The Greenridge Herbal Thymes

Real or Fake? The real ethical dilemma...

This year like always I come to ponder over the question about getting our family a real or fake tree. For the past few years we have been buying a living tree, and then planting it. However here in Florida we have a limited selection of trees that we can plant which resemble Christmas trees. So last year I was enticed when visiting a friend's home of the fresh scent of pine needles filling the home, and it reminded me so much of when we lived in the mountains of Colorado that I went and purchased a real tree for Christmas only a few days before Christmas. I'll admit it was nice and after doing some research I was suprised to learn about the pro's and con's to each.

Real Trees
Pros - They smell like the spirit of the season
Pro - You can support a local charity by purchasing a real tree

Con - They don't last as long
Con - They can be more difficult to set up and take care of

Fake Trees
Pro - Easy to set up and take down
Pro - You don't have to water it

Con - Most fake trees (85%) in the U.S. are imported from China. Almost 10 Million fake trees were sold worldwide in 2003.*
Con As noted in the Washington Post, "On the concrete floors of Zhang's Shuitou Company factory, migrant workers, most earning about $100 a month, squat in front of hissing machinery as they melt chips into moildable plastic..."
Con - Most fake trees contain PVC (polyvinyl chloride).*
Con - The potential for lead poisoning is great enough that fake trees made in China are required by California Prop 65 to have a warning label.*
(*Taken from the American Christmas Tree Association).

I've also learned that going to the local groups selling real Christmas trees are having a harder time this year competing against the big box retailers, so this would be a good opportunity to support a local charity.
It's a hard decision, and with lots of options out there, ultimately like I mentioned there are a lot of pros and cons to each. Whatever you decide to choose this year, I hope your tree brings you much joy and happiness, and helps you to remember the true spirit of the season.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles

You and everyone around you will love these delicious truffles!

You'll need:
About 4 bags of chocolate chips
2 jars of Chunky Peanut Butter
1/2 box of Rice Crispies or any kind of rice crisp cereal (we used Koala Crisps)

Directions:
Mix peanut butter and rice crisps in a large bowl. This works best if you leave the peanut butter in the refrigerator ovenight. It is easier to mold them into balls. Mold them into small balls and place on wax paper. Then place them in the freezer overnight.
The next day, melt the chocolate chips and then using tongs dip the balls into the chocolate and place on wax paper.
Optional: Place light colored chocolate sprinkles on one end of the truffles to make them look like acorns before the chocolate has hardened. To harden, place them in the fridge for a few hours.
Enjoy!

Happy Cyber Monday!

Are you ready for the easiest shopping experience ever? No pushing, no screaming, no long lines, no annyoying people to deal with! Best of all you'll save on gas and you can sit in front of your computer and have everything come right to you. I'm referring to the wonderful Cyber Monday, the Monday that immediately follows Black Friday. It signifies the ceremonial kick-off of the holiday online shopping season in the United States between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. Whereas Black Friday is associated with traditional brick-and-mortar stores, "Cyber Monday" symbolizes a busy day for online retailers.

This year like always, I'll be doing almost all of my shopping online. Now with 2 kids in tow, it's even harder to go out to a store, much less doing some browsing around. Shopping at stores is not relaxing for me like it used to be. Thankfully we now have the internet where I can accomplish so much more, and so much faster. I'll be shopping from my computer this year. How bout you?

It's Always "Greener"at Greenridge Herbals

We're always looking for ways to make our company more green and lately we have been placing a lot of importance on recycling and biodegradeable packaging. Plastic packaging fills our landfills at an alarming pace and pollutes our waterways. We have mostly turned to glass for almost all of our packaging needs because glass is more likely to be kept and reused or recycled.
Our labels are easy to peel off once you are done with the product (we do this intentionally so that jars and bottles can be reused).

Here are some tips on how you can reuse our glass jars or bottles:

1. Use jars for food storage. Just run them thru the dishwasher and keep on hand to store soups, sauces, dressings, pates, veggies, and more.
2. Refill small jars to use when travelling. Just like above, run them thru the dishwasher or rinse out and they will last you a long time.
3. Use jars for gifts. Fill them with cookie mix, and attach a recipe. Affix your own label and place in a pretty bag. These are great to do with kids.
4. Store craft items such as pins, buttons, and miscellaneous items.
5. Use empty blue glass bottles for a beautiful flower vase. Place wildflowers in them and give as a gift, or place an a bathroom where the light will reflect the beautiful blue hues.

Remember, reduce, reuse and recycle to help save and preserve our planet for our children

My Thanksgiving Prayer

I wrote this to read at our Thanksgiving dinner. Feel free to print this out and use it at your dinner.

Heartfelt thanks for all that we have
So many blessings on our life's path
Thankfulness for all that we eat,
Each breath we take
Each tender heartbeat.

For our shelter,
warmth and heat,
Prayers for our brave soldiers,
to come back home
in health and peace.

We pray for children around the world
every little precious boy and girl
for how they brighten up our days
with laughter, love, hugs, and play

Graceful blessings to all families
big and small and strong and weak
That they may find strength, hope and joy
and we all can give thanks and let love rejoice

Pumpkin Muffins

This recipe is sure to please everyone. I recently made this for a bake sale and they went over great!

1/4 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar (or white sugar plus 1 tbsp molasses)
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups pureed pumpkin or squash
1 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 and grease muffin tin.
(This recipe makes 12 muffins.)
Cream together margarine and sugar.
Add applesauce, pumpkin, and spice.
Mix well and add flour and soda.
Fill muffin tins and bake for about 20-25 minutes.
The muffins don't rise much, so don't be shy about piling the batter in.

These muffins are great warm, but keep for days.