Save Time - And The Environment - With These Gifts

If the holidays elicit a groan of despair. especially when it comes to shopping for and sending gifts to out-of-town friends and relatives, here are a few suggestions. Besides saving steps, they also save the environment:

Oregon-grown organic apples and pears. A holiday sampler box includes seven varieties of apples and five varieties of pears. These delectable fruits - grown in the famed Hood River Valley - support pesticide-free organic farming ($32 delivered). There’s also the River Bend Basket with marionberry, pumpkin butter and black and red raspberry preserves ($29 plus shipping). Call (800) 755-7568.

That old standby Rainforest Crunch, created by Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, helps support rain forest preservation and has committed more than $500,000 to environmental projects. The delicious cashew and Brazil nut buttercrunch comes in an attractive gift tin; there’s a chocolate-covered version and Rainforest Crunch Popcorn. Call (800) 291-1325. All three are $16 delivered.

Forest Saver is a line of nifty stationery and wrapping paper made from recycled maps. The new MAPWRAP wrapping paper includes world maps - current and circa-1664 - a satellite view of Earth’s biosphere and a 1878 Currier & Ives cityscape of New York (eight 20- by 30-inch sheets cost $14.95). For information, call (800) 777-9886.

Do it yourself

Be creative with recycled wrapping possibilities:

Use the Sunday comics for large gifts, glossy magazine pages or children’s drawings for smaller ones. Make bows with pieces of fabric, colorful rope or twisted paper.

Make gift tags from last year’s Christmas cards.

Decorate gifts with dried fruits, pine cones and flowers.

Hoe, hoe, hoe!

Speaking of gardening gifts, for the serious gardener there’s the the lightweight, easy-to-use Mantis Tiller/Cultivator, which weighs just 20 pounds and will till any type of soil, including sod and hard, compacted soil. It can also weed small gardens. The price is $299, plus $24 shipping and handling. Additional optional attachments include a border edger, furrower, crevice cleaner, lawn aerator and dethatcher. For more information call (800) 366-6268.

On the lower end - literally - there’s Zoo Doo, made from rhino dung collected from zoos and formed into odorless, composted fertilizer. The “entre-manures” at Zoo Doo have even developed a “poo-pourri” of gift-packaged products including “Dung Buddy” garden sculptures and “Doo Darling” plant stakes. For the complete scoop, call (800) I-LUV-DOO (800-458-8366).

Holiday tips

Here are some other ways to keep the holidays green:

Look for gifts that are made out of recycled materials and can be reused.

Make a gift yourself. An easy one would be framing a picture.

Consider gift certificates, especially for out-of-town gifts.

Give gift certificates for massages, facial treatments, health club memberships, or movie tickets.

For people who have everything, give a gift of a service you can provide like cooking dinner, baby sitting or winterizing their yard.

Make or buy eatable gifts.

Pool resources to buy that one special (and expensive) gift.

Think of useful gifts: boots, slippers, apron, tools.

Avoid products made of tropical hardwoods, or pets that belong in tropical rain forests.

Make a donation to a worthy cause in someone’s name.

Give durable and consumable goods.

When giving battery-operated gadgets, make sure the batteries are rechargeable and include a recharger with your gift.

Consider gifts that promote a healthy environment like a home composter bin, books on xeriscaping, or plants or bulbs.