Shopping at local businesses rather than purchasing from online retailers is a great start to reducing your environmental footprint this holiday season. Visiting your local farmers market leaves a smaller foot print and reduces emissions created from extra trips made by delivery vehicles during this time. Additionally, small businesses are more likely than large retailers to spend money within their community and your purchase has a great impact on the creators that you support. Here are some of the environmentally friendly gifts you can find at the Market:
Environmentally Friendly Packaging
Old Fashioned Farm Soap – Chehalis Valley Farm is known for their forest-raised pork raised in Elma, WA. But they also create bar soap from the lard rendered from the fat of the pork. Using the lard for soap makes use of a product of the pig that is sometimes discarded due to lack of interest from consumers. Packaging is also plastic-free!
Lotion Balm—Cascadia Terroir’s line of skin products is crafted with environmentally friendly ingredients and ethically wild crafted herbs from the PNW. Free from palm oil, silicones, and made without dyes or synthetic fragrances, their products will leave the earth and your skin well taken care of. Many of their products, like their shampoo and body bars, are packaging free. Lotion and tattoo balms are packaged in cardboard tubes without plastic and their other products are packed in tins and glass bottles that you can repurpose after the product is used up.
Recycled Materials
Leather Goods—Crafting from upcycled furniture leather and finished with hand stitching, HZ Upcycled creates a collection of leather accessories from recycled vintage leather. Hip satchels are the perfect size to fit a phone, credit cards, or a pair of garden pruners. Patchwork journals area staple of their product line and will be refilled with 100% cotton pages when you use up all the pages.
Gnome Hats—Gnome hats and elf slippers by Trnka are so fun that you’ll wear them long after the holiday season is over. Stylish hats and slippers are made from recycled wool sweaters. The handmade hats are reversible and some hats are embellished further with imagery of mushrooms, plants, and scenes straight from the forest.
Bags and Wallets—Using leftover leather and fabric repurposed from the furniture industry, Homer Tapestry creates purses, bags, and wallets. Colorful patterns are stitched together to create professional looking bags. Homer Tapestry also crafts jewelry out of recycled silverware like forks and spoons.
Birdhouses—Coffey’s Ground is at the Market with wooden benches and birdhouses created from wood harvested and milled on his farm. The wooden birdhouses are a-frame shelters made from wood scraps from larger projects. Gardeners, bird watchers, and nature enthusiasts will be delighted at these homes that blend into the natural scenery of the PNW.
Hats & Gloves—Rowan Green Fiber Arts upcycles cashmere to create velvety soft winter accessories. Fingerless gloves, cozy mittens, and stocking caps are adorned with hand cut cashmere embellishments shaped like leaves, trees, and flowers. Knit cowls and shawls are knit by Rowan using hand-dyed yarn.
Wooden Home Goods—Twisted Twigster creates cutting boards, serving trays, charcuterie boards, instrument holders, serving utensils, sturdy coat hooks, and one-of-a-kind creations using locally sourced timber. Some of his sources include donations from others’ leftover home projects and tree limbs from the pruning cuts of arborists. Natural edges that showcase the beauty of the tree it came are a staple of his design.
Unique Gift Alternatives
Sourdough Starter Kit—A kit for those who appreciate the art of handcrafting meals. We love Olykraut's Sourdough Starter, Kefir Water, and Mozzarella kits because they encourage slow eating and recognizing where your food comes from.
DIY Mushroom Kit—MycoUprrhizal Mushrooms creates mushroom kits and dowels for you to grow your own mushrooms at home. Wooden dowels can be drilled into logs to bring you a future mushroom harvest.
Fruit Trees—An unconventional gift choice, but one that will provide the recipient with many future harvests. Burnt Ridge Nursery grows a variety of fruiting shrubs and trees that will survive in the PNW climate. Talk with their horticulturalists to pick out one that will work within the growing conditions near you.
Fresh Produce—Give the gift of quality time! Purchase fresh vegetables, local meat, seafood, or other ingredients and craft a favorite recipe with your loved ones. Farmers continue to sell produce through the late autumn and winter months, so you can eat high quality seasonal food when you shop at the farmers market. Gift certificates can also be purchased at the Olympia Farmers Market Office.
Holidays are a time to spend with the people who matter most to you. We’re grateful for your support for local businesses and incorporating their creations into your festivities! Wishing you a safe, warm, and peaceful holiday season!
