ABOUT US: THE GARDENER

I once watched watched, agog, as my mother tossed a pricy beaded cocktail dress into our washer and dryer. "Can you DO that?," I gasped. "Hmmmpf," was her arch and only reply.

Some mothers pass along their freckles, widow's peak or neuroses. Mine was a style-maven who passed along an almost-pathological disdain for any item of clothing--including the now-legendary, beaded cocktail dress---which could not emerge triumphantly from the washing machine and dryer.

NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF US ALL. The Happy Tomato was created by a stay-at-home mom and former Kindergarten teacher with a healthy respect for the dichotomies of mess & style, art & practicality, who wanted to put her kids in something a skoche different than all the other Tom, Dick and Hannas. This is functional, durable art which refuses to sacrifice comfort, easy care, or the nest egg.

The Happy Tomato looks for ordinary ways to model positivity and social consciousness for kids, by involving them in the process (not just the product), and by designing for various causes, like Susan G. Komen for The Cure and saving the Chesapeake Bay--go Blue Crab!

There are lots of talented, tireless people behind The Happy Tomato. LOTS. Everyone who shares, barters and teaches us: Thank you.