How to enjoy the Holidays Healthy
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Empress Wu Hosta
The most talked about Hosta! Large, lush tropical looking foliage, learn more.
The most talked about Hosta! Large, lush tropical looking foliage, learn more.
7 Healthy Fresh Ways to Celebrate the Holiday Season Organically this Year!
You can celebrate the holiday season out in the country with gift giving, wonderfully decadent desserts and still be green! When you live rural you are closer to nature, to wildlife, to native plants and more intimate with the seasons. This holiday season is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate in a healthy, environmentally friendly and delicious way. Being “green” and living an organic and sustainable lifestyle doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy life; in fact it is quite the opposite. Here are the top 7 Farm Fresh Living tips to a superb organic holiday season regardless if you live in the country or not:
1. GIVE THE GIFT OF A SUSTAINABLE CHRISTMAS WREATH
Help sustain our rural community and give the gift of a beautiful Christmas Wreath hand-crafted using only
2. PUT MORE GOBBLE IN YOUR DINNER WITH AN ORGANIC TURKEY
Get to know your local turkey or goose farmer this Christmas. Organic turkeys and geese that are free-range grown spend their lives running about in the open and are free from harmful antibiotics and hormones. Organic free-range turkey is a very good source of high density, low-fat protein produced without the additional potentially harmful chemicals. In addition, organic turkey is also good source of selenium, zinc, niacin, Vitamin E, beta-carotene, and Vitamins B6 and B12.
3. ADD MORE HEALTHY ORGANIC GREENS THIS SEASON
No rural home is complete without a kitchen garden not matter how small! Need help planting a kitchen garden? Read our article about how easy it is to start a vegetable garden. If you had a garden this summer, then you can raid your freezer for organically grown peas, carrots and other vegetables have higher levels of vitamin C, more minerals and cancer fighting antioxidants than non-organic varieties. Try adding in organic winter squash this season at your holiday dinner table. Winter squash is a powerhouse of antioxidants and vitamins!
4. SPICE UP YOUR LIFE AND YOUR HOLIDAY DINNER WITH FRESH HERBS.
One of the tastiest benefits of organic gardening is the ability to maintain a well-stocked kitchen pantry, bursting with seasonal herbs that add zest to your home-cooked meals. During the summer into fall you can grow a wide variety of herbs no matter what size garden you have. Herbs are perfect for small rural kitchen gardens and most varieties can be grown in pots right on a patio! Herbs require full sun, organic fertilizer and moderate watering to grow healthy and happy. Essential herbs to grow are: basil, Italian parsley, oregano, marjoram, thyme, chives, chervil, cilantro and chocolate mint. You can either grow herbs from organic seeds or purchase organically grown herbs online in 3.5” pots to get a head start! During the summer into fall you can harvest herbs and either dry or freeze them for use later in the year. For Christmas dinner at the farm we always have a containers of rosemary, sage, oregano and thyme growing inside to use. Basil, the quintessential herb does not do well inside in the winter but you can find a quick tip on storing fresh basil here...
5. GIVE THE GIFT OF GREEN THIS SEASON
We are not talking about money, but green as in living plants! Plants are beneficial to our own health and psyche as well as healthy for the environment. All plants remove the Carbon Dioxide we emit during breathing and release Oxygen into the air for us to breathe. This exchange takes place during photosynthesis. In addition, all plants remove impurities from the air. Giving green is easy and if the recipient is an avid gardener they will appreciate a premium perennial over that “thing-a-ma-jig” that you gave them last year that is still tucked away in a closet. You can order a gift certificate from a sustainable nursery online, visit your local organic nursery or if you don’t have an organic nursery near you, you can also order sustainably grown plants online and have them delivered anywhere in the United States!
6. VISIT YOUR LOCAL FARMERS MARKET
This holiday season reduce the miles that your food travels by buying from your local farmer or Farmers Market. At our farm we offer fresh vegetables and fruits all season. My mother always told me that it is important to know where your food actually comes from and she was right!
7. EASY NEW YEARS RESOLUTION
Now that you have experience the joy, health and peace of having a sustainable, organic Christmas continue it throughout the year!