Green Gifts
for the Holidays
Green Gifts
BoGo Flashlights
These flashlights are solar powered. Leave them in the sun in the daytime and they work all evening. They're perfect for camping, for power outages, and for everyday use. They're incredibly sturdy. And even better, you buy and receive one light, and BoGo gives a second light to one of their non-profit partners, delivering it to them in the developing world and then providing them $1 per light to offset importation and distribution costs. You can also buy one for yourself and have one given to the troops. See more about them at Green Business of the Week.
Last week's Green Business of the Week was all about Green and Caring Gifts that you can give through Heifer International, Oxfam America, and other groups that are working around the world. Click above and check out those options.
Carbon Offsets
The Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a national non-profit organization, sells BEF Carbon Offsets (formerly known as Green Tags ) , to replace traditional polluting sources of electricity with clean, secure, and renewable sources of energy that come from solar and wind power from across North America. Calculate your carbon footprint online today with BEF. They start at $20.And here are two other non-profit, national organizations that sell Carbon Offsets.
Gardening Gifts
Still looking for a gift for that special garden lover? You might try getting him or her a subscription to GreenPrints, also known as “The Weeder’s Digest.” For some strange reason, editor Pat Stone thinks gardeners are funny, sentimental and inspirational people and so that is the kind of writing he puts into his publication.
Not only that, but he and wife Becky Stone perform many of those stories, which you can find on their CDs HERE and HERE and online. They must be doing something right–they’ve been doing this for 18 years...and they’re obviously making a lot of people happy.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 2008
From Michelle Byrne Walsh
These gift options were featured on the November 30 show.The Good
One of the best ways to come up with gift ideas is to ask other gardeners. Bill Aldrich, publisher of Chicagoland Gardening magazine suggested this fun product, which our staff photographer Ron Capek has used. It is the Wingscapes BirdCam. This is a weatherproof camera that our mount near the bird feeder. Infrared sensors detect birds moving at the feeder and capture photos or videos of the feathered friends. Costs about $250. Visit http://www.wingscapes.com/ or call (888) 811-WING (9464).
Or for something cute earlier in the season, check out the Gardeners Supply cabin advent calendar , containing a menagerie of woodland animals. Twenty-three magnetic doors swing open to reveal a different animal each day. Made of wood. Costs about $80. Found online at http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Link-Product?sku=37-645 or call 888-833-1412.
Carolyn Ulrich, editor of Chicagoland Gardening magazine hopes to get a transplanting spade from Radius Tools. These are the ergonomic tools with the lime green handles. She notes, "It has a tapered stainless steel blade. Looks just perfect for the stuff I do." Costs about $30. Visit http://www.radiusgarden.com or call 734.222.8044 for a retailer near you.
"Ken Druse's new book "Planthropology" is a real winner. Beautifully photographed but knowledgeably written as well," Carolyn says.
The Bad
Bill Aldrich wondered if this product is's what it's cracked up to be--an electric fence for slugs. SlugsAway Electronic Slug and Snail Fence by Contech Inc. surrounds beds with a fence that forms a harmless yet effective electronic barrier. When slugs climb the fence they get a mild static shock. Safe for kids and pets. Costs about $40. Visit http://www.contech-inc.com/products/slugsaway/ or call 1-800-767-8658.
For gnome haters, there's the Gnome Be Gone Garden Monsters at Clean Air Gardening website. These are two metal sculptures that are hand made by an artist in Utah . The two metal monsters comes with a sacrificial ceramic gnome. Costs $140 at http://www.cleanairgardening.com or call 214 819-9500.
Hound Dog Planting Auger. A big bad auger for big bad bulbs or annual plugs. Attaches to a power drill, steel construction. Visit http://www.hound-dog.com/planting_auger.htm or call 1-800-393-1846.
The Ugly
Another wish on Carolyn Ulrich's list is Orchids. Real, nursery-grown orchids. "I always look at them at Home Depot but then consider $24 - $30 too much to spend. I bought a miniature one with several unopened buds a couple weeks ago for $12."
How about The PotLifter ? It's very ugly, but it handles an ugly job: schlepping heavy pots across the yard. It is engineered to grip pots at their centers and allow gardeners to lift them safely It costs about $28. Visit http://www.potlifter.com or call 888-644-4222.
The Weed Dragon Propane Torch Kit by Red Dragon Leisure Products is one ugly way to obliterate weeds. Or wooden fences. This is a wand-like propane torch that heats up green weeds and kills them with heat instead of herbicides. Costs about $75. Visit http://www.flameengineering.com or call 888-388-6724.