I love my Apple Magic Mouse but…what to do with that fancy lucite box it came in? It’s just too nice to pitch and it doesn’t have a recycle symbol. So, I created a terrarium to green up my office in the dead of winter.

I kept the white insert that originally held the mouse in place inside the box and it now acts as a plastic mulch on the soil, both functional and lends a clean and modern appearance. Perfect for my desk.

Here are the materials and steps. It’s really not difficult.

Materials:

• 1 Magic Mouse lucite packaging box with white insert from Apple
• 1/2 teaspoon teeny tiny activated charcoal
• 2-3 tablespoons terrarium soil mix
• bit of living moss (you can dig it up from your yard or look for a very short plant from a local nursery)

Steps:

1. Wash the lucite box and white insert with hot soapy water but be careful not to scratch the box. It will scratch easily, as you can see in my photo.
2. Dry with a lint-free cloth.
3. Pre-dampen your soil mix and rinse the charcoal to remove dust (charcoal dust will make this look dingy and dirty and you’ll have to start over, I’ve done this twice now).
4. Set the lid aside and insert the white liner into the lower portion of the box. You’ll be working with the white liner in place because, trust me, there’s no way to insert it after planting because the soil and charcoal will be in the way. And in order for the lid to fit, the insert must be seated all the way down.
5. Carefully scatter the charcoal in the hole of the white insert and push some of it under the lip.
6. Now gently push the damp soil under the lip of the white insert while holding the insert down firmly. As you’re pressing, the insert may want to pop up, that’s why you’re holding it down.
7. Leave room for the root mass of your moss in the hole of the liner.
8. Dampen the roots attached to the plant and using tweezers or tiny fingers, place it gently in the hole of the white liner.
9. Trim excess tendrils from the plant so it’s neat and compact. Then wipe the white liner with tissue or Q-tips to remove specs of dirt for an especially Apple-clean appearance.
10. Replace lid and position in non-direct sun. I keep mine on my desk near a window.

Keep in mind, this is a sealed terrarium so choose a plant that will survive. I like to think that Steve Jobs would approve of this reuse of Apple packaging. And that he’d like the zen-like appearance of a simple single green plant with white plastic mulch. Now if only I could find a tiny critter to put inside but it’s hard to locate micro-miniature garden gnomes.

I’m sure you can come up with more groovy hacks for the mouse box.