If you avoided Black Friday, congratulations! Yet holidays shopping may still loom ahead. Spare your nerves and your gasoline tank. You won't even need to use that recycled, crumpled wrapping paper. Snuggle in with phone or computer and consider these gifts, most of which keep on giving for the entire year; one, for decades to come. Even I enjoy this kind of shopping!

Give the gift of experience. Memberships at Shelburne Farms (www.shelburnefarms.org) and Shelburne Museum (www.shelburnemuseum.org) open the door to adventure every day of the year. Benefits include unlimited free admission, shopping discounts, and advance notice of special events. When my children were young we spent countless hours at both special places, riding round and round (and round and round) on the Museum's carousel and walking at Shelburne Farms. At the farmyard we giggled at bounding piglets and petted fuzzy lambs, goats, and calves. Memberships come in many forms, from $35 at Shelburne Farms and $45 at Shelburne museum, and are tax-deductible.

Next summer fill your larder (and your tummy) with locally grown, organic produce from a CSA, community supported agriculture. Buying a farm share helps maintain our working agricultural landscape and provides fresh vegetables from June through October. Pick-up day at Stony Loam Farm, located at Jay and Marcia Vogler's Pizza On Earth, is an instant festive outing- lots of Charlotte friends, pizza and bread baked in a wood-fired oven, gelato, fruit tarts. Drive away with your car filled with the fragrance of fresh bread, a week's supply of fresh veggies, a fistful of herbs, and a bouquet of flowers. Stony Loam owners Dave Quickel and Emma Burrous agree that a farm share "is a great holiday gift idea. We will be having our pick-ups at the Pizza on Earth site for the foreseeable future. We have not yet determined our 2008 prices but people may refer to our website for info/updates/e-mail and 2008 prices." Also at the website, yummy veggie recipes:
Stony Loam Farm 802.238.0255 P.O. Box 282, Charlotte VT 05445, www.StonyLoamFarm.com.

Located at Champlain Valley Co-Housing on Greenbush Road, Bloomfield Farm is an evolving CSA. "We don't know our exact plan for next summer," says Tanya Srolovitz, who with her partner Matthew Burke, does have definite plans for a Winter CSA in 2008. In addition, Bloomfield Farm is working toward the goal of one-stop shopping. "We would like to offer other local products that people need in addition to vegetables, like cheese, honey, pies, bread, and jams," Tanya say.
The Bloomfield Farm website, www.bloomfieldfarm.net, looks to the future, highlighting a recently planted fruit orchard, hardy kiwi vines, and a growing flock of lambs and laying hens. Call 425-2256 for more information.

Give a biker or walker a membership in the Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition. A strong advocate for road safety, this statewide non-profit educates both motorists and bikers about their responsibilities. In 2007 the coalition successfully advocated for a $50,000 appropriation from the legislature for the purchase of five road shoulder sweepers. The Coalition launched the Boomer Bike Ride and Street Walker series and enabled certification of a dozen Nordic walking instructors. The current newsletter, Riders & Striders, features a story by Judy Bond who bikes on studded snow tired throughout the winter along her dirt road in Jericho. For $35 you can deliver a gift membership, $25 for a student. Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition, PO Box 1234, Montpelier, VT 05601 or www.vtbikeped.org.

With an emphasis on Greater Burlington's walking, biking, running, and inline skating trails, Local Motion spearheaded efforts to bridge the Winooski River at the north end of the Burlington Bike Path. This link enables riders to pedal from Charlotte to within spitting distance of South Hero, much of it on bike lanes or paths. August weekends Local Motion runs a bike ferry across the cut, the gap in the former railroad bed between the mainland and the Champlain Islands. Local Motion also promotes the annual Walk to School week for Chittenden County elementary schools. Local Motion's Bike Recycle Shop has made hundreds of bicycles available to resettled refugees and low-income Vermonters, taught bike repair skills to those with limited resources, and kept tons of metal and rubber out of landfills. Through its advocacy five Chittenden County schools will receive $400,000 in VTRANS Safe Routes to School grants for sidewalks and crossing lights. Basic memberships begin at $35 for an individual or household, although any contribution is welcome. Monthly cyber newsletters highlight healthy news, like a company where 13 of 14 employees bike to work. www.localmotion.org.

Ski passes for the day or the season or memberships in VAST, Vermont Association of Snow Travelers, make great gifts. All winter (when it snows) your lucky recipient will thank you as she skate skis around Catamount, Nordic races under the lights at Sleepy Hollow, enjoys high-elevation, early snows at Bolton, rides a chair lift or gondola, or travels over the VAST snowmobile trails. The Catamount Trail Association supports Vermont's backcountry ski trail that runs the length of Vermont. Members enjoy discounted skiing at cross-country and downhill areas across the state while supporting maintenance and protection of the 265-mile trail. Individual membership is $35. Information is available from CTA at 1 Mill Street, Suite 350, Burlington, 05401-1512, or at www.catamounttrail.org.

Ron Miller, head of the Charlotte Sustainable Living Network, suggests local arts and crafts as gifts- you won't have to drive far to pick them up and the money stays in our community. If you missed the November sale, track down the artists at their home or studio.

Did you can, freeze, dry, pickle, or preserve your garden produce last summer? Imagine receiving pear jam, dill pickles, strawberry leather, or fresh-frozen raspberries from a good friend! I'm not sure whether the mountains of garlic I grew will elicit smiles or groans, but my rosy shallots will make some gourmets purr. Think of the pleasure of planting, nurturing, harvesting, and giving!

Give a gift of the future. Time is running out for the town to receive the $25,000 matching grant from the Rutter Beautification Fund. Drive slowly through town (always a good idea) and imagine how these young trees will look at the dawn of the next century. To date, 79 trees have been planted along Charlotte's roads, the latest additions being 25 trees along Spear Street, north of the Hinesburg Road. Another 60 trees are growing in a nursery at Robin Coleburn's home. Planting is finished for the season but will continue as part of a five-year program.
Donors have contributed $9,800 to this fund with $15,200 remaining that is eligible for matching ONLY UNTIL YEAR-END 2007! Consider donating in honor of a child or grandchild. Imagine her pleasure decades hence, showing her own grandchildren these trees!
Checks to: Charlotte Beautification Fund. Drop at Town Hall or mail to Larry Hamilton, 342 Bittersweet Lane, Charlotte, 05445.

Remember, the best things in life are not things