Eco Christmas Gift Ideas

By Larraine Roulston Contemplating homemade Christmas gifts? November is a good month to begin the preparation before the December panic sets in. While thinking about your own family and close friends, making Christmas gifts for those less fortunate makes the holiday season even more special. In November, do some of your Christmas gift shopping at a local craft or church bazaar event. This not only saves delivery transportation, but also keeps money circulating within the community. Some businesses and retailers display a Christmas tree with clothes pegs to donate homemade socks, mitts, and toques, for organizations like the Salvation Army. If you are a novice knitter, now is a good time to get started. Wool is often found in thrift stores or can be unraveled from a worn sweater that you no longer wish to wear. Several years ago, a friend of mine baked decorative fruit breads to give to each of her neighbourhood friends and acquaintances, which included her letter carrier, garbage collectors, and milk man - who were all pleased to be on her list. To keep textiles that are unsuitable for donations, and even ripped fabric grocery bags from being trashed, cut them into strips. Braid strips together, then with another strip weave them to make a small rag rug for pets. Rag rugs are not sown and should be washed gently. Pet rugs are welcomed at animal shelters and at thrift shores. They are also useful around the home. Homemade jars of jams, jellies, or pickled veggies make wonderful gifts and are always appreciated. Dehydrated fruit also makes an ideal gift as they are high in fibre, vitamins, and complex carbohydrates. My grandmother always sent me a Christmas box of her dried apples. To make them, remove the cores and slice evenly into rings across the core centres. Immerse in water, adding a little salt or lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown. To oven dry, preheat to 120 F. Pat dry, arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet, leaving the oven door slightly open, and bake for 1 hour. Occasionally move the pieces around. Turn up the oven to 140 F for 3-6 hours until completely dry. An alternative is to air dry on a thin pole in front of an open fire. If you compost indoors using a vermicomposter, you can bag the red wigglers’ castings. These hardy little worms are champion recyclers and can consume roughly half their own weight in organic material each day, producing nutrient-rich castings that help build healthy soil. In their ‘sea’ of damp cellulose covering, they transform both this bedding and veggie/fruit peelings into nitrogen-rich castings (worm poo) known as the ‘Cadillac of Compost’. The castings contain beneficial bacteria and other microorganisms that help make nutrients more available to plant roots. These little industrious workers, with 5 hearts, love to give the gift of their ‘black gold’. This year, if you are not already doing so, escape the modern-day commercial Christmas financial pressures, and enjoy a simpler way to celebrate.