Ecotainus

If you’d like to celebrate with some sustainably-minded and SUPER fun folks in South Florida this Earth Day, we hope you’ll join us for the South Florida Green Drinks Inaugural EcoLifestyle Gala tomorrow night at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. Tickets are still available and more information on the event can be found at http://www.southfloridagreendrinks.org/.

As we get set to mark the 40th year of Earth Day celebration, here are a few tips and shout outs to those helping to sustain my (and all of our) world this Earth Day and every day. My friends at the Morning Show were kind enough to have me back to offer viewers ideas on how to ecotain this Earth Day. To view the segment, click here: Earth Day Ecotaining with April Milliken Trigg.

In a nutshell, why not celebrate this Earth Day with a nod to the land, water and air we should all help sustain? Here are some quick and easy ideas…

• Create a menu that supports locally grown produce, grass fed/cage free beef & poultry as well as fish that is on the sustainable seafood list. Take a trip to your local Whole Foods Market and look our for their “Support Local” signs which can be found all over their stores. Serve sustainable spirits (my new fave is SquareOne Vodka) or organic wines like Bonterra or Parducci.
• Ditch the glassware and create a grab, go and give back beverage station by filling a large bowl with ice and recyclable beverages, like the new Dasani Plant Bottle, and encouraging your guests to recycle their beverage containers by placing a recycling station next to your drink set up.
• Decorate with reusable linens (thanks to bbj linens for use of those shown the segment), sustainable stems like those found at OrganicBouquet.com and all your nature-oriented décor around the house. Take a stroll on the beach this Earth Day and, as you enjoy the land, water and air we all need to strive to protect, collect a few mementos to display on your table which not only offers an inexpensive décor piece but also reminds us of how preserving our local community helps contribute to sustaining the entire planet.

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day! WHAT? If you woke up this morning with an “I’m in trouble feeling” because you forgot (perhaps not the first time?) that this is the big, red coated 24 hours of “let’s exclaim our feelings” day, here are a few quick ideas to get you back on redemption road.

I was astounded at the great deals and ideas at Whole Foods Market – from surf & turf deals ($14.99 for a NY Strip  & Lobster Tail combo) to two dozen beautiful (sustainably grown) roses for $19.99 and even adorable mini-rose bushes (my personal fave) for $4.99 each. The scrumptious looking organic strawberries and their delectable mini desserts are perfect for two this Valentine’s Day. With the economy not-so-thriving these days, more celebratory dinners will be taking place at home and I definitely encourage you to run by WFM to see what deals you can come by.

An interesting challenge my own mother took own was to purchase all of the V-Day gifts for my father at Walgreens. Yes, Walgreens. Apparently their commercials do actually work as they claimed you could find all of your heart day treats for your special someone, in one quick trip, at their stores. Of course, it goes without saying that finding your gifts in one spot, as opposed to driving across town, back and forth, is a great stride in being sustainable this holiday.

So, enjoy your V-Day celebration with sustainable stems & sustenance!

With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, buy a bush rather than a bunch and you can be good to your wallet while being good to the environment.

Buying a rose bush (or any other flowering plant that catches your eye) that you can plant with your significant other will not only last longer than your standard bunch of roses or flowers but many can actually be MUCH less expensive than some of the going rates at a local florist. Watching your bush bloom throughout the season(s) has to be better than watching your gift wilt then get tossed in the trash after just a few short days. Many landscape companies and even online retailers begin carrying an abundant array of rose bushes and trees as of February 1st but make sure to place your order asap.

I like the options at Autumn Ridge Nursey (if you’re an online shopper). They are in McMinnville, Tennessee known as the Nursery Capital of the World…which sounds like a pretty good place to start.

So, go ahead, plant the seeds (bush or tree) of love this Valentine’s Day…

For those who are following the blog (besides my family and few kind friends), stay tuned for a new look and new content coming this January. EcotainUS.com in the revamp stages and looking forward to a fresh face as we kick off 2010.

Just a few things to keep in mind as you celebrate the ringing in of the new year tonight and through the weekend…

• Showcase local fare in your NYE spread
• Use compostable or reusable dishware instead of plastic or Styrofoam plateware
• Turn the lights off and the candles on
• Encourage your guests to carpool or take mass transit to your NYE celebration (not only is it better for the environment but it’s also a safer choice this holiday)
• Make a resolution for 2010 to be more conscious – whatever that tangible goal in your life can be…drive less, turn off your lights & power sources when not in use, turn off your faucet sooner, think more about your food sources and give more back to your community.

The more we know, the more we can do, the less we impact our planet.

Happy 2010!

April Milliken Trigg
ecotainus.com

Say no to Styrofoam as your go-to foundation for creating beautiful wreaths for your front door and fire place mantles this holiday season. What a better start to creating a festive flourish than with a wreath made from mountain raised Noble and Fraser Fir which is an easy to work with base to add seasonal touches to. You can easily tie or pin in glass or fabric ornaments, pinecones and ribbons while getting an added bonus of color and the Christmas smell. The best bonus of choosing an eco option for your festive decor this season is you’re not creating an impossible-to-recycle product of waste. I have even found that Fraser Fir wreaths can last far beyond the holidays if you rework the accents to focus on the overall winter season.

As I pulled out the multiple storage boxes of purchased, procured and passed down ornaments to adorn my Christmas trees, I started sorting out how to repurpose the various sentimental, colorful and ornate baubles to create a new look, with everything old. With the economy in the proverbial toilet, the best way to be eco (economically and egolocially) this year is to find the fab in the drab (or old stuff we pull out from year to year). There’s no better testament to this idea than with our fabulous First Lady who hauled out ghosts of Christmas ornaments past and challenged people from over 60 community groups across the country to renew over 800 of the previously used ornaments with graphical tributes to their favorite local landmarks which tied into her holiday theme of “Reflect. Rejoice. Renew.”

Besides repurposing ornaments from holidays, take the shop swap idea to your tree. Location is everything, as they say, and doing a little trade with your friends to swap ornaments (and even other seasonal decor) is an easy and inexpensive way to add an inspired touch to your trimming. Placing anything in a different setting instantly gives it a fresh look. Host a swap meet with you friends – a little mixing here and a smidge of matching there will turn everything old new again.

So, I’m back from the Thanksgiving respite well-rested, rejuvenated and overjoyed to be in the official midst of the holiday season. With the festive spirit in full gear, I have decided to commit to filling the month of December with ways to make this a sustainable season- 25 tips to make you green this holiday. Starting on now December 2nd, this entry is a double decker.

What better way to stroll into the season than with the quintessential staple – the Christmas tree. My feeling on Christmas trees is this – if you are one of those people who anxiously awaits the evening where you bundle up and head out to your favorite tree place to find the perfect, well-rounded Fraser Fir, the tip is to purchase one from a Christmas tree farm in as close proximity to your home as possible. After going the potted tree route last, I felt the urge to go back to my childhood roots and go big & bushy. So, I did a little checking and found that one of our local Whole Foods had a really nice selection of very lush, mountain grown trees from a family farm in the region. I spent my four day weekend sprucing up (literally) my home to make it holiday-ready complete with the addition of several potted cypress to add the Christmas touch to my mantles, a table top tree for my piano and a larger tree on the porch.  Both our table top tree and our 7ft Fraser Fir came from Bottomley Evergreen Farm in North Carolina. Owned and operated by a father and son team, their farm produces crops from cantaloupes and cabbage to a wide array of greenery including a vast selection of Christmas trees (see their farm below). I really liked that each tree had a tag attached telling the story of the farm – it definitely leaves you with a warm cider smile. Keep in mind your Christmas tree is a renewable resource; it’s biodegradable and can be recycled at your local Home Depot.

On to my second tip…which relates back to tip #1 and to the Home Depot. As pretty as a natural Fir tree is, let’s face it – it’s spectacular when it glows. Beyond an adornment for your tree, Christmas lights seem to sparkle throughout every city I visit and we all have those neighbors who go a little bananas and light everything on their property from their hedges to their rooftops. Well, fortunately for our environment, there are great eco options to help reduce the energy expended on running these and even solar lighting choices that don’t require the cords that have you reworking your string lights over and over so you can successfully reach the top of the tree from the base of the power plug. Home Depot carries both the solar and LED lights that use up to 80% less energy than traditional lights and burn at a cooler temperature which is also a safety measure. The LED lights still offer plenty of bulb shapes and colors so you don’t have to sacrifice look or color – the solar option has a few less choices on shapes but you can find both white and multi color available. So light up the season with a choice you can feel good about.

I’m the first to admit that I’m not a huge fan of Halloween but there are a few elements of the holiday that I find compelling and I’m certainly a fan of the season. Communities seem to unite as people dress up their kids, their animals and, of course, themselves and the look of Fall can be seen through the adorned front porches, fences and the occasional rooftop. Another tradition of this spooky season is, of course, the pumpkin. What better way to ring in the on-set of the holiday  than a visit to a pumpkin patch to procure your very own symbol of the season. To find a pumpkin patch near you, check out pumpkin patches & more where a simple click of your mouse can locate a farm in your city and state.  For other local farming resources, definitely visit Slow Food USA where you can search for your local SlowFood organization for more detailed information on local farms, farmers markets and more. Picking your own pumpkin adds a special connection…seeing growth in motion, if you will, and certainly helps to support your community. That’s the pretty cool aspect, if you ask me.

As we approach All Hallows Eve, the changing of the leaves seems to have sprung upon us as if the impending holiday serves as a cue for the trees to begin their transformation as well. The warm autumn hues in the trees frame the city in a different light and it really is a miraculous site to take in whether you’re walking, biking or driving through. I just love it. I also like to take advantage of the Fall(en) leaves to incorporate them into decor…a super seasonal and sustainable accent to any table. I happen to live across from a park and the breeze does tend to blow them straight into our yard so gathering a multi-colored bunch to create a table runner or even a selection of single leaves to use as place cards is a cinch.

One last compelling element of Halloween to share doesn’t come with candy, a costume or even a (green) cocktail…just a mere suggestion to tune into Regis & Kelly for their annual Halloween extravangaza tomorrow (Friday, October 30th). It’s the most hilarious hour of TV all year, in my opinion, and is filled with record costume changes, spot-on impressions and a belly aching tribute to the year’s most revered and most ridiculous. Trick or Treat.