resources On Eco-Living Information: Check The Green Guide or the NRDC. For instance if your dentist is wanting to put sealants on yoru child’s teeth, you can email to ask about the safety of the sealant.

5. Fresh Air: Keep air purifiers in the bedrooms of your home. Models with medical-grade HEPA filters, to reduce allergens, and carbon filters help to reduce fumes and off-gassing.

6. Less Plastic In The Home: Switch to glass bottles for your child. Drinking out of glass is better for you and even better for your baby. Plastic contains so many harmful chemical additives and when heated they release those chemicals.

7. Food Smarts: The Environmental Working Group’s list of produce likely to contain pesticides is a helpful in figuring out what’s particualrly important to buying organic.

**Brad Pitt and Angelina took their kids and headed to Brad’s parent’s house in Missouri for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Over at Brad Pitt Watch, Randi has the whole story, read it here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Plant a garden. If you don’t have the time for a fun garden, plant a herb garden and keep it in your kitchen window. Use the herbs that grow in your herb garden in your cooking. It is a great way to add fresh herbs to any meal and also is a great stress releiver when you get to enjoy what you have grown.

• Use a dime-sized portion of shampoo and conditioner when washing your hair. Then when you get halfway through the bottle, add a little water to make it last even longer.

• Love cut flowers? Weel, most are treated with pesticides and flown thousands of miles, and usually die in about three days. Instead opt for indoor plants such as hydrangeas, which come potted.

• Try to buy local over organic when in the supermarket. Of course organic is important to your health as well as your families, but buying local you support local growers. It not only forces you to eat seasonlly, when produce is freshest, it also eliminates the energy coasts of shipping food from around the world. Also, small farmers are more apt to care about their environmental impact than industrial agriculture, since they live on the land they work.

• Bring a tote to the supermarket when you do your shopping, and try to remember plastic produce bags as well, so you are not collecting more and mroe each time.

• Test your own drinkinbg water yourself with a water purifying kit from a local hardware store. Or get an easy-to-install water filter. So instead of buying plastic bottles, use a carafe of water in the fridge.

• When you order take-out ask for the condiments of only what you plan to use. Who really needs 12 packets of soy sauce, eight packages of ketchup or four pairs of plastic knives? It’s sad to see them all end up in the trash eventually.

• Opt to pay a few cents extra to support wind-powered electricity, which comes from a renewable energy source. Your power company won’t hook you apt. or your house up to a different generator, but it does make sure that a comparable amount of wind energy is used in another place and it will overall make a tiny difference for a better world.

**Looking for tips on what stocks are up and what stocks are down? Check out Rick’s suggestion over at My Stock Winners. He states that The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payors Index (HMO – 1,798.6) is facing long-term resistance at the 1,800 level. Read more here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Swap, don’t buy (Try eBay, Craigslist, and Freecycle.)

1. Reflect on what’s important: Have a family discussion about what everyone is thankful for this year.

2. Experience Diversity: Incorporate other cultural and religious customs into your holiday celebrations.

3. Valunteer Where Ever You Can: Assist at a soup kitchen, children’s hospital or animal shelter.

4. Pick A Family Cause: Collect loose change and allowance money and donate it together.

5. Give Gifts That Count For Something: Instead of material items, give charitable donations in the names of friends, family, teachers and coaches.

6. Give meaningful gifts: Buy fair trade and ethically-sourced products from retailers such as World of Good Trade as One and Ten Thousand Villages.

7. Share In The Name Of The Holidays: Contribute new or gently used clothes and tous to the Salvation Army, Goodwill, toy drives or families in need.

8. Spread The Joy: Ask you child’s teacher to have students create handmade greeting cards. Then deliver them to a local senior citizen’s home.

9. Spread The Love: Compose a poem, song or testimonial telling someone that they are special. Create an eco keepsake: Write it on recycled paper and put it in a reclaimed wood frame.

10. Spend Time With Family: Cook together, talk with the TV off or just get on the floor and play games.

11. Care For The Earth: Conserve wrapping paper, reuse ribbons and bows, send greetings on recycled paper, or send e-cards online.

12. Celebrate Your Family: Appreciate the gifts that they are just for being themselves.

**Do you have bad habits? Over at Write Anyway, JM jokes about her bad habits, and how bad habits aren’t all that BAD. Read the whole story here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Compact your nonrecyclable trash and use fewer bags when throwing things away.

These following companies consider the environmental as well as social causes when producing their clothing line.

• American Apparel: Makes its clothes in the U.S. and offers organic items.

• Droopy Knickers: Makes sustainable clothing with organic cotton, water-based inks and discharge printings.

• Fable: Supports fair trade, promotes sustainabale employment in developing countries and works in children’s charities to boost literacy.

• Fig: Clothes are made from certified organic cotton in factories that treat employees well.

• Happy Green Bee: Makes its comfortable, colorful clothing from from organic cotton.

• H&M: Has recently added an extensive line of organic clothing for the entire family to their collection.

• Indigenous Designs: Is a pioneer in the organic and fair trade apparel market. Its children’s offerings now include sweaters and cotton wovens.

• Kate Quinn Organics: Is committed to fair trade and the earth. They use only certified-organic cotton.

• Levi’s: Ten-piece organic eco line includes a variety of bottoms, the classic denium jacket and T-shirts. The zippers are formed from recycled metal and the jeans are colored with natural dyes.

• Morfs: Uses recycled goods and vintage fabrics to create fashionable new clohtes for kids.

• Nina and Tom: Donates both clothing and a percentage of profits to charities. Garments are made with organic cotton and silk-screened with water-based inks.

• Patagonia: Makes apparel with low impact dyes, organic cotton and recycled fibers. Additionally, its buildings are made from recycled materials and powered by the wind and sun.

• Planet Earth: Edgy Green label line uses natural and organic fibers to create apparel that’s a cross between urban cool and California lifestyle.

• Pura Vida NYC: Ises organic cotton for its clothing. The line’s designs make references to the environment, art and politics from around the globe.

• Quiksilver: Now offers organic items, with a portion of sales going twards conservation and activism efforts. Through the Quiksilver Foundation, the company raises money for the environmental causes currently plaguing our Earth. Such as cleaner beaches and helps creat events for a greener planet.

• Sternlein: Uses organically grown textiles in its wide variety of tights and socks.

• The Shoe Garden: The store donates mopney to local eco-initiatives and buys its power from an environment-friendly utility.

• Under the Canopy: Cutting-edge styles are made from organic cotton, soy, bamboo, linen, wool and silk.

• Uniqlo: New to the U.S. from Japan, conducts a successful “Thank You Recycling” program. Gently used clothing items that are brought back to the stores are sent as a relief clothing to developing countries or recycled into either fiber for new matierals or fuel.

• Zutano: Is a community initiative include enrichment programs for kids, clothing drives and services for working mothers.

**Need to learn more about carburetors and how they work? Over at Motor Musing, Dorrington Williams does just that. Check out everything you ever needed to know about carburetors by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustianable Living Tip: Give your car a tune-up so it drives more efficiently. With gas prices the way they are currently and the cost to get that gas to us to put in our cars, everything little bit will help out.

Volunteers, business and government working together to clean up Oregon’s waterways.

Common pullutions to oregon and the world’s water ways include:
• Cigarette butts
• Fishing line
• Styrofoam cups
• Scrap metal
• Borken glass
• Tires
• Pesticides
• Chemicals

All of these things end up in the Pregopns rivers, streams and lakes. Garbage and pollution contaminate our drinking water, poison fish and wildlife, and turn pristine waterwaterways into un contaminated trash mounts.

You can make a difference in this horrible situations or any waterway for that matter by adopting that waterway and cleaning up for future generations to come.

How it works: Oregon Adopt-A-River uses a citizen-based hands-on approach to keeping the state’s water cleans. Volunterrs take care of their favorite section of river or waterway, such as a stream or lake and they work with federal, state and local governments to clean it up. And continue to keep that waterway clean.

Adopting a waterway is simple. It only takes on person to get things started. And all it takes is gathering some friends or relatives or even neighbors together and start it up. Anyone who is an environmentally concerned citizen can Adopt-A-River. Those who adopt a waterway are called “Stream Stewards”. They choose a two-mile stretch along any waterway in Oregon. Stream Stewards make a two-year commitment and hold cleanups at least twice a year. Oregon Adopt-A-River will provide:

• A how-to manual on planning a clean up.
• Certificats of Adoption and Recognition.
• Grabage bags, stickers and window decals.
• Assistance to learn who owns and manages the land along your adopted waterways.
• Safety Tips.
• Sample news releases and suggestions on how to attract media coverage.
• Ideas on how to obtain donated supplies.
• Adviuce on trash disposal.

Oregon Adopt-A-River also serves as a resource for citizens and volunteer groups. Teaching volunteers about the importance of healthy waterways is a central part of the Oregon Adopt-A-River program.

The state of Oregon alone, has hundereds of rivers and streams. All of them need help from committd and concerned volunteers. Here’s how to get started in any state where you live: The following is a random list of states that have the Adopt-A-River program in force.

• Minnesota

• Indiana

• Oregon

• Tennessee

• Montana (Adopt-A-Fish Program)

• Florida

• Mississippi

•Illinois

• Michigan

• Outside the U.S. -Canada

To name a few. Get started now by contacting your local water shed dept. through your local national park office. Or contact your city’s chamber of commerce to find out how to get started.

**Are you a Jim Henson fan? Well, over at Artist Passion, Wendy Withers friend Adam Sageser is and has made it into a passion beyond the normal thinking. Read the whole story here and watch the video of him during his puppet show.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Buy things that will last over time. Think long term, even if the product is more expensive, if it will last longer than ultimately it is worth the more expensive price tag. If the product, such as clothing is made better, it will last for years and years to come.

Putting plants to work for environmental sustainability and economic development within The Oregon Garden falls under the name of SPROut: (SUSTAINABLE PLANT RESEARCH AND OUTREACH).

SPROut’s Misson is to develop and promote the use of plants and plant material to solve environmental challenges. They build project partnerships and provides outreach and education to integrate research efforts with public and industry development.

What does SPROut offer:

• Outreach:
1. Website and publications
2. Educational literature for Oregon Graden visitors
3. Professional develpment courses
4. Curriculum for Chemeketa Community College’s 2-year Horticulture degree
5. Workshops/Conferences/ Research summits

• Research Support:
1. Research suppoert for Oregon State University’s Horticulture students and faculty
2. Start-up grants to launch research and implementation projects
3. Collaborative grant proposal develpment
4. Background researchg and literature reviews
5. Project management
6. Use of The Oregon Garden site for field-based research

• Research Priorities:
1. Wetlands/Wastewater Remnediation
2. Phytoremediation
3. Urban Water Management and Ecoscaping
4. Native Plant Restoration and Invasive Species Control
5. And Riparian Area Restoration

Current SPROut Research Projects:

• Landowner Tools for Quanitfying Multiple Environmental Services of Riparian Vegetation Buffers for Use in Water Quality Credit Trading in Oregon Watersheds.

• Sustainable Parking Lot

• Botanical Burrito & Floating Nursery Production for Water Treament

• The use of high rate irrigation of Poplar Trees as a nutrient reduction system

• New uses for the World’s Oldest Crop; using Barley straw to control algae in Aquatic Environments.

• Developing Green Roof Plants for Oregon’s Nursery Industry.

For more information contact: Renee Stoops, SPROut Coordinator at rstoops@chemeketa.edu or 503-584-7252 or by visiting The Oregon Garden or SPROut

(SPROut is currently funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA)

**Catch the weekend events over at Albuquerque, New Mexico blog written by Mary McIntyre. If you will be taveling soon, check out the rest of her blog to see if a stop off in Albuquerque will fit in your travel plans by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Use rechargeable batteries whenever possible. There is many uses in one rechargeable battery then a single use battery. It helps control battery waste in the landfill as well as the carbon impact on the Earth.

Native to North America, evening primrose (Oenothera biennis L.) can also be found in Asia and Europe. It has been used for stomach upsets, coughs, and even bruises while eating the root of the plant.

The health of the oil include, essential fatty acids (EFA) and it is used today to maintian health and prevent disease. It guards against breast cancer, heart disease, high cholesterol, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and stomach ulcers. Evening primrose (EP) oil is rich in omega-6 fats containing both linoleic acid (LA) and gamma linolenic (GLA). The only other oils that have shown the same fatty oil and to bring to the table the same health benefits in their plants seeds include borage seed oil, hempseed oil, and black currant seed oil.

Some important uses of this essential oil also are:

• Premenstrual Syndrowm (PMS): Women with PMS may have a deficiency of prostaglandina in the central nervous system. Supplementing with GLA in the form of evening primrose oil appears to increase production of beneficial prostaglandis.

• Osteoporosis: This is another area where EFAs, including evening primrose oil, may be useful. EFas help increase clacium absorption from the gut. In part by enhancing the effexts of vitamin D, reduceing urinary excretion of calcium, increases calcium deposition in the bone, and improve boen strength.

• Healthy Pregnancy: As well as fetal development, depending on the right EFA balance. Essential fatty acids have a unique role during pregnancy because of the rapid development of new cell growth, new tissue, and new organ systems in a delevopment of new cell growth, new tissues, and new organ systems in a developing fetus. Fetal development demands a high EFA requirement, and this supply is dependent on the amount and availability of EFAs from the mother.

• Arthritis: Person suffering from arthritis symptoms responds to GLA supplementation. Using EP oil consistently shows that individuals can benefit from taking up to 2,800 mg of GLA. There are benefits using evening primrose oil supplements in osteoarthritis as well as rheumatoid arthritis.

• Diabetes: Has been associated with abnormalities in essential fatty acid metabolism. One of these abnormailities involved interference with the conversion of LA and GLA. GLA can improve muscle strength, hot and cold therapy assoicated with sensation and reflexes.

• Cholesterol: Levels of cholesterol may benefit for GLA. Although fish and flax oils have received considerable attention for their effects on blood lipids and the blood pressure, other essentail fatty acids can also be useful in lowering or leveling out the cholesterol count.

The safety issue with this oil is normal. Other than cautions using evening primrose oil on person with epileptic disorder, all other disorders or health concerns are free to attempt the oil to help benefit them and their condition. With any oil, always read the contraindications before use or talk to a health care provider to see how the oil can benefit you.

**Looking for some books to cuddle up in the couch with this winter and read? Then check out JM’s book list over at The Book Stacks to help get your started. There are great books that made her list, one being If I Were You, by: Julia Llewellyn. Check out the rest of the list by clicking here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: If you see litter or trash anywhere, pick it up and place it in either a nearby trash can or a nearby recycle bin. The more we all pick up the better our Earth will look and have to get rid of on it’s own.

Ever wonder how your life changes can make a difference? Here’s some tips to give you the push in the right “earth-saving” state of mind:

• Once released into the environment, the spread of pesticides cannot be controlled. Radioactivity traced pesticides sprayed over the United Kingdom were detected five to seven days later in the southern part of the United States. So always use earth-friendly pesticides on your lawn and garden plants. And if at all possible, don’t use any at all.

• Wrap a package of energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs in recycled paper. Each new fluorescent light bulb reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 1,300 pounds over its lifetime.

• The government won’t solve our problems of global warming it is up to us as individuals. If you feel guilt about driving so much in your gas-powered car, then everytime you fill up, put 20 cents into a box and at the end of the year donate that “cents” fund, which will be dollars by the end of the year if you start come January 2008, to a local charity.

• When you travel to a beach or resort located on the many hundereds of coast lines make sure that resort or lodge developed the coast in a sustainable way. If they don’t then stay elsewhere. Every person who takes a trip to the coast lines ends up putting great pressure on that coastal area.

• Calculate your carbon footprint. Reduce the footprint. Offset that footprint. And produce your one power whenever and however you can.

• If 100,000 households each installed an eight-foot diameter wind turbine, the cumlative annual CO2 reduction would be 900,00 tons.

• When you make a purchase, remove the package waste there at the counter after checking out. It may seem silly, but if enough people did this, then the stores would have to tell the manufacturers to cut back on package waste.

• When your fishing buddy calls, and you repond, don’t use mailorder wigglers. Anglers as well as home composters are responsible for for proliferation of nonnative species in just wigglers alone. If you travel to a national park or another country, be sure not to bring back anything with you as well. It is not only illegal, it is also harming the environment more than you think. (There is 60 billion metric tons of CO2 released annually by the world’s soil.)

• If one million U.S. airline passengers skipped one coast-to-coast flight, it could eliminate the emisson of one million tons of COs.

• Next time you stay at a hotel or resort, look around, if you can’t tell what country you are in or what continenet you are on, then you are at a place where there is zero unsustainable tourism. Talk to the hotel clerk and managers and let them know how you feel about sustainable traveling. If you are one in a thousand that does this, then the hotel must meet demand.

• If every U.S. home received and paid their bills online, annual greehouse gas emissions would drop by 2.1 million tons.

**Jennifer Hoffman over at the Milwaukee, WI blog has posted some great shots of the Veteran’s Day Parade that was held there in her city. To view these photos and to read more about what Jennifer writes about for Veteran’s Day, click here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Go toxin-free in your own home. Start with the cleaners you use on your shower and toilet. What are they? If they hurt your nose when using them, then why flush those down the drain and toilet and then eventually into our waterways?

Nothings more sustainable than using what the earth already provides. Leaves and foliage make a great Thanksgiving center piece as well as wall art. Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Enhance an ordinary wooden tray with a scattering of fallen leaves. Cut a piece of colored art paper to fit the inside of a tray. Using pressed, preserved leaves, plan your design, dot each leaf with craft glue and press onto the paper. Place the paper on the bottom of the tray. To protect the design and the leaves from getting broken, place a piece of glass over the top. You can get a piece of glass cut to fit the tray size at any frame shop.

• Graphic leaf patters put a modern spin on the age-old art of framing pressed botanicals. Select frames of your choice. Take the glass out of the frame and trace outline on a piece of card stock. Arrange leaves as you like on the paper, dot each leaf with craft glue and press gently onto the paper. When throughly dry, put the frame back together and replace the glass. For a wreath pattern, draw and cut a circle from a piece of 1/8-inch thick cardboard, using a large bowl or other round shape as a tehmplate. Set a smaller bowl inside the circle and trace. Cut the inside shape out to a make a ring. Brush a thin layer of craft glue on the leaves and overlap them onto each other. Experiment with background papers in nature’s rich palette of earth tones.

• Give packages a woodsy flair by tying them up with twine or raffia topped with leaves. Try a mix of papers in seasonal hues. For gift boxes, wrap each box with paper and tie with twine, leaving enough for a bow. Make a fan of a few pressed, preserved leaves, and punch a hole where the stem meets the leaf. Thread the twine though, knot and trim the ends. For paper bags, punch holes at the bases of a few leaves, thread the twine through and tie. For bottles, cut a length of parchment paper slightly longer than the circumference of the bottle and as wide as the label you’ll be covering. Wrap the apper around the biottle, tie with twine and tuck the leaves underneath.

• Make pillar candles embellished with leaves the highlight of your tabel. Or arrange them on the mantel. Plan the leaf pattern on a flat surface. Brush a thin layer of craft glue onto each leaf and press onto pillar candles of various heights. Arrange the candles on a tray and surround with loose leaves.

• Nothing could be easier, or prettier, than setting a table dressed up for the season. Place leaves in a pattern for each plate, arrange a ring of leaves around the rim or dot the leaves across the plate as desired. Carfully place a glass plate of the same size as the bottom plate on top snadwishing the leaves between the two plates. Try colored glass plates, instead of clear, for an entirely different look.

•Instead of decorating with traditional greens, drape a favorite mirror, mantel or banister with a garland of leaves. Cut a piece of brown twine to desired length (6 feet gives you a good length to work with) and lay straight on a flat surface. Working form one end and using a hot-glue gun, sandwich the twine in between two leaves and secure with a dot of glue. Continue adding “leaf sandwiches” on the twine until the entire length of twine is covered. Vary color and variety of leaves. Secure the garland to a mirror or banister with glue dots. Glue dots are best so they won’t leave a mark when the garland of leaves are removed.

**Need tips on how to entertain a crowd of people? Over at Household Tips, Stephanie gives tips on how to achieve the perfect setting this holiday without going insane. Read her tips here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: If your shelves are overstuffed with books you have already read, check out Book Mooch, it’s a free service that helps you trade books with othes around the globe. You rack up points for each book you give away. Make a wish list and redeem your points when a book you want becomes available. And here’s the cool thing; Book Mooch has a list of charities it works with, so you can donate your points and share the literay wealth with someone in need.

Get your crafty on with the natural Christmas gifts. They are quick and painless to make and they are a lot better to give than gifts that are mass-producted.

• Festive Fire: Show your appreciation for the little deeds neighbors and others have done with a bundle of kindling. For a pretty presentation wrap a ribbon and greenery or a fragrant sprig of willow-leaf peppermint. Slide ribbon through a matchbox wrapped in festive paper for an all-in-one gift.

• Picture-Perfect Mailer: Treat relatives to an easy-to-mail album that recaps the year in photos. Layer and staple small sheets of paper along one edge of card stock. Fold over stapled edge twice; flip paper to inside, creating aflap. Crease card stock; insert opposite edge under flap. Use photo corners to attach photos to paper.

•Sparkling Towels: Embellished tea towels are a gem of a stocking stuffer. Just bejewel and be done. Iron a rhinstone transfer for decorating jens onto a smooth-texture towel. Following manufacturer’s instructions, such as a twig design resembleing a Christmas tree, but the towel is still versatile enough to use year-round.

• Snowy Village Ornaments: Replicate a friend’s house or build an entire village with paper abodes. Use patterns you hae made out of cardboard and transfer onto card stock. Create a wintry scene by sprinkling glitter on crafts glue spread on the roof and base of the houses. Or attach icicles formed from hardened hot glue. Decorate with a miniature tree and a wreath made from chenille stem (pip-cleaner). Hot-glue a clothespin or candle clip to the base to attach the ornament to a tree. Pick up patterns here.

• Snow Globe Centerpieces: Snow globes are a Christmas classic. With an oversize spheres put on an impressive display. You can use 7-8 inch flower aquariums with magnifying qualities that give the contents added pop. Look for the aquariums, which include a globe, rubber base, and plastic stand, at floral shops or online. Use epoxy to attach ceramic or plastic ornaments and figurines to the rubber base, which also serve as the lid. Fill the globe with distilled water to just below the opening; add about 1 tbs. of liquid glycerin (found in the soap-making sections of hobby stores) to thicken the water. Sprinkle with glitter. Working over a sink, slowly invert the decorated portion of the rubber base into the water. Stretch the seal of the rubber base over the lid of the globe. Attach the plastic stand, turn the globe upright, and watch the snow fall. FOr extra sparkle, stand the snow globe in a silver wine bottle coaster.

•Merry Paperweights: Glass paperweights decked out for the holidays make a practical and gender-neutral gift. Idal for co-workers and teachers to organize paper. The super-simple project starts with a glass paperweight kit, availiable at crafts and hobby stores or online. Decorate the paperweight with scrapbooking paper gift wrap, or an old Christmas card. Thin foam letters glued on one paper sends glad tidings.

**Arkansas is getting ready to head to South Carolina in an SEC game that is talked about as ‘big news.’ Read the rest of the story here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: This winter if you plan on using a wood-burning fireplace, consider an eco-friendly one or eco-friendly buring options. Ones that are earth-friendly options include fireplaces that use clean-burning ethanol; no chimney required, such as the ones from EcoGreen Fire and crackling logs that burn for three hours; made from coffee waste and vegetable oil, and packaged in recycled materials from Java-Log Fireplace Logs. You can also opt for ones like Duraflame that use petroleum-free logs that burn for three hours and use 80% fewer resources than regular firewood.. Either one you choose is great for the earth-conscious consumer that wants toasty hands and feet this season.

This past summer I checked out Ridgeway Farms up in Turner, Oregon on their Visitors Day, September 8th. This farm had just begun and offered the best apples that I have ever tasted. The farm is owned by Terri Barczak or Toni Rogers and everything grown on this land at the farm is natural and all-organic. I found out about Ridgeway Farms through Local Harvest. And even though I live in quite a small town, where the isn’t much going on as far as events and businesses listing under Local Harvest, I was grateful to receive an email on a company that is now in my area caring about the environment as much as I do. Ridgeway Farms is located on the Turner exit off I5 north. They were tucked back from the road and it did take us a few moments to realize where they were located. My first impression was “this is quite a small farm, and sort of difficult to find.” But, once inside the gate, I realized Ridgeway Farms was much more than just a small farm.

They offer fruits in the variety of: McIntosh apples, Fuji apples, Yellow Delicious apples, and green apples, Sekel and Comice pears, Misty, Blue Crop, Duke, Patriot, Bridgett blueberries, Caroline raspberries and vine ripened kiwi.

They offer vegetables in the variety of: Yellow crookneck, papaya and delicata squash, jack-o-lantern pumpkins, Russet, yellow Finn, red and purple potatoes, Peacevine, Brandywine, Stupice, Legend, Willamette, Current, Oregon Spring Bush tomatoes, Tuscan, Wild Red, Wild Garden kale, amaranth, Bibb, Red Sails, and Black Seeded lettuce, Avon, Melody, Mountain, Bloomsdale spinach, Purple Top turnips, Walla Walla, Spanish and Evergreen Bunching onions, Sunder and Danver carrots, Sumter and Straight Eight cucumber, shallots, California Wonder sweet peppers and Ring-o-Fire cayenne, jalapeno, New Mexico Joe E. Parker and Aci Sivri hot peppers.

They grow herbs in the variety of: Cilantro, basil, tarragon, mint, chives and parsley.

With knowing that Ridgeway Farms offers organic growing practices, it is one reason I am so happy to have visited their farm and partake in the benefits of a natural grower that shares passionate thoughts about the environment, as myself. While I was there learning about their growing practices I was also told that the demand is greater than their product. They are growing organic apples during the summer months and they never meet their own orders completely before the colder weather hits. If you are interested in trying some Ridgeway Farm apples or other organic produce, be sure and call now and place your order before the demand. For wholesale orders contact Ridgeway Farms at: 503-881-9346 or email at: ridgeway_farms@hotmail.com .

If you would like to see what farms, nurseries, markets, and growers are in your own area that offer organic, natural growing practices then log onto Local Harvest. You can even sign up for their email service that will contact you anytime a farm, grower, market, etc. is doing any type of public offering. This is how I became aware of Ridgeway Farms and if I hadn’t logged onto Local Harvest I would never have known that there was a great little farm that grows organic produce just outside my own town.

**Cruise over to YouTube Digger here at 451 Press and bid farewell to JM. She can still be found on other blogs on this site, but jump over there and leave her a parting comment. Read her farewell note here.(JM-You were a great writer for YouTube Digger and I am sad to see you leave that blog.)**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Seal up your house this winter to prevent heat loss. It’s always a great idea to seal up your home, shop, garage or even your attic to prevent this energy loss in the winter months, but it also helps out with less energy waste in the summer when you run you airconditioner as well.

• Calcium: While 99 percent of total calcium is found in the teeth and bones, the rest is crucial to myriad body functions, including those that air in weight loss. Taking 1,000 milligrams of calcium daily, you could loose as much as 17 pounds over four years. Too much calcium however can hurt your the kidneys and decrease absorption of minerals such as iron, zinc, magnesium, and phosphorus. Take 1,000 to 1,500 mg daily with meals. Adding magnesium (400mg) works with calcium to air in relaxation and exercise recovery.

• Chromium picolinate: This trace mineral may air obese people, who can be glucose-intolerate or insulin-resistant. When this triggers insulin production, blood sugar levels peal, increasing diabetes risk and making weight loss more difficult. Chromium mitigates these effects by keeping blood sugar levels steady. People who are taking insulin and those diagnosed with hypoglycemia or metabolic syndrome should not take chromium without their physicians’ approval. Since chromium can be hose to get consistenly from the typical diet, a supplement is often the best way to go. Taking 200 to 400 micrograms daily is best. (Many multivitamins contain 120 mg.)

• Citrus aurantium: Also know as bitter orange or zhi shi, this fruit derivates is used for a variety of purposes in Traditional Chinese Medicine. One of its metabolism-boosting and appetite-curbing ingredients, synephrine, is chemically similar to ephedrine, which causes it to be condemned by association. The FDA has recorded “adverse events” from taking bitter orange and in most cases, the supplement also had caffeine or ephedra. Only one stand alone bitter orange supplement was tired to an adverse event. Those with heart disease or hypertension should always consult their health-care provider.

• CLA: Conjugated linoleic acid inhibits lipoprotein lipase, an enzyme made by the fat cell that’s responsible for the uptake of fat by the cell. CLA may prevent the accumulation of fat as animals age, but the shirt-term human studies are less conclusive. The fat reduction was slow and modest, but fairly consistent, so while CLA has been shown to reduce body fat, it may be better at preventing fat accumulation. The supplement may increase markers of inflammation, such as isoprostanes, a confusing result as animal studies have clearly shown CLA to be anti-inflammatory. A range of 2 to 6 grams per day. An average of 3 grams daily is a typical dose. Taking CLA capsules with meals improves absorption.

• Green Tea: Green tea (aka Camellia sinensis) has a modest effect on weight loss, usually attributed to a mix od caffeine and catechins. It may also work on anitoxidant level as well. It produces heat to burn calories within the body. People with sensitvity to caffeine shouls monitor their green tea intake. Symptoms to watch for include increased restlessness, insomnia, and anxiety. For weight control, take two 250 mg capsules of green tea extract three times daily with meals.

• Guarana: With guarane seeds boasting twice the caffiene of coffee beans, it’s easy to see how this supplement built its reputation as a metabolism booster. Anyone who’s caffeien-sensitive should consult their physisian, as should those with high blood pressure or heart trouble. A standard dose is 250 mg per day. It is often found in formaulas with other ingredients as well. Look for no more than 1,000 milligrams of guarana.

• Hoodia gordonii: This appetits suppressant, from an African succulent, tricks the brain into thinking it has all the energy it needs. Due to its slow-growing nature, there isn’t much of the plant out there. Demand is well ahead of supple. It is possible and maybe even probable that many products claiming to contain hoodia don’t. From 750 to 1,000 milligrams a day is a good recomendation as part of a formula.

• HCA: Hydroxycitric acid is derives from Garinia cambogia, and Indian fruit. No side effects or complications from taking HCA have been documented. It has a number of years of safe use. From 750 to 1,000 milligrams a day is a good recommendation as part of a formula.

• Yeba maté: The caffeine in this plant-derived beverage from South America compares to tea. Yogi Teas to be exact sell a tea similar ot the source. Caffeine-related side effects include restlessness and increased high blood pressure and heart rate. Drinking hot yerba maté may be linked to oral concers, so drink the tea in moderation, and at a moderate temperature. Consume yerba maté as a tea once a day, using 2 to 4 grams of unadulterated cut leaves per cup of hot water.

** If you are a habitual writer and feel the need to express that, then become a member of NaNoWriMo. Over at Artists Passion, Wendy Withers states how to get involved and also talks about who here at 451 Press are involved as well as some others. Read the whole story here.**

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: If you use hairspray give ones a try that are carcinogenic chemical-free, which is converted into carbon monoxide in the body. Nonaerosol is safer and better for the environment. Also products made with certified organic ingredients ensure that chemicals don’t wash down the drain and into natural waterways. And always try to find products that are in containers and bottles that can be recycled post-use, unlike difficult-to-recycle steel aerosol cans. Give these two brands a try: Aveda Withc Hazel Hair Spray, or Giovanni Organic L.A. Hold Hair Spritz.