As part of the multimedia promotional campaign for Sleeping Naked is Green, my publishers suggested I make an informative author video so that potential readers can grasp what my book is all about and hopefully decide that it’s worth buying. Unfortunately, despite what you may believe about bloggers, I’m not very good at self-promotion; so instead of talking into a camera about how great my book is, I decided to take everyone on a mini tour of my house in order to point out all my favourite eco-contraptions, from the vegetables-in-a-vase trick for the fridgeless folk to the water-bottle-in-the-back-of-a-toilet-tank idea to save water.
It was filmed by the lovely Chelsea Conway, who just graduated from Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson University here in Toronto, and it even ends with a nod to MTV Cribs (totally her idea).
So if you want to watch me make a fool of myself, droning on about butter bells instead of properly completing my assignment (sorry, Wiley/Houghton), take a look at this video:
Awesome video Vanessa!! Loved all the tips.
Great Video Vanessa, I love your house.. so cozy.
Great tips Vanessa – thanks! Love the butter bowl – where did you get yours?
Awesome video!
Just have one thing to add. I believe you have the Nellie’s dryer balls which are great (I have some) but here is what they are made of (this is from the company)
“The current Dryerballs are made of PVC.”
The new ones I believe are PVC free. Though I think I’m going to buy some wool ones from etsy.com to not buy any new plastic.
I believe you can find the new ones on https://www.delight.com/ but the site is down at the moment.
Great tips!
Enjoyed learning your tips and can’t wait to read the new book! I came to you through Meghan Telpner’s blog and look forward to following you as well. Thanks!
P.S. I just ordered your book through Amazon.ca since it is not available till much later here in the U.S:o) (Note: it is a bit more expensive though with shipping from Canada added in).
You can make your own butter dish by putting butter in a ramekin. Then, turn it upside down and leave it in a bowl that has about an inch or half inch of water.
Yay! I love it!! You’re so fab!
That is so awesome! You are so cute.
I make my own laundry detergent, use vinegar as a fabric softener, and I’ve made my own wool dryer balls. 
http://ultimatemoneyblog.com/make-your-own-wool-dryer-balls
http://ultimatemoneyblog.com/laundry-detergent-recipe-how-to-make-your-own-laundry-detergent
I also air dry all my clothes, either in my basement or outside.
I’m in the US and I’m dying to get your book!
Great video! I really enjoyed it!
This was fantastic!! I LOVED the “eco-cribs” take, clever and fun
I also loved the veggie vases and water bottle-toilet ideas! I am definitely going to look into the water bottle idea for our toilet!
I love you Thistle! and your awesome book. Great video! You look great. Not a day over 29. Oh Kinvara!
Just watched your video and wondering where you got the cute butter dish? Also just cracked your book and was giggling away on the bus- def got some wierd looks.
I love your house, i’m definitely going to get one of those butter bell things and the toilet trick is really clever.
Loved the video! I can’t wait to be able to buy your book.
Very cool!
Still don’t know why sleeping naked is green, but i guess that’s a “that’s why you have to buy the book” deal??
I love the dishes watering the plant idea. But I have to ask, you unplugged your fridge, but still use your dryer?? Isn’t hanging laundry one of the easiest things eco things to do? Mine is in an altered linen closet in the winter to take up less space. (And of course on a line in the summer.)
Your video was great until the dryer ball part, where I thought, instead of not using dryer sheets, you should not use the dryer at all! (And now I see that Marie, above my comment, has mentioned the same thing.)
We have a laundry line strung up outside for nice, warm weather, and another one inside the house for the rest of the year. It’s super easy and cheap. All you need is laundry line (same as the outdoors version) and some “J” hooks.
Thanks everyone! Sorry for the delay in posts… the Healthy Cookie and I were off on vacation for a couple weeks with limited Interweb access. And one thing about my dryer balls: I do agree that line-drying clothes is far more eco-friendly, which is why I do that for about half of my wardrobe, if not more. However, in my transition back to less-hardcore-green living, I concluded that my hatred of crunchy underwear and towels somewhat justified using a bit of time in the dryer — that said, it’s an efficient model and it senses when clothes are dry, so it shuts off automatically rather than staying on for an hour.
Sending a little blog adoration your way. Check out my post to find out what I mean. I’ve been enjoying your blog.
great video! just wanted to point out that those chopstick creations were recently featured on ‘shark tank’ and you can get them for your bananas as well as your wine
[...] first found out about butter bells from the blogger Vanessa “Green As a Thistle” Farquharson – a woman who unplugged her fridge, among other things, to make her life [...]
my family uses fabric shower liners cause if they get dirty or *shudder* mouldy then you can just wash them or de-mouldify then wash. there not even too expensive
kind of ( OK, really) off subject, but where did you get you’r Diva Cup? I can’t find ‘em