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This is the second year that my husband and I have had a little vegetable garden in the back yard, and tomatoes are one of our favorite things to grow.  One problem is that the plants get very large and need to be staked or put in the support cages to keep them upright, so every time we saw the “Topsy Turvy” commercial on TV we thought it sounded like a great idea!

This year, we decided to give growing tomatoes upside down a try.  But instead of ordering a plastic green bag to plant our tomato plant in, we decided to build our own.

(You’ll notice the more traditional tomato cage around another tomato plant in the background… we were hedging our bets in case the upside down tomato growing didn’t work.)

What makes a “topsy turvy” is a planter with a hole in the bottom, large enough for the plant to fit through, and a hole or opening on top for water.  You then hang it up either with a hook onto a patio or a shepherd’s hook in the garden (as you see above).  Tomatoes are very resiliant and hardy plants, and will start to grow back upwards towards the sun which doesn’t affect them at all.  All you need to do is make sure they have enough water!

We took a wire hanging planter with coco mat lining and cut a hole in the bottom of the coco matting.

We gently fed the green part of the plant through the hole from the inside of the planter, leaving the roots inside, and filled with potting soil.  We then covered it with a little mulch to help retain moisture, and, voila!  Our own topsy turvy planter!  And I might add, I think it looks nicer than the original.

Ours:

Theirs:

So far, so good with our little experiment!  In fact, my husband swears that this tomato plant is doing better than the others – it even has its first blooms!

The cost of this will depend on where you buy your supplies.  We bought our planter and shephard’s hook at Big Lots, and probably spent about $10 to $15 for both, which is not a huge savings over the original Topsy Turvy, but we both think it looks nicer in our garden, and if we don’t re-use the planter for tomatoes next year, we can use it like a regular hanging planter again.

Looking for an eco friendly gift for the mothers in your life?  Craft Pantry has an entire shop stocked full of tote bags, lunch bags, produce bags and stationery.  Prices range from $8 to $30 (for custom bags).

Basket of Goodies {photo from Author’s Personal Collection}

Sorry to have kept everyone in suspense. I had to go out-of-town and our first CSA delivery was delayed.

We decided our first foray into Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) would be with a farm called Re Rustica. Re Rustica is a farm located in Squaw Valley, California. We chose them based on the recommendation of a good friend. We also selected them because they don’t require us to work on the farm. As much as we’d like to have that level of involvement, our schedules won’t allow us to participate in that manner. Additionally, they allow you to select from what is currently in season. Many CSA farms select your fruits and vegetables for you. As a few EAD readers have mentioned, that can be part of the fun of participating in CSA.

Food straight out of the box {photo from Author’s Personal Collection}

Last Friday, our first delivery arrived via UPS. According to Re Rustica, they use UPS because they have a low carbon footprint. Originally, they used to deliver the produce themselves in their bio-diesel truck. Talk about dedication! The produce arrived in Ziploc bags inside of Styrofoam cooler. The packaging was a little less eco-friendly than we expected, but the produce looked amazing. Re Rustica sells their produce by the box. Their website does a great job of helping you calculate how big of a box to order. We selected the smallest box they offered.

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One of my new favorite blogs is Crafting a Green World.  Written by a team of really crafty people, I know I can always find cute crafts that are easy to use in my daily life.  Here are a few of my favorites…

Vintage Suitcase Crafts

Recycled Plant Markers

Brown Paper Bag Recipe Cards

I could definitely see one of these beauties resting in my living room or bedroom.

They’re the perfect amount of vintage and cute.

Etsy seller Enhabiten found via SFGirlByBay.

I was graciously sent a  SCANPAN^® Green Tek 10 1/4″ Frying Pan to review.  My husband Rob and I were curious as to how a frying pan could be green. It’s a pan. What could makes it any more green than other cookware? Is it made out of recycled materials? We were skeptical. Rob the cynic was convinved it was some kind of marketing ploy.

This is how SCANPAN^® describes the Green Tek line.

As a part of our on-going product development, we developed a few years ago in cooperation with our suppliers a new coating – Green Tek. This coating is from raw material to final product completely free from both PFOA and PFOS and form, in conjunction with our patented ceramic titanium technology, the strongest non-stick surface on the market.

Prior to Green Tek, PFOA supported the polymerization of PTFE. However, during the production process PFOA exuded, so that the final product was PFOA-free.

PFOA? PFOS? What are they talking about? So, we did some research and we were a bit surprised at what we found.

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Be still my heart, Target has gone green.  And it looks goooooood!  More info here.

House Beautiful posted a great article called “Tips for Green Living.” It covers 13 “Green Guilts”, areas we typically feel guilty over not being eco friendly.  From light bulbs to paper towels, they give you the hard truth (from Katherine Tiddens) and the compromise (from Lori Bongiorno). My favorite part?

Green Guilt #8:  I like to be toasty. Putting on socks and three sweaters just doesn’t do it for me. l keep the thermostat cranked up even while I sleep.

The hard truth: My first response is that you can either put on a sweater now, or freeze in the dark when we run out of fossil fuels. There are easy ways to warm your house without cranking up the heat. Check for drafts, caulk around your windows and doors, and make certain that your attic and walls are well insulated. And be sure your heater is running at maximum efficiency. -KT

The compromise: Use a timer on your thermostat to make sure the house is warm when you’re there, and the heater isn’t working so hard when you’re not. If you don’t have one, buy a programmable thermostat. Every degree you turn it down makes a difference, about one percent on your bill. -LB

It’s a really great article and shows you small and big steps you can take to reducing your carbon footprint. So go read it, you paper towel lovers!

Has anyone else heard of Ecofabulous? I found via Green Your Decor’s blog love page.  Ecofabulous has some great tips for all parts of your life.  I especially like how many products they review.  From wedding dresses to dish cloths, they have your green lifestyle covered.

While our household isn’t the “greenest” on the block, we have committed to taking small steps to live a little greener.  One of these steps is to stop buying and drinking bottled water.  According to the Clear Air Council,  Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. We no longer wanted to be part of that statistic.

For many people, you can drink tap water. The standards set for municipal water sources are actually much higher and monitored far more stringently than bottle water sources.  In our case, the pipes in our rental are a bit questionable. So, we’ve opted for a water filtration system.  We bought a Brita Water pitcher from Target. It’s affordable and easy to use.

Brita Water Pitcher available atTarget
Now that we’ve been doing this for a couple of months, we are looking into a more on-demand system. We’re finding that the Brita isn’t large enough and doesn’t filter fast enough to keep up with our water consumption.  Some replacements to the pitcher are water filter systems that hookup directly to your kitchen tap.  Here are some contenders.

PUR Water Filter available at Target

Mulitpure MPAD Aqua Dome Countertop If you’d like to research water filtration systems for yourself, here is a good water filter comparison guide.When we’re at home, we drink our water from glasses. However, when we’re out and about, we use reusable bottles. We both use one of these.

CamelBak BPA-FREE Better Bottle – 25 oz. from REI

As much as we like those bottles, there are quite a few other alternatives. Here are some of the ones that I’ve found. {This wouldn’t be one of my posts without some eyecandy.}

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