Historically Accurate Napkins

I often have to laugh when I hear people talk about something being all new and green, when in truth, the concept of living a rather green life is pretty historical.  Throughout history, most people didn't waste anything.  They ate sheep brain soup, crafted quilts of worn out clothing bits, and insulated their homes with bits of straw, twigs, and mud.  My grandmother used to tell a story about how her grandmother, a wonderful woman named Josephine, use to pull out the yarn of old sweaters, so she could reuse it and knit something else from the same yarn. 

Thanks to the industrial revolution, though, we suddenly became able to produce more "stuff" then we needed.  Add to that new agriculture practices, and the 20th century becomes one of superfluous stuff.  Cheap (in comparison) food, made of only the now desirable parts of the animal.  Cheap ready-made clothing.  Stuff.  So much stuff, in fact, that today people agonize over how to get rid of it all, and simplify their lives. 

So here's my historically accurate contribution to saving the planet.  Cloth napkins.  Just like the ones that great-grandma used to have.  Granted, she might have liked the paper ones, that you just throw away at the end of the meal.  For me, though, I'll take some simple cotton.

To make some of your own, just raid your fabric stash, cut them into an appropriate size (I chose 16" by 18"), hem them, and you're good to go.  Great-grandma (and everyone on the green bandwagon) would be proud.