With the holidays coming, wine is a must for any household really for any type of celebration. For the longest time I would steer away from certain wines because I just didn't know what I was buying. If you tend to have the same avoidance, I do hope this blog post can help you strive to include more wines and wine choices into your holiday atmosphere Seems easy enough to read a wine label, right? Well, it could be a little more tricky than you might think. Here's the rundown on the basics.

Cristalino Brut Cava

Reading a wine label, above all very simple, you just have to know what to look for. Here is a quick rundown of what's important on a wine label.

• The brand name: The brand is important enough, but sometimes the least likely known brand might be better than the name brand.

• Where the grapes are grown: It could read Napa Valley, it could read just France or Italy, this is important to knowing where your wine was created from.

• The type of wine: Reading something similar such as Chardonnay, or Cabernet or even Sauvignon. Your taste options and what you like will more than likely depend on this wording on the label, so pay attention to what it is you're drinking.

• Quality: Such as Special Reserve, etc.

• Where the wine was bottled: Now this isn't the same as where the grapes that made the wine were grown, this will read anything from "Bottled in Cellar", "Cellar-ed in California" or even "Bottled by Awesome Wine Guys", etc.

• Amount of Wine: This will be near the bottom of the bottle and read the oz, ml, or even gallons, depending on how much you purchase.

• Alcohol Percentage: This is always near the bottom of the label and it's the alcohol per bottle percentage such as 13.6% by volume and so on.

Most people are prone to serving their White Wines too cold and their Red Wines too hot, and it ends up making the wines taste rather dull in the end.

The best way to remember how to serve white wine is the temperature you stored it at, which should be about 50-55°F, is the best way to get the great flavor to come through on the wine. If you store your white wine at room temperature, use an ice bucket with a little water in it to get the temperature to come down on the wine before serving it.

The best way to remember how to serve white wine is anything below 70°F. Anything higher than 70 degrees is too high of a temperature for red wines. Red wine doesn't taste very appealing hotter than 70 degrees and it loses a lot of taste in the heat of the wine, as well.

Temperatures and Chilling Times:

• Champagne & Sparkling Wines: 40-45°F (Chill for about 30-45 minutes)

• White Wines: 45-50°F (Chill for about 20-30 minutes)

• Light, Fruity Reds: 50-55°F (Chill for about 15-20 minutes)

• Full-bodied Reds: 60-65°F (Chill for about 10 minutes)

Whites out of chilling 30 minutes before serving, reds in 30 minutes before serving. Some people differ on that time, but anywhere from 15-30 minutes before serving should be just fine.

CHEERS!

Eco-Tip: Choose gifts that don't contribute to the use of virgin materials. Look to vintage at antique stores or thrift stores. Who knows, the antique you are giving to a relative or a friend, that you paid $20 for could end up being a real treasure and worth more than you think. For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.

One of the things I simply love about the state of Oregon is how they love to conserve just about anything. The recycling programs here are amazing and the conservation efforts are even better. Here recently the Benton County Fairgrounds held a Kids Day of Conservation program through the Oregon State University. The program was to teach kids (and their parents) how important conservation of the forest, animals, as well as how to preserve them. There were several hands-on activities that were not only fun to do, but also a learning lesson along the way. We learned about forest fires and how to prevent them, keeping freshwater and ocean water fish safe, how birds live, how pollutants can really affect our drinking water and in turn affect us, how a beaver survives in the wild, and how important wind energy is for all of us.

Learning about fire safety.

Making bird feeder ornaments to hang outside for the birds.

Learning how quickly a fire can spread during the dry times in Oregon.

Learning about animal fur and skulls. The furs all had different textures.

Making a Fish and Wildlife Banner.

Headed inside the giant fish from the Oregon Game and Fish Commission to hear a story about how salmon swim upstream to spawn.

Learning how dangerous power lines are through Pacific Power. He also gave a very good visual on how lightning works from the ground up.

Then we got to make "living necklaces" with beans.

The bean stays in the bag until it begins to sprout and once the roots start to appear we plant it in soil.

We got to make another Dirty Baby. We just love these things. They are so fun to take care of and watch grow! We now have three of them at our house!

Skylar even got to make his own polluted water. He wasn't quite sure about it at first and looked back at us for reassurance that it was okay.

He added in pesticides (fruit syrup).

Then fertilizer (chocolate sprinkles).

Then the water (carbonated water).

And then he got to drink it! Ha!

After the lesson on how pollunted our water system can become we went fishing for crawdads and tadpoles.

Skylar got to see how some insects look under the magnifying glass.

Skylar got to pretend he was a beaver. He got to build a dam with sticks, dig in the mud, and claw at the water.

We learned a lot about beavers, birds, and other creatures and animals. We had a great time at the event and look foreword to the next one the following year.

Eco-Tip: Dispose of expired medication by calling your local hospital or local hazardous waste disposal center. Medications should never be flushed down the toilet or thrown in the trash. For this and other tips on going green visit, The Earth and Me Go Green.