Pop-Up Cardboard Garden

UPDATE: Our first big harvest! That little cucumber grew up!

Electra has had her cardboard garden for over a month and a half now, and seeing that the cardboard is still in great shape after 6 weeks of rain, watering and sunshine, I thought it was OK to officially let it be known that our pop-up cardboard garden is a keeper.

When I was on a cardboard finding expedition at my local grocery store, the produce manager asked me if I was interested in any of the watermelon boxes they had out behind the store. Watermelon boxes, I thought, why didn't I think of that before?

Watermelon boxes are made of triple-walled cardboard with a slight waxy finish, and they are super sturdy, even when exposed to rain. This garden isn't intended to last for more than a summer season, but the cardboard should easily last that long. After we finish picking our tomatoes the plan is to distribute the soil onto the other needy beds in our front yard,  and pack up our watermelon box for curbside recycling.

I used a serrated bread knife that I got from a nearby thrift shop to cut the box down to 12.5" high. Then I just positioned the box in a bright and sunny area of our front yard.

My husband kindly screened several wheelbarrow loads of compost from our backyard and added it to the garden. The last step was cutting off the little triangles of cardboard on the sides that center the watermelon box onto pallets for shipping.

We decided this would be the perfect first garden for Electra so I let her pick out all of her own plants at the local greenhouse. I encouraged her to choose a variety of vegetables, flowers and herbs. She chose cucumbers, tomatoes, chives, basil, cilantro, rosemary, zinnias and her favorite, geraniums.

She LOVED handling and smelling her plants and breaking up their roots to get them ready for planting.

Here she is watering the new crop, and facing a few skeptic neighbors who were sure we were preparing for failure.

We watered the garden as needed trying to let it dry out as much as possible to encourage deep root growth and preserve the box. I notice after one month of watering the box is starting to break down a little where the bottom  seam is touching the soil. It looks like it's not to much of a problem at this point, so I'm leaving well enough alone.

After a big rain the cardboard gets a little damp and softens. It will harden up as it dries out, so try not to disturb the cardboard too much when it's wet. I'm not promising invincibility here folks, but this IS a means of getting a few more cherry tomatoes into your little ones hands, and a great way to kindle a budding love of gardening.

Isn't this tiny cucumber the cutest thing you've ever seen? Seeing it all nestled up next to the side of the triple wall cardboard just about breaks my heart.

Finding Free Cardboard

Since we've been back in the U.S. on a summer holiday trip, I've had to start all over sourcing cardboard. In Tokyo I was hauling everything by bike and bike trailer and I had developed relationships with several places in my local community.

I was also able to scavenge from my neighbor's cardboard piles weekly on recycling day. It was pretty easy to get whatever kind of cardboard I wanted.

I haven't had time for a lot of cardboard projects while we've been in Michigan this summer. One thing I have been doing is scouting all kinds of exotic grades of cardboard.

There are some great materials out there... but before I tell you how you can get your hands on this stuff, let me first brief you on a few reasons why it's not as easy to get free cardboard as it used to be...

Exhibit A: Cheung Yan, (the woman on the left) CEO and power house of Nine Dragons Paper Industries. She just happens to be one of the richest self-made female billionaires in the world.

She is also partly responsible for the growing trade of U.S. waste paper and cardboard that is shipped to China to be made into cardboard boxes for export.  Yan's story is quite remarkable, and she's a big reason why even your local grocery store is baling their cardboard and selling it for a profit.

Exhibit B: Cardboard Compactor / Baler and Cardboard Bales. When I talked to the Produce Manager at my local mid-sized grocery store, he told me that cardboard bales sell for $75 a piece, and that their store produces about 2 bales on an average day. During peak holiday seasons they produce as many as 4 or 5 cardboard bales each day. That's over $300 dollars worth. Wow!

With that in mind, here are my top 3 sources for cardboard BEFORE it gets to the baler:

1. Befriend a manager or two in the produce department of your favorite grocery store.  They all use some kind of cardboard that they will probably be willing to set aside for you if you speak with them directly and explain what you're doing with the cardboard. This is my favorite place to score banana boxes, kiwi boxes, and the über fabulous watermelon boxes (I'll be posting about those next week.)

2. Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, or your local "everything" store. Call ahead or stop at Customer Service first to find out when and how they break their cardboard down. The more specific you are about what kind of cardboard you're looking for the better. (Banana boxes, large boxes without holes, etc.)

I learned that Wal-Mart stocks at night and does all their re-shelving and cardboard processing then, so it's best to ask or call after 10pm at night and have them hold boxes for you until the next morning. They kindly held a shopping cart full of boxes for me in the area near their bathrooms at the back.

Target told me that the only time they had boxes available was Thursday mornings at 8am. Apparently this is when they restock and break all of their boxes down, and the only time to get any cardboard from their store.

If you get the cold shoulder, try talking to someone who stocks on the floor, they might be more willing to help you, particularly if you are looking for a small quantity of boxes. Persistence is key.

3. Any Local business that is small enough to pay for a cardboard recycling service is more likely to hand over their cardboard to you. It also helps if you are a regular patron of their business.

Deliveries are usually made according to a weekly schedule and cardboard has to be broken down right after delivery because of space issues. Call ahead to find out when is the best time to pick up the cardboard and if it works with your schedule.

ALWAYS Be ready explain what you are doing with the cardboard, how much you need and what size box you are looking for.

More Ideas:

* FYI Cardboard dumpster diving is illegal, mostly because waste management companies do not want to be held liable for any injuries that could take place during the "diving" part. Your best bet is to intercept the cardboard before (it's also cleaner that way) it gets to the dumpster, by talking to a business manager at the storefront responsible for the cardboard-only dumpster.

* Freecycle and Craigslist are other great options. Sign up and post a request for free cardboard. You can also peruse the "free" section or do a search looking for people giving away free cardboard boxes.

So that's my advice for cardboard collecting. I hope you get out there and start putting all this bounty to good use.

But first I need your help!

What's your secret for scoring recycled cardboard?

What kind of cardboard is available where you live?

I'm hoping to turn this post into a static resource page along with information on tools and materials, so I'd really love to hear from you in the comment section!

Update: March 2013

Some time tested ideas from Readers:

• Costco
• Sam's Club
• Independent Bicycle Retail Shops
• Independent Car Auto Body Shops

Stackable Cardboard Puzzle Trays

Getting our toys organized to the point that they can easily be used and put away has been a huge focus in our home this past month.

Electra is a complete puzzle nut, so I thought getting our puzzles straightened up would be a good place to start.

These are just kiwi boxes, super sturdy ones, that I rescued from the grocery store. I cut out the front portion of the box with a utility knife.

The boxes have notches at the top that interlock with the box above. This feature makes the boxes great for stacking since they always stay in place.

In the first version I tried, I removed the entire front of the box, which I wouldn't advise. It's important to leave at least an inch or so on all three sides to maintain the rigidity of the cardboard.

We thought about decorating the boxes in some way, but I in the end I fell in love with the punchy red and yellow (and the little diagonal break.)  Bold, graphic colors are such a great contrast to all of the neutral shades we have in our apartment.

I'm a big proponent of Montessori philosophy. "Help me do it by myself," is a central Montessori theme, and this project is an example of one way that we integrate Montessori  philosophy into our day-to-day activities.

Electra always works on a mat to define the space, and chooses one puzzle at a time. When she's done she has to put one puzzle away before she gets  another one out.

Sometimes I pull all of the trays out for her to choose from and sometimes just a few, it kind of depends on the mood of the day and what she's currently interested in.

I have to say, with this system, she really does clean up after herself. There's something about that whole order begets order thing.

Now if I can just get it to spread to the rest of my house a little faster.

More on Montessori:

Basics of Montessori Philosophy

Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius, by Angelina S. Lillard, PhD (If you don't have time to read this excellent book, listen to the NPR podcast while you're folding laundry!)

Giant Cardboard Cubes and the Adjacent Possible

In the spirit of modeling creativity and inspiring play, I wanted to share with you a little bit about some of the "play" that I engage in here in my cardboard lab/home.

I made these giant cardboard cubes after spending an hour or so playing with a stack of cardboard banana boxes that I had collected.

Each cube is made from the tops and bottoms of two banana boxes and two cam straps.

Remember this stage in your kids? Everything down the rabbit hole...

We discovered that the cube has these pockets that are the perfect place for Isis to keep her favorite board books. (We have to keep our other books out of reach for now, otherwise we would spend all of our days re-shelving books instead of reading them.)

Last year I read the book, "Where Good Ideas Come From", by Steven Johnson and started thinking about how I could become more innovative in my day-to-day life.

In Where Good Ideas Come From, Johnson talks about an idea called "the adjacent possible." The concept goes something like this:  We seldom have fully formed ideas or creative solutions that come to us in a moment of brilliance. These ideas build up as slow hunches that we compile over time.

So in effect, it's all the little experiences that lead us to those  genius ideas.

I imagine these adjacent experiences as stepping-stones. You can't get to that big idea, without first leaping from little idea to little idea.

I'm trying to spend more time stepping away from the computer and actually playing and experimenting with cardboard as my way of building a path towards new ideas and designs in cardboard.

Future Parkour enthusiast?

I have to say, it's a lot of fun.

I get so much joy out of just playing with cardboard, with no obvious intent, just for the joy of it. Sometimes it comes of nothing, and sometimes you get giant cardboard cubes; a happy accident.

As Steven Johnson says, "Chance favors the connected mind."......

So now I invite you to comment!

What materials do you like to play and experiment with as an adult? Fabric, wood, flour, clay, fiber, dye, paper?

What machines do you work on and repair? bikes, sewing machine, cars, cameras, computers? (This year I replaced the hard drive on this very iMac that I write the blog on. Talk about empowering! You have to check out iFixit.com.)

Do you let yourself drift off into that elementary school aged daze, where nothing mattered beyond the sandbox or your paper and paste pot?

Cardboard Box with Wheels goes to the Airport!

Yes, it's true. We ditched our stroller for a cardboard box with castor wheels, and it was awesome!

Where to start?

A few weeks before our flight, I was puzzling through the logistics of moving a toddler and a three-year old through the airport with all of our accompanying accoutrements. Both at Tokyo Narita and Detroit Metro, I knew we had some distances to cover between gates, check-in, immigration and the rest. I hate strollers and started thinking of ways I could avoid taking ours through the airport.

That's when I started playing the what if game with myself.

What if we pulled the girls through the airport in the box with castor wheels? Or they pulled each other? Wait, I think our carry-ons would both fit in the box if we wanted to carry the girls or let them walk instead... yes, they do....Oh and wait a minute.. the box fits the dimensions for a carry on.. perfectly.... And hey, I think this could be genius!

I tucked a shear-ling sheepskin into the box for the girls to sit on in the airplane. It made a very soft and comfortable lining for them when they were sitting in the box at the airport.

Taking the Box with Wheels through the airport was even better than I imagined. When we initially walked into the airport towing the box with the girls behind it everyone around us actually just stopped and stared.

They had huge smiles on their faces and there was a lot of pointing and giggling (in a good way). A few people came up and asked us if they could take pictures, and we laughed and willfully obliged.

It felt a lot like we were pulling our own mini Fourth of July parade float through the terminal.

Still going strong even with all the bags AND kids in tow.

Surprised to find out they're trying to curb hamster trafficking at Tokyo Narita Airport?

Isis befriended EVERYONE at the airport. No luck getting a business class upgrade though.

Where should we take our box next?

Cardboard Travel Swing (A Father's Day Tribute)

Made from about five layers of glued corrugated cardboard and 4 cam straps, we created a  swing, with well, more swing. This is a great kid's swing to keep in your car or bike bag, particularly if you find that sweet spot near a body of warm water this summer.

If you use cardboard that comes from a box that has a waxy finish, your swing would be water-resistant, and should hold up in the event of an occasional splash.

The design of this swing is a common one, but the inspiration runs deeper.

The whole idea of bringing a swing to the people is one that stems from my father; rope swing builder extraordinaire.

My father actually made a practice of seeking out "rope swing type" people, and convincing them to let him build a rope swing (or zip line) for them in their back yard. He was a kind of "missionary of extreme backyard play" seeking the easy converts of the neighborhood.

I remember my father, one evening, relishing in the fact that he had scored a large pile of tow rope from a local ski hill that had recently gone out of business. He thought it would be enough to make a swing for every family in the neighborhood.

He had extension ladders, tree climbing harnesses, and I seem to remember a pair of spiky shoes for scaling tree trunks.

He was always planning ahead by stockpiling materials. Once he and my mom even moved a massive old hospital fire-escape into our backyard which he reconfigured into an incredible twisting tube slide that launched from our back deck.

I cannot remember a time in my life when we didn't have some kind of risky swing to swing on or I couldn't hear my father's occasional Wheeee! punctuate the silence of a beautiful summer day as he pushed one of us on a swing.

I know it would put a warm feeling in my Dad's heart to know that we are sharing his enthusiasm for big swings with a few kids in Tokyo.

Thanks for all the fun Dad.

Happy Father's Day.

Flower Pounding on Paper Egg Cartons

We've done another project for TinkerLab's Flower Challenge this week. You have to try flower pounding! It's really simple and we got great results! Electra also loved getting the chance to use a REAL hammer.

A few of the different projects that I read about on the web used watercolor paper (check out this one at Sweet Leaf Notebook). We used Egg carton lids that we had on hand. The cartons worked really well, I think because they are so thick and the texture helps absorb some of the moisture in the flower.

The biggest tip I have for you is that it's important to spread the flower's petals out, and use flowers with simple shapes and bold colors. Yellow Nasturtiums worked the best for us, but this works great with leaves too.

Newspaper and Washi Tape Softballs

A quick post - a non cardboard one even. These newspaper and washi tape balls are great; A Nerf ball stand in for toddlers. They take minutes to put together, recyclable, your child's first soft ball.... Hmm, paired with a cardboard tube bat? ...and an indoor batting cage?

Daruma-san

Daruma dolls are a tradition in Japan having to do with casting a wish, setting a goal, or pursuing a dream. It's been about 6 months since I started The Cardboard Collective and it's taken me that long to straighten out a few ideas in my head about where I want to go with my cardboard passions. With that in mind, I purchased a Daruma doll at Jindiaji's festival this year, filled in the pupil of his right eye, inscribed my goal on the bottom of the doll, and put him on the bookshelf in our living room (as did Electra). (When I hopefully achieve my goal, it is tradition to return the Daruma to the temple where it was purchased for ceremonial burning.)

After spending a few days sitting around the living room I realized that having a  Daruma doll in your house is a bit like planting your Kabuki-makeup-wearing kick-boxing coach in the corner with an eternal (one-eyed) look that says "Get out there Tiger." You can almost hear the throaty Clint Eastwood like growl seeping out. "Wow," is all I can say. It's really kept me on top of my game!

One last note about Darumas; (you can learn more about their history and how they are made here) guess what they're made out of? ... Recycled Cardboard.

Cardboard Hat and Mitten Organizer

Surprise! We're in Michigan; visiting grandma and grandpa, sledding down a custom built toddler ice luge, snowshoeing for pinecones, and building mustached snowMEN. A quick post for you about a hat and mitten organizer that I put up in the basement so that Electra could easily find and put on her own duds even while she was on vacation. I took two mugshots with the digital camera and then used photo editing software to convert them to black and white pictures. I printed the photos onto regular white paper, cut them out and glued them to the cardboard backing. I also traced Electra's hands onto the cardboard. The last step was cutting the cardboard to accommodate the hats and mittens. This project was really quick and fun. You could use tape or tacks to affix the organizer to a closet door or wall. Enjoy!

Hello world!

We're shouting out to you from the suburbs of Tokyo! An amazing city that we are learning a little bit more about every day. I live here with my husband, and two daughters, in what I call a tiny Tokyo apartment. Actually by Japanese standards it wouldn't be considered tiny, but compared to living spaces back home in Michigan, it's small. The inspiration for this blog is a book I read one day at one of the wonderful city sponsored play houses for children aged 0-3. I don't yet know exactly how to translate the name of the book because I am still a "young Jedi" of the Japanese language, but, in short it's a book all about making cardboard furniture for children. To be sure I have always been obsessed with cardboard and already had many many pages in my scrapping journal devoted to this humble, yet noble material, but this book was a real springboard for me.

After figuring out how to order this book on Amazon Japan in Japanese with the help of a few friends, my husband and I set out to make our first set of table and chairs. To our surprise they were perfectly sized, light enough for a 1 year old to move around, recycled and recyclable, adorable and amazingly sturdy. Is there anything more divine? And the best part was that I felt an incredible sense of joy and (still do) every time I look at those table and chairs. Mostly because my husband and I lovingly made them, but also because we built something really durable and fun without having a garage, a basement, a workshop, or even a car.

I hope that this blog will inspire you to make something out of cardboard for yourself or your child, that reduces your impact on the earth, and brings you an incredible amount of joy.

I now have my cardboard goggles on. Prepare for brilliance.