Father’s Day is fast approaching and you may still be trying to figure out what to get for your pops. Well my dad isn’t a Red Sox fan and he doesn’t collect anything but like me, he does enjoy relaxing outdoors and having a few brews. And…every so often he ventures over to the neighbors house and hangs out by their pool.

The Cruzin Cooler may very well be the perfect gift for my dad. Heck, it may be the perfect gift for most of the men I know. This thing is awesome!

Here is an excerpt from the site:

“Cruzin Cooler combines two basic necessities of life, the ability to have cold food or a beverage handy along with the means to get somewhere, without walking”…”is available in gas and electric models, with a 10 mile range on electric models and 30 miles on the gas models. The cooler can be used for hunting, sporting events, races, camping, golf or even a trip to the grocery store to keep your food cold all the way home.”

You have to check out the specs on this thing!

The Cruzin Cooler is only $350 at Cabelas or you can find a distributor near you. (As a side note it isn’t legal everywhere but they do give a list of states where it is)

Just picture Dad cruisin around on this thing, cold beers in the cooler and meats for grilling in tow…man, my dad would be in Heaven!

As you know, the goal of GiftStumped is to help you find those gifts that you wouldn’t normally think of and ya know, ‘Un-Stump Your Brain‘.

Aside from just helping you find unique and cool gifts we also like to feature gifts that give back.

This week we wanted to talk about Dell’s RED line.

Most people have seen or heard about RED through their clothing products or know it as Bono’s charity/foundation. The cool thing is they have partnered with companies like Apple, American Express, Armani and Dell to raise money.

In the case of Dell, Dell and RED have worked to create a line of computers. They have notebooks, a printer and of course the XPS One.

The XPS One is a desktop that comes with the works! Here is a little about it:

• Intel® Core 2 Duo E4500
• Windows Vista® Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED (sorry..maybe they’ll do it without Vista)
• Adobe Elements Studio for XPS™ One
• Norton Internet Security™
• 250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s Hard Drive
• 8X Slot load CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW)
• Hybrid Analog/Digital TV Tuner with Remote Control
• Internal Bluetooth 2.0 Included
• You can of course find more specs at the Dell site.

The XPS One starts at $1599 but the best part is…for each computer purchased, $80 goes directly to Africa. And according to the site, $80 gets 6 months of life preserving antiretroviral medication for a person living with AIDS in Africa.

So, while a computer itself may not be a unique gift, one that contributes to a good cause is. Kudos to Dell and the other companies participating in this!

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!

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

I came a cross this cool site called The Carrotbox. Here is what they say about themselves:

“The Carrtobox is a site dedicated to all those wonderful rings made of glass, lucite, resin, plastic, jade, wood, bakelite and even stone — anything, as long as it’s not metal!”

Here is a collage of images that I put together from the site to give you a flavor of what kind of rings are available:

Rings are listed on the site between $5 and $27.

However, note that it appears as if specific ring styles can sell out when they are popular. Not to worry though, there are new rings/styles added frequently (see new rings added every other Monday), and there appears to always be a large selection!

Check out The Carrotbox’s blog as well!

Here are some other funky rings (not plastic though), from Max & Chloe:

Related GiftStumped Posts:

• Ring of the Month Club?