Well Golly Gee, It's Almost Earth Dinner Day!

www.earthdinner.org | Varied

[Hyacinthus Forma]

Ever wonder how the other half celebrates Earth Day at dinner? Read on...From www.earthdinner.org. I just found this so amusing. And cute!

Tim & Nancy’s Family Dinner Tim and Nancy agree on a plan that will fit with their busy schedule and introduce their youngsters (3, 5, and 7) to the concepts of Earth Day. They invite several nearby relatives and ask them each to bring a picture of their favorite place on Earth. They create a simple menu with four dishes of organic foods – each representing a different element – earth, air, fire and water.

When their guests arrive, their pictures are placed on the coffee table, and Nancy asks each of them to write the name of the place on a little card. Before sitting down to dinner, the group of adults and children talk about the pictures and try to guess which name card goes with which picture. Nancy encourages the group to talk about why each place is so special, what people, plants and animals live there, and what can be done to protect such places.

When everyone is seated for dinner, Tim offers a prayer of thanks for the foods and the farmers that worked in harmony with nature to produce them. Nancy passes four serving bowls around the table and explains the meaning she connects with each organic food: salad representing air, potatoes representing earth, roasted meat representing fire, and a fruit sauce representing water. Tim and Nancy share everything they know about the foods they serve. During the meal, the guests take turns reading from a list of Earth Dinner Table Topics. This leads to much learning and discussion.

For dessert, Nancy serves a layered cake she baked the night before. She explains that the various layers of the cake represent the habitat of diverse creatures living on, above, and below the Earth's surface. As a closing message, she says "the choices we make about the way we live, the clothes we wear, the ways we move around, and the foods we eat have everything to do with our favorite places on Earth," and she reads off the names of the places on the little cards from the picture game before dinner.

Roxanne’s Feast for Friends Roxanne invites eight friends for a gourmet, organic, potluck dinner. She assigns two people to each category – earth, air, fire, and water – and asks each of them to bring a food and a short reading representing the assigned category. She also asks each guest to bring a small, wrapped, earth-friendly party gift to be anonymously exchanged.

As guests arrive, Roxanne collects the party gifts and places their foods on a buffet table she has decorated with budding twig arrangements and a pastel tablecloth, representing the promise of spring. Each guest is given a card with an image of an indigenous species and told to use the card to find a place at the table when dinner is served. Roxanne offers organic fruit juices, wines, cheeses, and nuts to her guests before dinner. Guests talk about their indigenous species cards and Roxanne encourages them to think of environmental pledges they can make before the evening is ended.

Guests find their places and learn more about their species as they read the matching place cards Roxanne has prepared with information about each. When everyone is seated, Roxanne begins the ceremony of foods with a prayer that includes all of the indigenous species. As MC, Roxanne chooses a dish from the table and asks the cook to present it. As the food is passed and sampled, the cook tells the story of that food and delivers a reading. Then the cook gets to choose the next food to be presented and served. In between courses, toasts and environmental pledges are made.

After plates have been cleared from the table, Roxanne places a platter on which all the party gifts have been arranged in the middle of the table. She reads from the Earth Dinner Table Topics and allows anyone who knows an answer to take a gift – one per guest. When all the gifts have been distributed, her guests retire to her living room, open their gifts, and enjoy music and each other’s company.

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[Gerasimov]

I celebrate earth day every year by cutting down a tree and burning it in my fire pit.

As Rush says, "The best thing about trees is all the wonderful things you can make with them after you cut them down..."

[Petronski]

I celebrate earth day every year by cutting down a tree and burning it in my fire pit.

I like to get the fire pit nice and hot, the toss in some old rechargeable batteries, car tires and vinyl siding.

[bmwcyle]

I'll be hunting small squirrels that run across the road.

[Servant of the 9]

Mmmmmm, Manatee roasted over a bristlecone pine fire with saguaro cactus gratin.

So9

[glock rocks]

Welcome to Free Republic.

So, how will you celebrate Lenin's Birthday?

[Golden Gate]

fwiw: www.earthdinner.org = to introduce their youngsters to the concepts of Earth Day!

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[netmilsmom]

OH BARF!!

Yuppies with too much time on their hands!

[blanknoone]

different element – earth, air, fire and water.

Someone might want to clue them in about modern science. Then again, I guess their ignorance is appropriate...earth day is quintessentially anti-rational.

[prion]

They create a simple menu with four dishes of organic foods ? each representing a different element ? earth, air, fire and water.

Sounds like a nice hot bowl of chili and glass of water ought to do it!

[Army Air Corps]

A seared chunk of mammal flesh and a huge potato are organic foods - they weren't created in a laboratory or factory the way that soy burgers and soy hot dogs are.

[Army Air Corps]

"different element"

Dang, what foods represent the Lanthanide series?

[cardinal4]

I celebrate earth day every year by cutting down a tree and burning it in my fire pit.

You beat me to it! But you ommited using an assault weapon to kill Bambi..

[kenth]

Trying to fill that void where Jesus should be...

[Mears]

Would it be okay if I lit up a cigarette and said I was representing fire?

[Porterville]

I walked into a elementary class today where the kids thanked "Mother Earth" for their food. The other kids at the school were out celebrating Easter... guess which ones were having more fun? Fads never last, but the truth will always remain.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

I would like to caution all Earth Day Observers who take a particularly literal view of the "fire" element. Remember to keep an extinguisher handy or at least a large bucket of sand.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

I would like to caution all Earth Day Observers who take a particularly literal view of the "fire" element. Remember to keep an extinguisher handy or at least a large bucket of sand.

[blanknoone]

I can think of at least one element they've already ingested too much of...Pb.