The Difference Between a Real and a Fake Tree

Now we don out gay apparel... this means as much pink as possible. Then we drove to Gogo's, a local Christmas tree farm about 15 minutes from our house.


It took us about 15 minutes to find 'the one'. It only took a minute before it sacrificed its life for our holiday merriment.


To the van to be tied to the roof-rack...


The end result.


So which is better, real or fake? Here's the list of why real is better:

1.You can't really put a price on the fun of getting the tree even if you get it from a pre-cut place. Getting a new one every year adds to the family tradition.

2. Fake trees are almost all made in China by factory workers working in hazardous conditions.

3. Fake trees are made with plastic... the manufacturing process not only pollutes the air and water, the trees tend to be made of PVC which is offgassing in your home.

4. When your fake wears out, it goes to the dump to sit for 1000 years. A real tree gets chipped and recycled and eventually decomposes.

5. Fake trees aren't really much less of a fire hazard if you keep them watered like you are supposed to.

6. The real Christmas trees you buy came from a farm and don't come from old growth forest. You are supporting small farmers, who are growing trees which benefitted the environment during their growth. If you can support a local farm even better. :)

Christmas Nix Pix Part 2: It's Not a Thing

I have to admit that I am feeling a lack of energy. I am desperately working towards finals, my bread machine is baking for me as we speak, and it could snow. Could. Or just be cold. I have Christmas shopping done and I also have to admit that I did not purchase only handmade items. I also bought Operation! I have a serious weakness for board games.

This year, get your person a gift of knowledge or experience, instead of a thing. I'll start with magazines first because they are cheapest...

Countryside Magazine

This is probably one of my favorite homesteading magazines. They are really big, have great articles and seem to be laid back just the way I like it. :)

Backwoods Home

Backwoods Home tends to be more militant in its attitude and definitely has a strong Libertarian slant, which if you are into is great. It also has excellent do-it-yourself make-it-from scratch and survivaly type stuff.

In my opinion if you have to choose a homesteading magazine, these two are the best. How about an adventure?

Check out Great American Days, where you can purchase an experience for someone. They start out simple like a massage or a sushi-making class, all the way up to diving with sharks or rock and roll fantasy camp.

Alternatively you could send someone to farm school at Mary Jane's Farm... or just get them a subscription to her magazine.
I particularly recommend the Farmgirl Sisterhood membership for any country girl at heart.

Finding alternative gifts that people will actually like is really a challenge. I think with the recession being what it is, one really cool thing you could do is pay for someone to become a member of a local organic farm coop.

2009 Christmas Nix Pix: Part 1 - Etsy for under $30

It's that time of year! It's time to find the best, earth-friendly, anti-consumerism interesting gifts out there. If you didn't see this last year, Nix Pix is a gross misspelling of Nic's Picks, lol. This post is focusing on my favourite stuff from Etsy $30 or less.

Leg Warmers from The Sitting Tree



Fight Club Soap from Serendipity 8



Egyptian Leather Journal from Wayfaring Arts



Wireless Plush Fairy Wings from 4eva designs



Wooden Soccer Players from Phoenix Rose Boutique

Cooking in Your Fireplace

Hearth cooking sounds so romantic. The fire crackling, the smell of wood smoke, the cast iron pots bubbling over a real fire.... but look at that woman. She's bent over a fire, the smoke and flames are in her face and she has to hover over it to make sure that it's not scorching. Not so romantic - but still it looks better, doesn't it? Modern technology doesn't seem to have the same aesthetic value. The picture above, by the way, is from the Howard Hall Farm in Athens, New York which offers green and pioneer skill classes as well as historic restoration.

It's getting colder and as inconvenient as it might be to cook in your fireplace, its important to know how. Here's a quick run down of the basics:

First build a fire. This post would be really long if I told you how to do that. This is a post about cooking over a fire, not making the fire. Maybe another day.

You should let it burn for a while until it has some good hot coals. To find out how hot the fire is, hold you hand about 3 inches above the spot you want to cook over. Count the seconds until you have to move your hand away because it is too hot. If you can't even last one second, it is about 400-500 degrees. Two to three seconds and it is around 400-450 degrees. Six is too cold. If you're like me and your hands are tiny and wimpy, the fire may be slightly cooler than this estimate. Experience and burned food will educate you quickly.

You can support your pan or pot with three large stones around the fire, or hang it up above the fire, or you can use a Dutch Oven. Check out Lehman's for cast-iron griddles, cast iron kettles with legs, a fireplace cooking crane, and other fireplace cooking accessories.

Dutch ovens are probably the most versatile and easy way to start cooking over fire. You simply burn the fire down to hot coals, and put the coals evenly all around and on top of the oven. When your done, you don't wash it with soap - you scrape out the food and rinse it with hot water. For soup you would use it the same as a crock pot - it can take about 4-8 hours. Other things like eggs and toast and bacon and tea are all pretty simple - the fire is hot and you put things on there until they are cooked. The tricky part is how variable the heat is, but with experience it gets easier.

It's fun to do this with your kids every now and then, and it teaches an important skill. Letting your kids be around and safely use fire is much smarter than telling them to not play with matches.

23 Skidoo

A bit of history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_skidoo_%28phrase%29

I love that this is the oldest slang in America, and applicable to my life today. I will return to blogging in a bit, when I will post my Christmas picks for the year. Happy holidays, and I hope you bought nothing on Black Friday. ;)