Organically Gifted: Ottawa Eco Ideas

I was so excited to have stumbled upon this site that I had to share it with you. Organically Gifted is a local company with an online eco gift store. They create unique, toxin-free, organic gifts and baskets for every occasion! You can choose from their inventory of gift baskets or build your own!

They've got tons of great ideas for organic and eco-friendly wedding favours. And perhaps best of all, 1% of every purchase made goes straight to the David Suzuki Foundation!! It's definitely worth a look!

Happy Friday!

Sophie

Birdseed Favours

I made these lovely little birdseed favours last week. This is a much more elegant twist on the pine cone bird feeder.

To start, I didn't have any bird feed lying around (I finished it all before winter hit). So I decided to make a quick homemade bird feed with some stuff I had lying around the house but you can buy ready-made bird feed to make your life easier. If you purchase the feed make sure that you choose one that has some interesting colours, sizes, and textures.

The feed I used was made up of organic raisins, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds (I ran the raisins and pumpkin seeds through the food processor before I started).

What you'll need:
Toast (I used one per feeder but you can make smaller feeders if you make two per slice)
Cookie cutter (or scissors - yup, low-tech over here).
Peanut butter
Bird feed (homemade or store bought)
Twine
Labels or tags



Step 1: Use your cookie cutter to cut out the number of favours that you'll need. As you can see, I simply cut out a shape on paper then used that the cut out my heart shapes with scissors (I only made two feeders so it wasn't too bad but this could get time-consuming for a larger batch of feeders).

Step 2: Cover one side of the toast in peanut butter and push it down into the bird feed. Then cover the other side and the edge and press the other side into the feed. Make sure there is no peanut butter showing.

Step 3: Once your favours are covered push the tip of a paint brush or a pencil through one corner.

Step 4: Let the favours dry overnight or for a few days to give them a chance to harden.

Step 5: Once the feeders are nice and stiff, thread the twine through the hole and place a tag on the twine (I used a label made from recycled paper).

I put my feeder outside and even though it's January I've had a few birds munchin' away at it.

Do you have an idea for an eco project? Send it to me here!

Tomato Favours

If you grow tomatoes in the summer you're likely used to passing baskets of tomatoes along to family and friends (and anyone else who will take them) once they've ripened. Why not put some of that delicious fruit to work for your wedding this year?

Here are some ideas on how you can make your tomatoes work as guest favours:

1. Seedlings


If you're getting married in the spring you won't have a chance to grow your tomato plants large enough to produce fruit. Instead, why not grow them into small seedlings and pot each seedling so that your guests can plant them at home and benefit from their own fruitful gift.

2. Tomato Baskets

If your plants grow well and produce enough fruit you can create small favour baskets for your guests so that they can take home their very own ripe, delicious tomatoes to use in their favourite tomatoe recipe. A small assortment of cherry tomatoes makes for a colourful gift.

3. Salsa

If fresh tomatoes are not an option perhaps whipping up a special salsa recipe is the answer. Can batches of your salsa to give to your guests as a tasty gift that they can enjoy whenever they wish.

Do you have ideas on how to create tomato favours? Leave them in the comments section or send them here.

Cheers,

Sophie

Coverall Event Coordination