Having an Eco-Friendly Holiday is Easier Than You Think!

The holiday season is rife with traditions that have become considerably less than ecologically friendly. From plastic Christmas trees to half-eaten holiday leftovers, there are plenty of ways to make your holiday season just a bit greener, and it's far from a difficult or expensive thing to do. The best thing about adjusting your life to a more ecologically-friendly mentality is that it's the little steps that end up making the greatest difference, even during the winter holidays.

Setting up

Setting up for an eco-friendly holiday season and decorating might just take you back a few years, namely to the early 1800s, but with a few minor differences. Rather than opting for a plastic tree, consider a living tree. These trees are the same small pine trees that you find in nurseries, with their root balls and trunks intact. Once the holidays are over, rather than cleaning up dried pine needles, simply plant the tree in a favorable spot in your yard so you can enjoy it for years to come. There are even some businesses that allow you to rent live trees. They'll drop it off just before the holidays, then pick it up again when it's time to clean up.

To decorate the tree, consider stringing popcorn and cranberries on cotton string -- just like you see in the Norman Rockwell prints. Although they shouldn't be eaten when it's time to take the tree down for the season, they can both be composted rather than thrown away. For lights, choose LED strings to conserve electricity and prevent heat buildup on the tree.

Holiday Dinner

If you're like most celebrants, you do your best to do honor to the turkey's sacrifice, but chances are good that the tryptophan snooze that follows dinner will hold the leftovers for days afterward. Rather than simply discarding the carcass, break it up and place it into a large stock pot, then add enough water to cover the meat. Bring this to a boil, then turn down the heat so that you've got a slow, rolling boil. Cover it and leave it for between 30 minutes and 1 hour.

When the hour's up, add celery, onions, carrots, black peppercorns and garlic, then simmer it for another hour. After the hour's up, strain out the fat, vegetables and bones, reserve and freeze the meat. The resulting liquid is a basic poultry stock that you can use in place of chicken stock in everyday recipes. Turkey stock can be canned with a steam pressure canner in the same way that chicken stock can.

Sources:
Living Christmas: Living Christmas Tree Rentals: www.livingchristmas.com
Food Network: "Turkey Stock" Guy Fieri: www.foodnetwork.com