Made in Michigan: Save 15% on Cool Ergonomic Garden Tools

        Although it’s hard to prove a direct correlation, our home state’s battered economy has continued to improve ever since we started introducing you to some of our favorite Michigan-made products. To thank you – and to encourage even more “micro-investment” in Michigan’s rebirth – we’ve teamed up with our neighbors at Radius Garden Tools to offer you a special 15% discount.
        Radius’s promise to make gardening easier on my body wasn’t what first drew me to their tools. I just thought they looked cool, cool enough to belong in the Museum of Modern Art. Their hand tools came first, with dramatically arched handles that reduce wrist strain while making them look like they were meant for gardening on the moon. They now offer equally distinctive shovels, rakes, pruners, and other tools, all scientifically designed to help you “Garden more; hurt less.” They’ve expanded their color choices, too, from spring-green to a jewel-box palette of pink, purple, yellow, orange, and turquoise.
        One of my favorite tools is the Radius Transplanter, a narrow trowel of brushed aluminum that’s light but strong – and did I mention cool? It’s also a great deal at $9.99, and an even better deal with your 15% “Friends of Old House Gardens” discount. To claim this special discount, simply enter OHG as the “coupon code” on the Payment Information page of the Radius order form. For Mother’s Day or your own garden toolbox, we hope you’ll give our friends at Radius a try! (April 2012)

Made in Michigan: Good Morning America’s Most Beautiful Place

        This is the fifth in our ongoing series introducing you to some of our favorite Michigan products in an attempt to boost our home state’s battered economy. (Michigan’s unemployment rate is now tied with South Carolina’s for the country’s third worst at 10.9%, but that’s down from 13% and second worst last year so our plan seems to be working.)
        Michigan is rich in natural beauty, and every year millions of vacationers come here to enjoy it. Two weeks ago Good Morning America named a spectacular natural area that’s been one of our favorites since we were kids – Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore – the “Most Beautiful Place in America.” Read the complete story here, and then start planning your visit! (Aug. 2011)

Made in Michigan: Hospital Grows Its Own Vegetables (and Our Dahlias)

        We’ve introduced you to some of our favorite Michigan-made products here, in an attempt to boost our home state’s hard-hit economy. But this month we’re spotlighting an innovative Michigan-made idea instead.
        Not long ago the staff at our local St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital decided it wasn’t enough to just talk to their patients about the importance of healthy food – they should serve them healthy food, too. So last year, in a ground-breaking effort to help make that a reality, they hired a young farmer and turned 15 acres of their sprawling medical campus into The Farm at St. Joe’s. Today patients are served vegetables grown in fields and hoop houses they can see from their rooms, and once a week there’s a small but lively farmers market in the hospital lobby. Learn more here.
        When we heard the Farm was also growing a few cut-flowers, we offered to donate some of our bulbs. Farmer Dan Bair responded enthusiastically, and next week he’ll be planting two 100-foot rows of our heirloom dahlias – healthy food for the soul. (May 2011)

Made in Michigan: Historic Pewabic Pottery

        This is the third in our ongoing series introducing you to some of our favorite Michigan businesses. We hope you’ll love their products, tell your friends, and help give our home state’s battered economy a boost. (Though Michigan’s unemployment rate is still the country’s second worst at 13.1%, since May it’s dropped .1% – hooray!)
        One of the iconic potteries of the Arts and Crafts era, Detroit’s Pewabic Pottery was founded in 1903 by a young artist named Mary Chase Stratton. It soon gained acclaim for its simple designs and earthy, often iridescent glazes. Today, skilled artisans are still turning clay into small, affordable works of art in Pewabic’s 1907 studio, now a National Historic Landmark. Among our favorites are the graceful daffodil tile in Pewabic blue, the replica of Stratton’s 1903 Snowdrop Vase, and the irresistible little frog paperweight for just $19.95 – but there are many, many more to choose from. We hope you’ll be inspired to add one to your Christmas list! (Oct. 2010)

Made in Michigan: Oberon, the Perfect Summer Beer

        Last month, in the hopes of helping our home state work its way out of the economic sub-basement, we launched our "Made in Michigan" series -- and we already have good news to report. In May, Michigan's unemployment rate dropped to 13.2%, making it -- for the first time in four years -- NOT the country's highest. (Sorry, Nevada!) Although that happened a month before we started plugging our favorite Michigan-made products, we're still feeling encouraged.
        So how about a drink? Though I've never lost my childhood taste for water straight from the hose, these days after a hot afternoon in the garden I'd rather have a nice cold beer. And as beer drinkers all across the Midwest will tell you, for a refreshing summer brew, you can't beat Oberon Ale. A sunshine-colored wheat beer with a big happy sun on its orange and blue label, Oberon comes from Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo, the oldest craft-brewer east of Colorado. "This isn't a dangerous beer," writes Matt at Barbeerians.com, "but it's also no slouch." He calls it "smooth and creamy" with "floral and citrusy-orange pulses" and sums up by saying, "No wonder Oberon has such a following."
        Oberon is sold in nineteen lucky states -- AL, AZ, DC, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MN, MO, NC, ND, OH, PA, SC, VA, WI -- and you can order it online. Other award-winning beers from Bell's range from their flagship Amber Ale to the "bitter, tongue-bruising" Hopslam. Why not try them all? Cheers! (July 2010)

Made in Michigan: Garden Bells from Harmony Hollow

       First up: the hand-cast garden bells of our hometown’s Harmony Hollow Bell Works. With a 350-year guarantee, these sturdy bronze bells are made to be heirlooms. Jane and I got a set for our wedding 28 years ago, and we’ve enjoyed them ever since. Harmony Hollow was founded in 1969 by Jeffrey Cross who, in the spirit of those heady times, taught himself how to design, mold, and cast bells. Today his brother Bradley carries on the family tradition.
       Made by the ancient technique of pouring molten bronze into sand molds, the bells ring with beautiful, clear tones, and each comes with a small card offering a bit of special meaning, like this for the Gardener’s Bell: “Bells have forever driven away bad spirits and called upon good ones. By attracting the spirits of air (a soft breeze), of fire (warm sunlight), of water (rain plus a little help from the watering can), and of earth (rich soil), its pleasant vibrations are conducive to growing healthy plants. Moreover; this bell’s melodic ringing puts anyone aspiring to a green thumb directly in touch with the natural rhythms of Mother Nature.” (June 2010)

For articles on other topics, see our main Newsletter Archives page.