Carnival Of All Things Eco

The All Things Eco Carnival is up at Focus Organic.  Here’s a great post about making shipping mailers out of old paper bags.  Green and very frugal!  I can’t remember the last time I bought a padded mailer.  Whenever we get something in the mail in one of those things (the ones with all the bubble wrap on the inside) I stash it in my mailing supplies drawer.  When I need to mail something that needs padding, I cut down one of the larger envelopes, or stick a new mailing label over the old info on the envelope.  Saves money since I don’t have to buy new ones, and it makess our garbage pile a little smaller.

Life On The Road has a post about low-impact gifts.  Great ideas here.  I’m a big fan of minimizing clutter and stuff, but I still like to celebrate birthdays and other milestones with the people I love.  I’ve found that gifts of food and time are well-received, don’t create clutter, and are often less expensive than heading to the mall.

Organicasm (sweet blog title!) has a post with 100 references for organic home gardens.  Looks like there’s something for everyone here, whether you have one pot of basil in your windowsill, or an entire garden growing in your crawl space.

Wise Bread has a great list of ways you can give containers a new life – reusing is the best way to cut down on costs and waste, so check out the great ideas here.

Stop the Ride has a post about my favorite thrift store – the Habitat for Humanity store.  Our’s is a restore combined with a normal thrift store… something for everybody!  We got our storm door there, as well as some of the cabinets for our kitchen.  My parents picked up enough cabinets for an entire kitchen at that store.  Love it!

Suite 101 has an article about the benefits of organic produce.  I agree completely.  I really don’t care that the organic produce I buy has a little more of my daily vitamins in it.  I eat enough produce that it doesn’t really matter.  What does matter is the impact that conventional farming has on our little planet.  I want to support organic farmers, and do my part to move our world towards more earth-friendly agriculture.  I’d also prefer to not eat a bunch of chemicals with my tomatoes.