Today is an exciting day in FLOW land…..one we’ve been talking about and working towards for a long time. Today I have the deep joy and privilege of launching a new program called….wait for it…..(F)inding (L)ove (O)ver (W)aste. See what I did there.
Those of you that have been following me for any length of time know I am passionate about finding ways to protect our planet and improve the trajectory of the world we’re leaving behind for our kids.
While I’ve mentioned little nuggets here and there, behind the scenes I’ve been plotting how we can come together as a community to impact this issue.
And you know what….there’s no time like the present. Actually there’s no time like Thanksgiving. LOL.
Did you know that each Thanksgiving, Americans throw away 282 million dollars worth of uneaten turkey, or about 204 million lbs? ? This meat contains about 105 billion gallons of water and is enough food to feed the entirety of NYC for more than 100 days. If that doesn’t grab you by the gizzard, I don’t know what will.
Finding Love Over Waste was born out of the immediate need we all see, but it was also born out of my own FLOW practice. This is a problem that causes me WORRY, and so I had to get real with myself and observe where the worry comes from and what is the bridge that takes me back to love…….and ta-da, an idea formed, that led to a program that leads to action that leads me back to LOVE.
My desire for this program is that it becomes about the way we continually come together, to brainstorm ideas around the simple solutions we can easily do, without judgement, to make an impact. To be clear, this is not about perfection, it’s about progress. I do not pretend to make the right decisions for our environment 100% of the time…..honestly maybe not even 50% off the time. I’m not here to preach perfection. I’m here to say we don’t have to be “perfect” or do it “ALL” to make an impact. We’re just here to celebrate being conscious of our environment and choosing ONE simple thing to change today. If we all do that, before you know it, we’ll have created more impact, less worry and more love than we thought possible.
Thanksgiving seemed like the perfect time to start this conversation. Because this can be FUN too, and joyful, and celebratory and all about connection with our people. So to celebrate the Thanksgiving season, I had all my friends over. I was mindful of how we do this differently to reduce our Eco Footprint throughout the season. I set 4 simple intentions for this night that I want to share with you in hopes you’ll be inspired……..and share your ideas with me too!!!!
1) Get creative with Thanksgiving leftovers to eliminate post thanksgiving waste
To execute this, I partnered with Deanna from Deelicious Park City https://deeliciousparkcity.com/menus/ #partner
We conspired (mostly she did HA) to come up with the most incredible Mexican meal made out of all of our Thanksgiving leftovers. And let me tell you, it was a HIT. She transformed leftover turkey into the most incredible Turkey Mole, and our leftover stuffing into Stuffing Stuffed Peppers…….Ummmm, yes please. I’m drooling now just thinking about it.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had a more delicious meal. I use Deanna often. She’s one of the best chef’s in Park City…..honestly one of the best chef’s of anywhere I’ve ever lived, and that’s saying a lot. She is focused on building creative menu’s that are custom built to people’s dietary needs and lifestyle. As you can see from our “leftovers” menu, she is brilliant at creating custom, unique dishes.
You can find Deanna’s recipes for the following repurposed Thanksgiving dishes from our dinner here:
2) Think about turning one or two of your Thanksgiving side dishes into plant based dishes.
If each and every person in the United States gave up meat and dairy products on one or more days of the week, we would save the environment from thousands of tons of carbon emissions. In fact, in one year, animal husbandry creates as much carbon emissions as the entire transportation sector.
I knew that we could come up with some incredible plant based dishes to reduce emissions that I would like even more than the traditional side dishes. That was the understatement of the year once Deanna had worked her magic
Here are a couple of the plant based dishes Deanna made for us that were SO incredible, I will make and eat them over and over again. The lasagna is making it into our regular dinner rotation.
If you’re in the Park City area and would like some help integrating plant based meals Deelicious Park City offers a plant based soup delivery program. You can sign up here:
https://deeliciousparkcity.com/november-plant-based-soup-delivery-schedule-sign-up/
AND even better, she’s offering 10% off your next soup delivery with code FLOW. Enter the code in the comments section at the time of purchase.
If you don’t live in Park City, look for similar services in your own city and share them with all of us in the comments below.
Deanna also offers Cooking Demo & Wine Tasting classes. How Fun! you can learn more, and receive 10% off classes with code FLOW here:
https://deeliciousparkcity.com/service/the-next-course-cooking-demo-wine-pairing/
3) If you still have leftovers after your fabulous repurposed meals, turn them into random acts of kindness.
In our case, we transformed our leftover butternut squash into Butternut Squash Lasagna. But instead of serving it at our Friendsgiving Dinner, we made them in re-usable containers and delivered them to several friends and neighbors.
4) Compost true waste/scraps (#partner)
By separating your food from your regular trash you are keeping food out of the Landfill. In the Landfill, food breaks down anaerobically (without oxygen) to produce methane gas, a greenhouse gas 25 times more harmful than CO2!
Residential waste is 40% compostable materials, so by separating your food, you are extending the life of the Landfill. Not only that, you’re helping to reduce Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from vehicles used to transport that waste! By composting, you are completing the food-life cycle by returning what you eat back to the soil to grow more goodness!
We’re excited to be partnering locally with an innovative company called Spoil to Soil.
Spoil to Soil comes weekly to pick up your composting on conjunction with your trash pick up.
With an annual membership costing just $239 you receive:
- Weekly food waste collection
- Kitchen caddy
- Curbside bin
- Year’s supply of caddy liners and bin liners
- unlimited compost
- $5 per month contributed to community education
- Free caddy and bin replacement
I was so excited when I learned about Spoil to Soil and have already started my membership. To me this program is a no brainer. If you’re living in Park City, I hope you’ll join us.
You can sign up here: https://www.spoiltosoil.org/kelleywolf
Our evening last weekend was so much fun, but starting this program is even more fun.
There aren’t enough words to describe how excited I am to start Finding Love Over Waste with you. I want us all to learn from each other, support each other and encourage each other in each little step. Please share in the comments how you are Finding Love Over Waste and protecting this gorgeous earth we call home.
Much Love!
