A Healthy Halloween Brings Happy Holidays

A healthy person is a happy person, and it is the goal of ReTreeUS to promote health...even on the holiday dedicated largely to candy and fright! We celebrated with an apple tree jack-o-lantern and local apple treats (find our sauce recipe on the previous entry).

Our apple tree pumpkin glows on Halloween night!

We would have dressed up as Kaptains Kalaroo (the kale superheroes of our own imaginations) at a family Halloween party in Cape Cod, but we changed our plans at the last minute. That's because we were traveling back from a New Jersey visit during the legendary snow storm...of late October.

We decided to get off the snowy road and stay in New York for the night. As we watched the snow fall from our room, it felt more like the holidays of winter than the autumn days of Halloween.

And thinking ahead turned out to be a good thing, because, as most people know, thoughts of holiday gift-giving start early, too.

I mean no offense to the man in red, but I am often annoyed to see Santa at the grocery store no later than November 1st. We haven't even had our Thanksgiving feast!

However, there is a way to take the consumerism out of the upcoming season, which then can make rushing the holidays a more worthy cause. When is it a bad time to spread gifts of positivity, light, and hope--especially if it means contributing to a sustainable system, and using fewer resources?

I say, it's never too early.

That's why we've come up with a guilt-free holiday shopping option:

Eva Simmons, a student at one of our participating schools, poses in the snow and shows her tree-appreciation.

From today (November 1st) until the New Year (January 1, 2012), you can spend $5 for a tree to be planted in a friend's name. Just fill out the form (to be posted on our website shortly) and give the name of the gift recipient. We will provide a certificate, which you can then disburse to your friends. Or, to make it even easier, we will send the certificate to each recipient directly. It's your choice.

Your gift will fund the planting of one tree in our nursery, which will then be planted in an educational school orchard. Your friends will be honored to know trees have been planted on their behalf, and children will benefit from the beauty, nutrition and knowledge that tree provides. The effect of your gift will live on in perpetuity, fostering sustainability and citizenship for generations. Your gift will be for all of us, and for the earth.

So, thanks for spending a few dollars on this special gift of trees!

...and thanks for promoting a healthier, happier holiday season.