An Eathkeeper's musings about at sustainable Halloween

Homemade costumes

As an Earth Keeper I am passionate about teaching others awareness of environmental concerns and sharing alternatives practices. From personal experience I know that always being mindful is difficult.  A person is less likely to follow their values when hungry, crunched for time, or stressed. To avoid such pitfalls a critical step is to be organized and think ahead. 

Let’s think ahead to Halloween. Will you decorate, wear a costume or somehow celebrate? In the past few years more and more plastic ghosts, ghouls, and giant pumpkins have popped up on yards. But where does that vinyl or plastic go when it’s no longer needed? What about the energy it takes to keep the giant pumpkin or ghoul pumped up? Ghosts made from old sheets, with a ball for a head and twine around the base of the head is a more sustainable way to decorate a porch or a tree. Kids can use pillowcases for trick-or-treating.

Ghosts decor made of cloth

“Although they are tempting, avoid the pull of cheap plastic decorative items,” say the writers of ExistGreen.comhttps://existgreen.com/eco-friendly-halloween/. “There are plenty of natural materials to use for decor. Examples include sticks, dried corn on the cob, gourds, and even dryer lint!

Avoid painted pumpkins – you don’t want those nasty chemicals mixed in with your compost.” A real bale of hay, corn stalks and homemade scarecrows or monsters can all go back to the earth as compost.
Hat tips to members of my church and my neighbors who had these sustainable Halloween ideas, which are illustrated in the photos. Credit or names are not given by request.

If you are painting faces look at the ingredients before purchasing the paint. See if you can find recipes online to make natural edible face paint. Remember if it’s on your skin it’s absorbed into your body. As we know, some medications are delivered subdermally.  Here is one example on how to make fake blood: use beet powder or cherry juice instead of artificial red food coloring Mix it with corn syrup and cornstarch. Hat tip to to ExistGreen and Greg Nicotero, special effects and producer of “The Walking Dead,” Chicago NBC Channel 5 "Walking Dead" FX Guru: How to Be a Killer Halloween Zombie”

Say, “NO!” to single use plastic #Plasticfreejuly

 About a 2 1/2 minute read.

Packing lunch for #Plasticfreejuly. "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong. Can you guess which thing is not like the others before I finish my song?"

I took the Plastic-free July month challenge, a global challenge asking individuals to refuse single-use plastic.  On social media the hashtag of #PlasticfreeJuly signified the challenge, which included signing my name on a website of www.plasticfreejuly.org

A challenge to refuse single-use plastic means planning ahead. I packed my lunch the night before work. One night I thought about packing yogurt, but that was in a single-use plastic container, so I didn’t. I DID use plastic. I used Rubbermaid containers for my sandwich and sliced apples. Also, I packed silverware in a small cloth bag. I made sure to pack a water bottle and a traveling coffee mug, as sometimes, I like to treat myself at Caribou Coffee. My husband, Terry, usually does the grocery shopping. He is "on-board" with using cloth and canvas bags. (He’s not "on-board” with everything I do), He knows that single-use plastic is a waste, which will be around for years and years. Also the production of plastic spills toxins into our soil and land. He prefers the cloth bags to paper or plastic. 

We took a trip to St. Paul and packed coffee mugs and water bottles. Terry wanted to get an ice-cream treat at Cossetta’s in downtown St. Paul. I saw that it was served in a paper container, and wanted to be a good companion so I said yes to the treat. But I was soon disappointed when I was handed a little plastic spoon. The damage had been done, they had given it to me. So I learned my lesson that I need to tell the workers ahead of time that I don’t want a plastic spoon and keep my spork packed in my purse.

This week, conduct a brand audit in your community. Here's how.

How many brand names of single use plastic do you see in this shopping cart?

Some good sameration filled this shopping cart with litter. Notice all the single-use plastic

This month, think about where you eat and how they serve the food.

Is there a less wasteful option?

Movie Review: The Biggest Little Farm

(630 words. A 4 minute read)

The Biggest Little Farm is beautifully photographed and has a gripping narrative. It has close-ups of raindrops on blades of grass as ladybugs crawl up the edge as well as aerial shots of the farm and wide shots of the stars at night. The baby animals are so darn cute. I attended the film with three friends, one of whom would often say out loud, “Oh for cute,” or “Aww!”

While the photography is stunning, animation is used at times to explain abstract thoughts.

OK, time for true confessions here. I know farming is damn hard. I was prepared for a cute glossed-over hippy-dippy film. After suspending my disbelief in how a couple would purchase a farm and financially maintain themselves, I let go and let myself become mesmerized in the photography and the narrative.

This is a documentary film. The stars of it are Molly Chester, a former chef and blogger who knew how important the sources of the food are, and John Chester, a photographer for National Geographic. The whole film is tied together by a dog named Todd, whom they rescued and promised that their home would be his last home. The newly married couple lived in a  small apartment in Santa Monica and Todd wouldn’t stop barking. Soon they are evicted out of their home and with their promise to a dog decide to purchase a worn, dried out farm one hour north of Los Angeles. “The soil was dead. Every other farmer we talked to thinks we are crazy,” John said.

The couple enlists the help of Alan York, a biodynamic consultant who teaches them that their farm needs animals and a variety of crops.

And they work hard. At one point Johns says, “Every time I cross something off the list 10 more things get added.”

It’s revealed that the farm in the recent past has had 4 different owners, and two of those owners were banks after the farm went bankrupt. The Chesters hire one Spanish-speaking man who has worked on the farm for all four owners. And another man who learn valuable farming skills while growing up in Mexico.  With pleas on Molly’s blog, they also find young adults from all around the world to help with farmwork.

It seems each new animal or crop attracts its own predator or problem. They have over 75 varieties of fruit trees. Birds ruin 70 percent of their fruits. The couple takes their eggs to market and they sell-out in less than one hour. For every victory there is a pest. Of course, soon they have the problem of coyotes attacking their chickens.

At one point John gets his rifle determined to shoot a coyote. (I grew up in North Dakota, where I learned that ranchers had a motto when it came to coyotes: SSS, shoot, shovel, and shut up. But I also knew of another alternative The whole time the Chesters worried about coyotes I wanted to shout, “Get a couple of donkeys! They will teach those coyotes a lesson.” My in-laws raised sheep. The donkeys protected the sheep.)

Soon, snails invade the trees, but ducks will eat snails. Bugs eat the leaves. And on and on it goes.

I won’t give any spoilers. Let’s just say the film is magnificently photographed and edited. The story-telling is captivating.

No rating that I could find. Lots of sex with the birds and the bees LOL ;)

No profanity, or drugs, some violence as predators kill farm animals. Lots of death and birth.

Animation by Jason Carpenter. 91 minutes.

Tends to play at indie theaters. Check mainstream theaters here.

Check Indie theaters here

This film will leave you in awe, some of my seatmates cried.

The film resonated with me and I recalled the Bible verse, “Stop and consider the wondrous works of God.” --Job 37:14.

I give it 5 stars.  

Give God’s earth a break, give up something for 40 days

By Naomi Yaeger

Commissioned Earthkeeper
(United Methodist Church)

Ash Wednesday is March 6. Traditionally some people give up something for Lent.

When I became a commissioned Earthkeeper in 2016, each of those in the class picked a theme. My is “Duluth

Doesn’t do it Dirty.” My goal is to educate others, to meet you where are, and see how you might increase your ways to keep God’s earth beautiful. Hope UMC’s pastor, Rev. Lawton is also an Earthkeeper   FUMC also has Earthkeepers Chuck Campbell and Carol Donahue – they have chosen a different missions.

Lent is a good time to see what you might give up or do for 40 days.

Could you give up plastic cutlery for 40 days? It takes some planning ahead if you eat lunch at facilities that use plastic cutlery.

Plastic cutlery is used because it is cheap and doesn’t need to be washed. Unfortunately, it wastes a lot of resources and is rarely recycled. Most plastic cutlery is made from a type of plastic known as polystyrene. Polystyrene or expanded polystyrene is more commonly referred to as Styrofoam. Styrene is currently classified by the National Toxicological Program’s 12th Report on Carcinogens as reasonably anticipated to be a carcinogen, workers involved in the manufacture of polystyrene foams are at the most risk of styrene exposure.

It is estimated that serval million tons of Polystyrene is produced each year.

My bamboo spork

Most cities cannot recycle styrene. Keep metal cutlery at your office or in your purse. I have a bamboo spork that comes in handy. As soon as I use it I wash it and place it in a waxed paper porch in my purse. Or if you are going for fast food to bring it back to your home or office, ask them to skip the plastic cutlery. Maybe you have another way you’d like to be more friendly to God’s Earth. Try choosing something you can do from Ash Wednesday until Easter. Anything you can do for 40 days is a start.

According to the United Methodist Church Statement on the Environment:

God is the owner of the land (Lev. 25); thus it is a gift in covenant which involves the stewardship of keeping and tending the land for present and future generations; as God's creation, land has the need to be regenerated that it may sustain life and be a place of joy. It is a common gift to all of life requiring just patterns of land use.

(Originally published in Duluth First United Methodist Church's newsletter and Duluth's Hope UMC Church newsletter)

United Methodist Women
UTENSILS M3534
$9.95



Carry your own utensils with you, at a church event or a take-away meal without adding plastic-ware waste to the environment. A fork, spoon, knife and a pair of chopsticks are held in a zipper pouch with the United Methodist Women logo and a reminder to Be Just. Be Green. Excellent gifts for family and friends and a great conversation starter.