I had the pleasure of receiving complimentary Mala Beads from Tiny Devotions for the purposes of this honest, Tried and True Green Product Review.

They offered to send me my choice of Mala Beads and I opted for Turquoise Ocean (purported to inspire communication, healing, balance). Upon opening the package, I was struck by how beautiful they were and couldn’t wait to try them. But first, a little background…

What, you may ask, are Mala beads? They’re prayer beads created primarily from a combination of seeds and gemstones. One special stone imbued with energetic qualities like love, healing, strength or fortune forms the centerpiece of a long necklace with 108 sacred Rudraksha seeds strung alongside. Such sacred seeds have been worn for thousands of years in traditions of yoga, Buddhism and Hinduism. (more…)

Here’s a simple yet effective upcycling design. The ‘Jack’ self-watering planter was originally a liquor bottle, in this case a bottle of Jack Daniels.

After some retrofitting, the booze bottle has been transformed into a handsome upcycled self-watering vessel for growing herbs on your window sill -  saved from the landfill and now employed as a productive member of gardening society. Very nice.

Find ‘Jack’ at the patch store on cargoh.com for $40

related: previously on altCon – more gardening stuff

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