Make it a green Christmas this year with sustainable, healthy and home-made gifts from the garden.
Put in a little extra time, a little extra thought and share the local grower spirit with those you love this festive season.
Dried herbs
First up, dried herbs can be dressed up in so many ways and it couldn’t be simpler.
Try rosemary, thyme, oregano in bunches as gift decorations or arrange them on a wreath.
Otherwise to gift ready for the kitchen, take a handful of herbs, rosemary, for instance and tie the bundle at the stems and hang upside down for a few weeks. They’ll then be ready to loosen from the stem and can be put into mason jars for gifting. Try a custom Italian Herbs mix.
Flavoured oil is the other way to go. Leave dried herbs in some high-quality olive oil for 3 days and filter out before gifting.
Seeds
If you’re lucky enough to have a stash of seeds, they’re perfect for gifting to green-fingered friends or providing a little incentive for others to get growing.
A small envelope can be recycled out of cardboard or scrap newspaper and tissue paper fashioned into an inner pocket to hold the seeds.
Don’t forget some simple instructions will go a long way for those starting from scratch.
Mini Pot Plants
Who doesn’t love fresh herbs on demand or a little bit of chilli to spice up their cooking?
Gifting mini pots of herbs or chilli plants is an awesome idea for balcony and window-sill gardeners. All you need is a cutting with a root from your best performing mint, basil or coriander plant and get crafty with a homemade or second-hand pot.
Group a couple together, give it a theme, “Essential Asian Flavours” or “Mediterranean Delight” and gift to your favourite home chef.
Homemade Pickles and Chutneys
If Spring’s already gifted you with a too many zucchinis, come Christmas embrace the glut and get into pickling.
Zucchinis and other excess produce from the garden make excellent gifts with a little work in the kitchen to turn them into chutneys, relishes or pickles. A fav is zucchini and mustard pickles, really simple to make with an onion, sugar, vinegar, mustard seeds and ground turmeric. Delish!
Bonus, they’re perfect for Boxing Day ham sandwiches.
A voucher to share your knowledge or an hour of your time
The best gift of all this year, you! So many of us have got into growing edibles for the first time in 2020, gear up your friends and families with the super skills they need for a killer crop.
Whether you a wizard at worm farming, the king or queen of growing tomatoes or simply a gun in turning an empty patch into fruitful food forest, there’s someone out there keen for you to lend a hand.
Gift ideas such as;
· “1-hour worm farming intro”
· “Beginner Grower Workshop”
· “Getting started with tomatoes”
We’ve even put together a Grow It Local Christmas Gift Certificate to print out and share.
DOWNLOAD THE PRINTABLE PDF VERSION HERE
_5fd0168eac3a0.png)
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
From the Grow It Local Team
P.S If you’ve got extra Christmas pressies to gift this year, why not jump on the Grow It Local Marketplace and list your goods for the wider community.
