Green Festival Highlights Part Deux

At the Green Festival, a joint project by Green America and Global Exchange, I happened upon the Beer and Wine garden. I was able to get a little background on organic wines and production by speaking with a few of the winemakers. I also happily tried a few of their offerings.

If you are a green bride or groom, you may be looking to incorporate alcoholic beverages into your festivities. One way to do this is to share your wine picks with guests. They can be offered at the bar and by servers or to cut costs, you can put a bottle or two at each table and let guests help themselves. However you do it, there are ways to go green with wine purchases just like everything else.

There are more and more wines made organically and naturally. They can be made with organic grapes, or additionally made without additives like sulfites and acids, and/or without added yeast. Some farming techniques can go beyond organic or additive free and can include Biodynamic Farming, which ensures a more self sustaining farm with a healthy ecosystem.

Here's a look into some of the locally grown and made organic wines that I tried:

Beaver Creek Vineyards are located in Lake County, CA and produce wines using a biodynamic approach, ensuring living micro organisms, bugs and grazing animals and fertile soil. Their wines are made with natural yeast, little added sulfites and are not filtered.

Le Vin Winery and Inn is located on 164 acres in Medocino County, CA. They produce both organically grown wine and Olive Oil, and use hand culivation and other low impact methods. They also do not add sulfites and have low growing clovers and insects that enhance their soil and ecosystem.

Frey Vineyards located in Mendocino, CA provides organically made wines without sulfites or acids and at times without added yeast, and goes beyond that to include other sustainable methods in their production. They include a biodynamic approach to cultivation and land use that supports biodiversity. They are also ensuring that carbon emissions are reduced and eliminated with solar power, tree planting and recycling.

Overall, learning about wines and the steps that these and other vineyards are taking to be organic and sustainable has been a real pleasure. Adding your favorite organic wine picks to your wedding reception would be a great addition to a green wedding. It would help ensure that yet another human pleasure is enjoyed responsibly and may even reflect positively upon the land, animals and other humans on this earth.

G&G

Green your Wedding Registry

Before your big day, you've probably got a lot of things to do. You've got to order the cake, get the dress/suit, find a DJ, get your hair cut, etc, etc. It can seem like the list is nonstop. One item on your list that can either be exciting, overwhelming, or both, is your registry.

It's pretty standard and almost expected that you make a list of the things you would like to receive as gifts for your wedding. Most guests are pretty familiar with registries, and some may even start asking for them as soon as you pop the question. Whether or not they actually choose a gift from that registry, is another conversation. But in the case that they do, it's better to be prepared. Of course, as a green bride or groom, you probably also want to register for items or actions that reflect your mindset. There are a few online resources that can help you set up registries that reflect your tastes and your green practices and ideals.

There are a number of eco-friendly and sustainable stores online that offer registries. There are also some registry services that allow you to register for non-tangible gifts like car washes or donations, for example. I've taken the liberty of doing my own "shopping" at some of these sites so you can see what they have to offer. Take a look:

1. Handmade ceramic pottery and dinnerware:

The handmade ceramics above are from www.dodgestationpottery.com. It's not only made by a person's hands, but it is also art. The website offers a wedding registry that allows you to choose the pieces you want so that your guests can order them for you. They have dinnerware(photo at top) as well as kitchen items like these cute ramekins just above.

2. Dining, Bedding, Bath, Children's, Gifts and Garden products:

These super cute "bird" measuring spoons are found on www.arenaturals.com
and go well with a trendsetting couple's kitchen or just someone who likes birds. They are handmade in the US and are food safe.

These lovely spa towels are made of organic cotton can be found on www.vivaterra.com. They are free of chlorine bleach and synthetic finishing agents and are 100% organic.



Check out this composter I found on www.greenfeet.com, very useful for the green couple who has a yard. Sounds like making rich compost from your yard trimmings and food scraps can be pretty easy with this device.

3. Fair trade & Sustainable home, jewelry, clothing and gifts:

Look at this spacious fair trade hammock made of reclaimed cotton by a family owned workshop in El Salvador. The workers are paid above standard wages and receive benefits. Available on www.globalexchangestore.org

4. Non-material, secondhand and homemade registry:

This registry allows you to create a wishlist of items that you'd like people to give you, and can be both material and non-material. A sample item might be: a freshly baked pie, or maybe some homemade pancakes?



Once someone selects that gift to give you, the registry notes that your wish has been fulfilled.
www.alternativegiftregistry.org

5. Donation registry:

This registry allows couples to register for charities, so guests can donate using their credit card or write a check to your favorite cause in place of a tangible gift. From The Global Fund for Women to Amazon Watch, they probably have a charity you support on their list.

www.idofoundation.org

Whatever registry you choose, remember that some guests may be unfamiliar with some of these green online stores or non-material registries. It may be important to explain them on your wedding website or by teaching family and friends who can act as registry guides. Most of these registries however, try to make it easy for both the couple and their friends and family to use their registries.

G&G