Holiday goes green

What? You already use gourds to snazz up your Thanksgiving table?

Congratulations! You may be greener than you realized.

In the effort to conserve —- for the sake of a depleted Mother Earth, let alone the economy —- Thanksgiving offers ample opportunities.

“It’s the time of year when you’re supposed to be thankful for everything that you have, and obviously the great provider is the earth, and so it’s kind of a time to be thankful for that too,” says Jordana Gustafson, editor of Sustainlane.com, a sustainable living Web site highlighting how to green your holiday.

For example, if you need to travel, save fuel by carpooling or try composting biodegradable plastic ware.

It’s about shades of green, sustainability activists will often say.

And Gustafson calls her site “lighter green,” a reference to simple starting points for adapting eco-friendly practices. “Dark greenies would probably encourage people not to travel and encourage people not to buy and not to consume and definitely not to eat turkey,” she says.

And yet, some feel that consuming a locally and humanely farmed bird demonstrates their environmental commitment.

“Getting a Heritage Turkey is big on my list,” says Laura Turner Seydel, Atlanta’s celebrity face of environmental stewardship. (Her home, EcoManor, is the Southeast’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified single-family residence.)

A different breed

Seydel’s not alone in craving a Heritage Turkey, which is raised outdoors over about seven months and mates the old-fashioned way.

They cost more than most turkeys, which come cheaper thanks to mass engineering.

But the price hasn’t hurt Elberton, Ga.’s Nature’s Harmony Farm, which sold out of Heritage Turkeys in April.

“Green grass … fresh air … shelter and places to roost, but also the freedom to fly, forage and, well … be a turkey!” boasts Nature’s Harmony Farm, which doesn’t cage its animals or use hormones or antibiotics.

“Lets be honest, the vast majority of people are probably always going to be interested in the cheapest chicken from Wal-Mart, but there is a huge movement of people that really cares about what’s in their food” and how and where it was raised, says Tim Young, who, with his wife, Liz, left Canton two years ago to produce local and slow-grown food.

New York chefs would pay top dollar for his pigs, Young said, but he won’t sell to them. “We know how to FedEx, but our focus is on building community through food.”

No matter your choice of turkey —- or turkey alternative —- you’ll want side dishes. And locally grown vegetables offer a wide range of choices.

“Seasonal produce not only tastes better but its more nutritional and it also helps our economy here,” Seydel says. For her, the Saturday morning market at The Cathedral of St. Philip is a grounding experience, so to speak. It’s a chance “to see how much of their lives they’ve put into growing these things that will benefit our family,” she says.

‘Make it possible’

And if the idea of crafting 50,000 side dishes in a steaming kitchen does not send you swooning into holiday bliss, simply “make it possible,” as one holiday sage puts it.

Six Beans in Marietta delivers its preservative-free cooking for a flat fee of $10. Its Thanksgiving feast for six costs $125 and provides everything but the turkey, even the roasting kit and gravy.

If nothing else, remember the environmentalist’s rule.

“Practice the three R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle,” Seydel says. That goes for the rest of the holiday season too.

Seydel notes that the city of Atlanta is now recycling corrugated cardboard. During the Christmas season, landfills increase by 25 percent, she says. So this year, after rejoicing in their gifts, people can do something greener with all those pesky packages.

TIPS FOR A GREENER THANKSGIVING

Try decorating with …

> Gourds: Can be painted and reused, and reflect the season

> What you already have: “That really unleashes your creativity,” says Gustafon of SustainLane. She advises topping a table with vegetables or candles surrounded by rocks (“If there’s mossy stones, those are even prettier,” she says), and tie napkins together with string around a stick of cinnamon or sprig of herbs.

> An edible centerpiece: Jack Poles, an interior designer who specializes in eco-friendly products, suggests fashioning a a centerpiece out of ingredients for a dish. Take, for example, vegetable soup. “You can use cabbage as decorative pieces for your leaves and carrots for color. You can put in other types of radishes, green peppers, really to make it almost like you’re using flowers,” he says. Afterward, mix, cook and enjoy all over again!

> Natural materials: Poles suggests soy-based candles. Beeswax candles are another option, and the honeycombed style adds dimension to the light. Poles also says tablecloths can be crafted from burlap or linen and lotus leaves can serve as place mats.

As for eating …

> Locally grown food: Enter your zip code at LocalHarvest.org to find local farms, markets and grocery stores selling sustainably grown food.

> Save and share: Reuse your plastic bags when shopping, and don’t forget to share your extra portions with churches, shelters or meals-on-wheels programs, Seydel says, noting that many elderly people may lack a nutritious Thanksgiving meal.