It is possible for gardeners to celebrate a green holiday season. There’s a wonderful new green living guide from Chronicle Books that explains how this is done. “I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas-Gifts, Decorations, and Recipes That Use Less and Mean More” is by Anna Getty. It features lush color photos by Ron Hamad. This is printed on 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper.

The introduction gives the ten quick and easy ways to save energy during the holiday season. Throughout the book there are boxes with quick green living tips and ideas from many green living experts.

This title is invaluable for several reasons. It offers earth-friendly, affordable ways to enjoy this special season. It will also be particularly useful for frugal shoppers. For gifts and holiday decorations, the author emphasizes recycling and reusing existing items whenever possible.

Gardeners in particular will be delighted with this title. It has wonderful ideas on holiday decorating with natural materials from the garden. There are also scrumptious recipes using fresh seasonal garden produce. The recipes give both the regular cup/teaspoon as well as the metric measurements. In the back of the book is a handy table of equivalents.

It features a chapter on holiday entertaining. The author explains how to decorate the table with natural materials, such as dried rose petals, chiles and bell peppers, fruits, nuts, pine cones, and the like.

One chapter is devoted to trimming the Christmas tree. Many of these tree decorations involve the use of naturals, such as crab apples, cranberries, twigs, walnuts, and other items.

This also has a chapter on decorating the rest of the house. Many of these decorations feature garden materials. These include nut and cone wreaths, herb wreaths, garlands, and a fruit cornucopia.

You need not spend lots of money on expensive holiday gifts. This book has delightful projects with easy to follow directions. For each project, this has a list of the supplies and items you’ll need with step by step instructions.

The final chapter explains what to do after the holidays. This explains how to save, pack, and store all reusable items, such as ribbon, for next year. In addition, there are details on recycling each item. There’s a complete discussion and lists of holiday foods and other items that can be added to your compost pile.
This also has a list of helpful websites.