greener planet

Description on the bottle:  "A glass of wine should be the perfect expression of the place, soil and climate."  Wine ought to be one of the most natural products in the world.  Unfortunately, far too many producers now rely heavily on industrial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.  The men and women who grow the grapes for Greener planet respect the well-being of the environment and of the people who are going to enjoy their wines.  Olivier Azan feeds his soil with natural compost, encourages benign insects to counter pests and helps his vines to develop their own immunity to diseases.  

This wine was made from grapes grown in the visually dramatic region of the Montagne Noire in Languedoc Roussillon.  It tastes both spicy and of dark berries and would be delicious with flavorsome red meat, vegetarian dishes or by itself.  The glass for this bottle is made from partially recycled glass.  To learn more about the people behind Greener Planet and the project's grape-growers around the world visit www.greenerplanetorganicwine.com

Sarah says:  I find this wine interesting.  It's a blend of Shiraz 40%, Merlot 40% and Cabernet Sauvignon 20%.  That alone is pretty different.  But then there's it's "all natural" feel, which almost makes you feel like you are drinking something healthy.  I like it.  The first time I had this it was with a seafood pasta dish, and while neither seafood or pasta is listed as something it would go well with, I really liked it.  Now that it's been sitting on my counter for a couple of weeks, it's definitely lost some of it's flavor, but it's still good.  I found it to be really rich, and easily drank more than one glass that first evening.  It mentions spicy in its description, but I don't notice that at all, it's all just a nice dark berry red flavor.  Yum.

Overall rating:  Many thumbs up

Sarah says:  Many months ago... actually, probably closer to a year ago, we were at my in-laws house and I mentioned to Jon that we needed to take our stuff to the recycling center.  My father-in-law immediately asked if I was "green".  I wasn't really sure how to answer that, and I'm still not sure quite frankly, but I've been thinking about it every time I set something aside to recycle!  I mean, I'm not a tree hugging, organic only eating, camping lover.  But, that doesn't mean I don't try to do my part.  

I try not to waste water, electricity, or gas.  I nag my kids (and husband!) all the time to turn off lights (although, to be fair, I probably do that more to benefit myself by saving money, the earth is an after thought).  I do not buy bottled water, the tap is fine, thanks!

I recycle; which isn't exactly easy, since we live in an apartment they don't do curbside pickup of recycling here, so we put everything aside and take it to the local recycling center every few weeks.  I guess that makes me "more green" than most of my neighbors, because I put a lot more effort into recycling, whereas most people just don't do it if it's not available.  On the other hand, I feel like it's available to most people, so since most people do it, I don't want to be the one weirdo throwing away my empty cans, so I feel obligated to do it too!

I buy energy saving bulbs, as long as they are on sale.

On the other hand, I live 0.88 miles from work.  I drive that.  If I was really green, I'd probably ride a bike, or walk.  I've thought about it a lot, but it's never actually happened.  But, I have been known to run (yup, literally) to church which is 3.21 miles, when I've been training for a race.  So, that makes up for something, right?  :-)   

I buy the groceries that are cheapest, which is never the organic, most earth friendly items. 

Gardening?  What's that?  One of the biggest perks is not to have to maintain a garden.  Planting my own veggies or even herbs is not an option.  Off to the store I go!

I make my kids save all of the papers they bring home from school to use the backs for scratch paper.

My ideal vacation involves a hotel room, room service, a pool, and probably lots and lots of waste.

So, am I green?  I'd say I'm a yellowish.  I'm not exactly helping the earth, but I like to think I'm not a big contributor to what's hurting it either.  I don't base most of my decisions based on their impact on the environment, however, if someone makes a good case for it, I can easily be swayed into following them.  I'm definitely not pushing others to help the earth, which in a way, I guess, hurts it?

I guess I should be a bit more green... because the other day I came home to this:

 

This my friends, is reason to take care of the planet a little more.  Kids.  Our kids, and their kids, and their kids, etc. are going to be on this planet longer than we will be.  I remember playing in the rain, I let my son and daughter play in the rain... I want their kids, kids, kids to be able to play in the rain too.  For now, that's the best reason of them all.

As for this green wine, I'd definitely drink it again, and that I believe IS helping the planet.  Yay me!

How green are you?

Dreaming Tree Crush

Description on the bottle:  An exciting collaboration between Dave Matthews and acclaimed winemaker Steve Reeder, Dreaming Tree captures the spirit of California's wine country.  United by their shared passion to make quality wines accessible to everyone, the two friends set out on a journey to discover the unique characters and rich flavors that give the region its rare charm.

Dave Matthews:  Two Hot Dogs in a Pick-up - A hit day two dogs chase a stick thrown into a pond again and again.  The older, slower dog never gets the stick and moans at the effort but always goes in "maybe this time".

Steve Reeder:  For the Dreaming Tree Crush, Dave and I hand-selected a special blend of our favorite varieties to create a red wine that pulls you in with notes of smokey berry and a pop of raspberry jam.  Around the dinner table or out on the patio, it's a wine you're going to want to share with your favorite people.

Sarah says:  While I found the description on the bottle to be fascinating, I did not feel the same way about the wine.  I was just ok, drinkable, but it was nothing memorable.  Although, I drank the bottle in just 2 sittings, so it couldn't have been that bad.  I just can't think of anything specific to say about it, either good or bad.  Oh well.

Overall rating:  Medium thumbs

Sarah says:  I've been in a place where I've felt that dreams are hard for me achieve.  First of all, I don't sleep a lot.  As much as I wish that I could crawl into bed after a long day and curl up in my bed to sleep, it pretty much just never works that way for me.  Sleep, and thus dreams, are generally something that only come easily for me when I've taken some sort of sleep aid, which I generally don't like to do.  The past few weeks have been extraordinarily bad in the sleep department for me.  I'm not really sure why, there hasn't been anything unusual happening to stress me out.  On a positive note, I'm getting really good at learning to survive in a sleep deprived state.  And, quite frankly, sleep is over rated.  Think about it, it's probably the most boring thing ever!  I've come to realize I can use the hours of uninterrupted time to get lots of stuff done.  I'm done wasting hours tossing and turning, I'd rather get up and be productive.  Sleep, and the dreams that come with it, are dumb.

But, other dreams, "life dreams", are important.  They give you something to aim for, a purpose, and a reason to make good choices.  Most of my life dreams are slowly going down the drain.  Occasionally I dream about owning another house, we walked through a spur of the moment open house a few weeks ago, so that dream popped in my head again, but quickly vanished again when I put in a maintenance request for a leaky faucet and it was fixed the next day.  Jon and I are just not into that sort of repair stuff that comes with home ownership.

I've been dreaming about Hawaii for 10 years with Jon, and I'm suddenly nervous that that dream will have to be put on hold.  We have some big bills coming up because of our Southfield house drama (yup, that house that we put on the market in Feb 2012, still dealing with that!)

I'm forever grateful that my Dad paid for my college, and I dream of doing the same thing for my kids one day.  But as I watch the rising costs of education, that dream seems to be getting more challenging to achieve.

Additionally, my kids demand most of my free time, so any of my own dreams are usually pushed aside to their needs.  Although, now that I think about it... I'm teaching my kids to follow their own dreams, and that in itself is a dream of mine.  I'm raising two super kids.  Sure they have troubles and complications, but all in all, I have two really awesome kids.  I guess maybe I am achieving my own dreams too!

What are your dreams?