Planning for a sustainable Christmas

The festive season is coming and we’re looking forward to eating, drinking, giving gifts and having some downtime with the people we love. While planning your celebrations it’s important to make thoughtful decisions about what you serve on your table and place under your tree.
At Cornersmith we’re committed to making the best choices we can to help support small-scale makers and sellers, as well as eating seasonally and being conscious of reducing waste in a season that is so often focused on consumerism.
 
Here are a few tips that help us plan our celebrations.

1. If you are a meat or seafood eater, consider where your Christmas ham and prawns come from. Feather and Bone are our trusted meat suppliers and we recommend their range of ethically produced meats for your table. Head to their website for happy hams, great workshops and lots of information about ethical meat eating. Wading through the waters of sustainable seafood choices can be confusing, that is why we have found the Sustainable Seafood Guide helps us make good choices.
Download it here. 
 
2. Shop small this year! Get out of malls and head to your local shops to help small businesses. Acting locally can have big impacts on your community. When you buy items made on a small scale the chances are you are supporting fair wages and low-impact production.

3. Think about giving gifts that have minimal environmental impact, such as homemade pickles!

4. 2016 has been a rough year for our farmers, so try to buy only Australian fruits and vegetables from local grocery stores or farmers' markets.

5. Be mindful of how you wrap your gifts this year. Our Natural Dyes teacher, Leah Giblin will be making and selling naturally dyed fabric squares - known as furoshiki. Or why not have a shot at making your own! Have a look at this post by our friends at 1milllion women to learn how - 1 Million Women