I have lived in Boston for almost two years now and if there is one thing I know it’s that, if you live in Boston, you cheer for the Red Sox. And if you don’t cheer for the Red Sox, you don’t tell anybody!

My roommate’s Dad absolutely LOVES the Sox and I told her she should get him this Red Sox gift bucket for Father’s Day (if you haven’t noticed MsGift really likes gift baskets).

Ok, maybe it’s a little cheesy but I think it is cute and contains some good stuff:

• Red Sox Baseball Hat
• Replica Autographed Baseball (2007 roster)
• Red Sox Peanuts (love them)
• New England Salt Water Taffy
• Cherry Lobster Pops
• A Stuffed Wally

The Red Sox Gift Bucket would make a great father’s day gift for that Sox fan who doesn’t get to see the games in person. They can watch the game in their living room, eat some peanuts and have Wally sitting right next to them.

Sounds like a great dad’s day to me! The Red Sox gift basket is made by the Massachusetts Bay Trading co and costs $75.

We always see photos of Brad Pitt taking the kids for rides in helicopters, playing on ATV’s and cruising around all sexy on his motorcycles (I added the ‘all sexy’ part). So for a man who already has all of these toys, what in the world do you get him for his birthday?

According to the Courier Mail, you apparently buy him a $100,000 custom engraved motorcycle. Or at least that is what you do if you are Angelina Jolie.

Angelina gave Brad a brand new motorcycle featuring a plaque on the handlebars that reads ‘My Sweetheart, the Drunk‘. While that doesn’t sound very romantic, it’s the name of a Jeff Buckley album, who is apparently Brad’s favorite musician.

Now I can’t afford to buy Brad a brand new motorcycle but I can give him great gift-buying tips…he’ll probably want to marry me soon.

MiMi over at Boutique Mix contacted us about her jewelry and hand-made purses promising we would not be disappointed.

True to her word there are some very cool (and of course unique) hand bags on that site that I would love to have. In particular the ‘Eco’ bags by Ananas.

Each purse is hand-stitched and made from the Abaca plant (making it eco-friendly…hence the name). What is an Abaca plant you ask? It is similar to the banana plant, native to the Phillipines and referred to as ‘Manilla hemp’. It also makes a lovely purse!

The eco-purse comes in three different colors and is on sale right now for $229.50. Go get yourself one of these great hand-bags!

One of the things we like to do here on GiftStumped is show you who else is out there talking about cool products and gift ideas. Hey, we can’t think of everything right?

This week we wanted to feature Retro To Go.

Run by Modculture Media, the site features some of the coolest and of course unique retro products I have ever seen. From t-shirts to tables to old school toys and games, they cover everything. They also have competitions where you can win some of these products…awesome!

Here are a couple of my favorite “Retro gifts”:

Retro BBQ	Turntable Ring	Pong Clock

Get over there and check out the site! They have some fun stuff that will make you want to watch Austin Powers and put on some of these funky rings!

Imagine your loved ones/friends receiving organic produce every week for 20 weeks in the summer/fall! And each time they receive their fresh bounty, they remember what a great gift giver you are.

I was recently flying on Delta Airlines and read an article in the Delta Sky magazine about community supported agriculture (CSA). The author, John Grossmann, described (wonderfully) how he and his wife had recently joined Honey Brook Farm’s CSA program by purchasing a “share” of the crop for the year (summer/fall).

I can’t emphasize enough what a great read that article is!!! (here’s the link to the article again for convenience)

And, I immediately thought - what a cool gift idea to give someone a share in an organic farm’s produce!

Basic Information

While you can easily find information about Community Supported Agriculture with a simple Google search, you may find some fairly dry information such as this Wikipedia entry. You can also find some more user-friendly information such as this very nice Squidoo lens on the topic.

How Much Does it Cost?

I’m not exactly sure how much Mr. Grossmann paid for his share, but in this article about a new farm program that Honey Brook set up in Chesterfield, PA, shares were going for $358 for an individual and $604 for a family (per season).

The Wikipedia entry referenced above indicates that shares can range from $350 to $500 for a season.

The Urban Ecology Center provides some indication of costs on this page. Here is the excerpt for your convenience:

The typical cost of a CSA share averages from $20-25 a week. As a shareholder, you pay up front for the entire season, which ranges from 19 to 27 weeks, depending on the farm. Share size also varies from farm to farm. Some farms offer “worker shares” exchanging work for a share of produce. Others have either convenient payment plans or assistance funds that can offset part of the cost of a share.

How Do I Find a CSA?

Here are a few resources for locating a CSA farm near you:

• Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association - CSA Locator (use the sort by state function to browse for farms in your state)
• Newfarm.org - Farm Locator (nice way to search their database)
• National Agricultural Library - CSA Resources

More Information

Some blogs published by local CSA farmers:

• Belmont CSA, Belmont, MA
• Claggett Farm, Chesapeake Bay, MD
• Eat Well Farm, Dixon, CA
• Smith Gardens Community Farm, Cochrane, WI
• Full Circle Farm, Carnation, WA
• Sackville CSA, New Brunswick, Canada

There are a number of books on the topic (available at Amazon.com). Here is one of them…

Eat well, my friends! -GiftGuy