We love our local co-op. Every month they publish an amazing newsletter that is full of fresh articles and ideas that inspire us to “live green”. When I read their December cover list called “Celebrate the Eco Way”, I knew I had to share it with Mable’s readers. Enjoy and have a wonderful green holiday season!

“During the holiday season we tend, as a whole, to consume more. And, in doing so we create more… waste, that is. The following is a short list of ideas to help you reduce, reuse and recycle this season.

• Purchase living gifts such as house plants, garden seeds or potted trees that can be transplanted in the spring.
• Reduce waste by offering homemade food items or personal services as gifts. Baking cookies or preparing a meal a week for someone who would appreciate the help are two examples.
• Reuse holiday wrapping: use old maps or pages from newspaper comics for wrapping gifts.
• Reuse good quality, nearly new items as gifts or as donations to less fortunate individuals and families. Local charities can help distribute these items.
• If your celebration calls for a Christmas tree, compensate for the harvest of your tree; arrange to plant a new tree in your yard or neighborhood next spring.
• Give gifts that promote eco friendly life style changes. For example: cloth napkins and tablecloths, cloth or string shopping bags, a compost bin, gift certificates to resale shops, lunch boxes, reusable or biodegradable picnic plates, cups and utensils, recycling bins, or any gift made from recycled materials.

To preserve the spirit of giving, don’t try to give too much. Less “stuff” means less waste and a healthier environment for everyone.”

Article courtesy of San Diego’s organic and vegetarian Ocean Beach People’s Co-op.

Did you know that, on average, kids throw away 67 pounds of trash every year from their school lunches? This costs schools much needed funds to collect and dispose of that trash, as well as being a huge ecological problem. (I wonder how much adults throw away during lunch.) But we can quickly make lunch time a lesson in zero waste. Participate in the Zero Waste Lunch program by bringing your lunch, and your childrens’ lunches, in stylish and reusable bags. Check out some tips to follow that will help reduce the amount of trash purchased, created, and needlessly thrown away.

For those that want to invest in a quality reusable bag we recommend checking out Nubius Organics’ zero waste lunch section. They feature a stylish line of insulated, reusable totes for transporting your lunch as well as some large bags that are made of recycled plastic bottles. Most, if not all, of their bags/totes are PVC free, teflon free, and lead free so you know your food is safe from toxins.

Nubius Organics also carries another Mable’s favorite: the Laptop Lunch System. Made famous by the Vegan Lunchbox Blog.

The Swiss Hot Steam Humidifier: This pretty little humidifier boils water to eliminate waterborne bacteria and viruses before emiting hot steam that improves ambient air moisture in these dry winter months. Deliciously scientific isn’t it? Now go buy one.
$99.95

The Best Electric Tea Kettle: This is the best electric tea kettle, simply because it outperformed all other models due to its awesome heat retention, quick boiling time (twice as fast), automatic shut-off, and safety features. The perfect gift for those tea lovers.
$69.95

Are there any fellow foodies out there? As a lover of baking, I’ve done some experimenting with and researching of the available cookware materials: aluminum, glass, silicone, stone, steel, cast iron, and clay. Each has it’s own specialties and downsides, including possible health risks. Non-stick Teflon coatings, silicone, and lead containing glazes are a few of the materials that raise the biggest concerns about bakeware safety. So what options does that leave us with? So glad you asked!

I was recently introduced to La Chamba Ware, which seems to be ideal in just about every way. The pottery is handmade under Fair Trade standards in Columbia. Created from only mica clay, it is not glazed and contains no toxins. Instead, the clay is polished with river rocks; how cool is that? The pieces are then finished in wood kilns that turn them a lustrous and striking black. These stylish dishes are also very versatile and can be used on a gas stove (and electric stovetop using a heat diffuser) cleaned in the dishwasher, and even used in a microwave if that’s your thing. The only downside is that they don’t tolerate drastic changes in temperature, and thus need to pre-heat along with the oven. No biggie. Along with Viva Terra, you can often find discount La Chamba cookware on eBay. Happy (and safe) cooking!

$48-69

Found via Road Less Traveled
Also: Creative Clay Cooking Blog

It’s spring time, which translates to more outdoor fun as we gear up for summer. The retro feel of tiki decor is always in style and its complimentary theme let’s us escape our backyard into a bamboo enchanted island setting. So get your tiki bars out and check out our tiki decor page for more ideas.

What tiki bar is complete without tiki themed mugs, tumblers, shot glasses, and for the nomadic drinker, a flask? These are all available from our friends over at After5. Made of ceramic and with some clear detail these mugs are ready to impress and intoxicate your guests with some tiki flair. Buy these dishwasher safe mugs, tumblers, and shot glasses in a set or individually to customize your very own tiki decor.

$6.99 – $56.99

Beautiful and functional is a reoccurring theme at Mable’s, and this flower shaped loose tea strainer by Koziol is an excellent example. Tea infusers often leave a lot of bits to swirl about in your mug, but a tea strainer like this one keeps your drink leaf-free. It also comes with an adorable leaf-shaped stand, and with that kind of presentation it would make a unique tea party idea.

$12.95

Ever used your sink directly after someone else and were unpleasantly surprised with scalding hot water? Well now you can color code your water with this heat sensitive LED faucet adapter from ThinkGeek. Just to state the obvious; red water means hot (89 degrees or higher) and blue means cold.

I’m a little leary about the fact that this extends your faucet quite a bit (2.25 inches), but if you have the room in your sink, then I’d definitely join the cool kids on the block and get one. Midnight trips to the bathroom, tooth brushing, even simple face washing would become fun just by using this technological marvel. This LED faucet light attachment comes with two universal adapters for use with almost any standard faucet in the USA. Be sure to check out the customer action shots to see all the fun others are having.

$12.99 – $19.99

It’s products like this that make your life much easier in small, but very useful ways. Believe it or not, draining pasta isn’t an easy task for me. One too many times I’ve spilled my noodles down the sink while trying to drain the water out. Now that I know about this Expandable Over-The-Sink Colander I won’t have to do the tricky “one-handed pasta drain” maneuver, and never have to worry about spilling my food, or burning myself again. It’s great for rinsing produce too, as it’s professional fine gauge mesh allows even delicates, such as sprouts, to be rinsed or drained with ease. Because it’s expandable, it’ll fit almost any size kitchen sink. I appreciate that it’s stainless steel too, as my last conventional plastic colander was ruined after it was left on a warm stovetop for just a moment.

$28.95

A familiar theme here at Mable’s is functional things in attractive packages. I’m bored of household items in greys and whites, and I’m pleased to see that the creators of Hot Heads Oven Mitts feel the same. Who says kitchen safety has to be boring? These silicone oven mitts are heat resistant up to 446 degrees, and are flexible, strong, and lightweight. Now you can shield your hands from steaming temps while bringing a smile to your face. Much more durable and heat resistant than traditional woven oven mitts, these silicone mitts are, in the words of Howard Hughes, the way of the future! These would also make great hand puppets for the kiddos, so don’t be surprised if you get requests to borrow these for playtime. Choose from orange doggy or green froggy.

$9.99

Call them drink markers, drink hangers, or just plain fun, Mable’s has always been a fan of cocktail glass decorations. Due to the success of the cocktail monkeys, mermaids, and elephants the powers-that-be have created some new friends to hang from our cocktail glasses.

Now you can adorn your beverage of choice with a black cat cocktail buddy (for that retro look) or a red demon, complete with pitch fork (for that little devil in all of us). Each box comes with about 50 little drink hangers to help your party goers remember which glass is theirs.

Whether you’re throwing a small lounge party or a big open bar type party these cocktail hangers always get rave reviews. I suggest handing out one for each drink refill so by the end of the night, or early morning, everyone can review how many drinks much fun they had. Come Monday morning your party goers can hang these from their cubicle, office desk, office lamp, etc. and they will forever remember the great time they had at your party. You can also use these as secret invitations; just hand out one to each coworker you’d like to have attend your get together and they’ll know whose house to be at this weekend.

Got any other ideas or past experiences with these little drink markers? Leave a comment and share it with everyone.

$6.99 – $8.99