It’s a time of giving gifts to friends and family. This season let’s give back to the community and the environment, too. The New River Valley has many businesses that offer ways to give environmentally friendly or gifts.
Every eco-conscious store offers benefits to the community, whether by its recycling, packaging, or eco-friendly products. Harvest Moon in Floyd is one such store. It sells organic produce, flours and grains, cleaning supplies, and supplements. “Other than just being eco-friendly, people should also seek out fair trade products as often as possible,” said Connie Ratner, manager of Harvest Moon. “Fair trade products are still eco-safe but they offer fair working wages for the craftsperson, farmer, or individual so they still profit without being big business.”

Another eco-friendly small business is Miracle Farm Bed and Breakfast Spa and Resort in Floyd. Instead of offering just eco-friendly products, they offer a full natural experience. Not only can you get an organic breakfast, but you can go hiking, do Pilates, get massages, go fishing, and more. Miracle Farm generates its own energy sources, grows its own food, builds with recycled materials, and returns to the earth all organic refuse. This is one business that goes green in more than just products.

Instead of using just recycled products or reused items, many green stores use natural products from animals. The owners of Faith Mountain Farm in Willis, Bill and Liz Garthly, specialize in making and selling goat’s milk soap and lotions. They have seasonal smelling soaps such as Hot Apple Cider, Gram’s Gingerbread, and Pine Needles, and even pet soap for your cat or dog. Everything sold is made by hand by the owners from their own goats and is good for your skin and the environment.

Clean & Green Technologies in Christiansburg offers all-natural organic or green, hygiene, cleaning, garden, and hydroponic supplies and products. If a product is not environmentally friendly, this store does not carry it. The top sellers are garden tools, and disinfectants used by pre-schools, elementary schools, and even overseas hospitals. Owners Pat and Paul Atchison say there really isn’t anything in the store that isn’t a best seller and you would be hard-pressed to find anything toxic or harmful for the environment in the store.

“Green products are beneficial because if you look at history many of the diseases and illnesses of today were not present because everything used to be organic,” said Pat Atchison. “If we go back to how God created our world, we would be better for it.”

On the clothing side of environmentally friendly products is the store Green Label Organic Sustainable Threads in Floyd. This company’s clothing is certified 100% organic, sweatshop free, pre-shrunk, and has low-impact reactive dyes and is printed without plastics. Their designs promote socially conscious messages such as “Live Simply,” the “bummer” Hummer graphic, and “Support Local.” George Lipson, the owner, feels this is an important business because cotton is the second most heavily pesticide product in the world. Once pesticide is sprayed on cotton, no food can grow on the land again and it gets in the air, water, and soil; it affects everyone.

“All petrochemicals, pesticides, fertilizers that can’t be good for human body—can’t be good for the planet either,” said Silvia Rosenfeld manager of Annie Kay’s. “Going green is not new; it is going back to the basics, to ancient practices when our world was healthier.”

Annie Kay’s Main Street Market in Radford promotes and sells green products. They offer a variety of green grocery goods from an entire line of different whole-wheat flours to organic candy and chocolate. They do have gift certificates and an annual membership that gives discounts. The other component of the store is Imaginations, a toy store that is also environmentally friendly by selling such things as organic cotton toys for infants.

Thrift shops are also eco-friendly and Bohemian Trading Co. in Radford is a spin-off on the thrift shop concept. About 99 percent of their clothing is reused and recycled. They offer bamboo, hemp, paper, and recycled gift bags, totes, purses, and more. They have a great eco-friendly policy, too: if you bring your own bag (as long as it is not plastic) you get 10 percent off your purchase.

“Being eco-friendly protects the future of my children’s grandchildren, said Donna Smith, manager of Bohemian Trading Co. “There are so many harmful things that go into landfills; just the amount of packaging on products alone from other stores is bad.”

Many eco-friendly stores help animals, too. For the Birds in Blacksburg supplies wild or tamed animal products, mostly for the winged species. They state that they are “serving birds and birders since 1985.” Other than the numerous amounts of animal foods such as seeds and cracked corn, they also sell binoculars, bird feeders, field guides, and bird-themed decorative items, almost any gift you can think involving your flying friends. If you can’t decide what to buy that animal-enthusiast friend, gift certificates are always available in any denomination.

If gift certificates don’t suffice, grab a Seven Springs Farm organic supplies catalog. You can order online, by phone or mail, or just take a drive out to Willis to visit their community-supported agriculture farm of about 114 families. They grow and sustain their own farming community using all green supplies, which are featured in the catalog. You can also stop by Eats Natural Foods co-op in Blacksburg, which carries organic foods, cheese, wheat/gluten-free foods, supplements, culinary herbs and spices, medicinal herbs, household cleaning supplies, and even pet food.

Another eco-friendly store is Homebody in Blacksburg. Everything that has eco-friendly components is used in their products, including items that usually end up in landfills such as cans, soda bottles, and more. They also utilize reclaimed wood from fallen trees and scraps to make bowls and other wooden products and sustainable paper made from grasses and trees that can grow back. Their top selling products for the holidays are clothing, soda can ornaments, pouches made of ramen packaging, and even purses from old books. The store is diverse in the types of green and fair trade products offered.

“There is a huge misconception that earth-friendly and sweatshop-free products are more expensive, which is not the case at all,” said Margaret Breslau, manager of Homebody. “To be eco-conscious does not mean you pay big prices.”

This holiday save some money while saving the environment and check out these stores and others in the New River Valley that promote eco-friendly or green products.

Christine Pizzo is a Media Studies major at Radford University and Insights Editor for the student newspaper The Tartan.
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WHERE TO SHOP

Annie Kay’s
1531 South Main Street
Blacksburg, VA 24060
540.552.6870
1124 East Main Street
Radford, VA 24141
540.731.9498
http://anniekays.com

Bohemian Trading Co.
1137 E. Main St., Radford
540.639.2953
1400 S. Main St., Blacksburg
(Opening in January)

Clean & Green Technologies
184 Corning Drive
Christiansburg, VA 24073
540.381.5983
www.c-g-tech.com

Faith Mountain Farm
P.O. Box 203
Willis, VA 24380
540.789.8025
E-mail: info@faithmountainfarm.com

For the Birds
201 S. Main Street
Blacksburg, VA 24060
540.953.3452
800.742.4737
www.for-the-birds.com

Green Label
436 Floyd Hwy. S.
Floyd, VA 24091
540.745.6162
www.greenlabel.com

Harvest Moon
227 North Locust Street
Floyd, VA 24091
540.745.4366
www.harvestmoonfoodstore.com

Homebody
119 N. Main St., Suite 101
Blacksburg, VA 24060
540.552.8880
www.home-body.net

Miracle Farm
179 Ida Rose Lane
Floyd, VA 24091
540.789.2214
www.miraclefarmva.org
www.miraclefarmbnb.com

Seven Springs Farm
426 Jerry Lane NE
Check, VA 24072
540.651.3228 for Products
540.651.3226 for the CSA
www.7springsfarm.com