Since most of our stuff is still in MN and we are stuck in our relocation to the Milwaukee area, we don't have all of our Christmas decorations with us. When we went back last, I did grab our homemade stockings & holders & some beads, but other than that I didn't bring anything else.
So, I was reading my Natural Home magazine and it gave ideas for a greener Christmas. The first thing we are doing is buying a live, potted tree. We are buying it from Z Farms in Watertown, WI. They are actually the closest to us and had the best price. We are buying a 3.5 foot tree. You don't want much taller than 3.5-4 ft., because the taller the tree, the larger the rootball (which means it takes up more space and is heavier).
I did call a couple other places and you can get a potted Alberta Blue Spruce from Ebert's Greenhouse in Ixonia and you can also get some potted Christmas trees from Noffke Tree Farms in Meqoun. I am sure there are other places out there, but those are the three I contacted and they all had some options. Z Farms is digging the tree out today or tomorrow for us and they do live trees as they are ordered and they said that once we have some freezing days during the day the ground will be too hard to dig in (& the weather is calling for Th & F to be that cold this week.) So, I ordered our tree and will pick it up tomorrow.
The other two places only have a limited number already potted and once they are gone, that's it.
And then in the spring we can plant (@ our new home hopefully) or we can donate it to a park. Or a mom I workout with said she's got the perfect spot for it.
I'll use the beads we have and I am going to buy a strand or two of lithium christmas lights. I guess lithium lights use much less energy, last longer, and don't give off heat so they are less of a fire hazard than traditional lights. So, it sounds like a win-win situation all around. And with a smaller tree, we won't need as many lights. I am thinking 2 would be the max we would need. We might only need one strand.
As for ornaments -- this is my own idea -- I am using the xmas cards we get from people. I will cut out the picture on the front of the card & glue their name to the back,three-hole punch my ornament and string some yarn through. So, this way I decorate the tree and can still display the cards I get.
And for wrapping presents, I did bring back the leftover rolls I had, so I will use that up. But for the rest I bought some fabric gift bags (reusable) and have been saving the comics from our Sunday papers, and finally I have a bunch of packing paper that Isabel & I can paint designs on it I need more to wrap in.
That's it for now, but I think that's a pretty good start for a green Christmas.
1 comment:
I just came through a search and I wanted to say in reality, getting a potted tree isn't all that much greener then cutting down your one, having the farm replant one, and bringing yours back so they can turn it into mulch. That's what tree farms do, they cut, plant, cut, plant, recycle etc
But, potted plants are adorable and like you said, you can obvioulsy plant them and have the memories last in your yard. I have to do a potted because of the fire hazard of a fresh one in my unit, but we always recycled our trees in the past. Thanks for the links, I'm looking for a potted plant now and I hope there's one left.
But when we didn't cut our own tree, it's not like we were going out into the forst and chopping down some random tree either. The farms are in the business of replanting.
It's just a thought, because we can go too crazy with the green thing too sometimes. I saw a wreath out of newspaper yesterday!
Yuck. So, what happens when you're done, you have to get rid of that paper somehow. If you burn it, that's bad, if it goes into the trash, you're worse off then before because the paper should have been recycled to begin with. At least with a real wreath, mulch and compost can be made to make the dirt richer.
I couldn't believe it when I saw that newspaper wreath, it was so ugly too. lol
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