Wow, has this been a busy summer for me! I am fresh back from my trip to LA where I had an opportunity to be immersed in the business of TV and now I'm right back into making useful and helpful sustainable living media.
We had another huge party here at the garden; this one was a baby shower for my friend, neighbor and cooking mentor Chef Nadine. I can't tell you how much people enjoy being in a garden, it is the perfect setting for a relaxing time with friends. Yet another reason to start planning and developing your own sustainable garden today.
In this issue check out my article on my new giant (not really giant) alternative energy system I am designing and setting up in the garden. I also have a nifty, but clearly scary, article on Hubbert's Peak Oil theory. Check it out and start your peak oil prep work now!
Check out Froggi VanRipper's chicken tractor and chicks, and my new contest, featuring an opportunity to win one of my hot of the presses new T-Shirts made of bamboo, hemp, and organic cotton. They are shockingly soft.
Thank you again for your efforts last month, we now have a substantial lead on P.Allen Smith's YouTube page.
Ever since I first started my website I have wanted to learn and experiment with
alternative energy
and set up wind turbines and solar panels. Like anything I have done successfully,
I'm starting small and then slowly expanding. But fear not, I will show you that
if I (with a little help from Corey my intern) can do it, then you can too.
I am about halfway complete with installing a dual Solar Array (60w Photovoltaic Panels) connected to a 400w wind turbine. This project has been a challenge but my hope is that my video will take all the 'guess work' out for you.
My system is designed to power an automated system that will irrigate my gardens. I'll keep updating you on my progress.
Use discount code GGTV for 10% off of your 1st on-line purchase. Check out the website at: gardengirlskincare.com
Please continue to share my videos and website with everyone. Thank you all again, from the sustainable home front. And don't forget it all started in a garden...
Besos(kisses),
Patti Moreno, the Garden Girl
Gas Saving Tips
One of the best ways to save gas is to simply reduce your speed. As speed increases, fuel economy decreases exponentially. If you one of the "ten-over on the freeway" set, try driving the speed limit for a few days. You'll save a lot of fuel and your journey won't take much longer. (Just be sure you keep to the right, so you won't impede the less-enlightened.)
Hubbert's Peak Oil
Or Another Reason to Bring Back the Victory Garden
In the 1950's Geophysicist M. King Hubbert wrote a paper which he presented to the American Petroleum Institute where he laid out mathematical designs predicting a bell curve for any non renewable resource in terms of production and availability.
Hubbert was surprisingly accurate in his prediction for the peak of Domestic Oil production and if you compare the two graphs, the peak is clearly on its way. The American economy will head into a long and sustained depression somewhere on the ride to the top of the curve, my opinion is that five and six dollar a gallon gasoline will turn recession into a deep depression.
Food Prices and Oil prices are tied together completely and if oil prices continue to climb on the graph that they are on now, it is time to bring back the old victory garden program. We are in a war against Climate Change and Fossil Fuel Slavery. Think about it, I know I do. I will continue to write on this subject, but in the meantime check out M. King Hubbert's first
And check out www.peakoil.com for lots more info and click this link for awesome books on the topic.
August Contest
Garden Girl T-shirt
This month's contest is for the very first Garden Girl T-Shirt. The Shirt is made out of Bamboo, hemp and organic cotton and features an inspiring quote "Produce More Consume Less" to show the world how you really feel.
Don't worry, you can get it dirty. The fabric is made for people who want a t shirt to be tough and fun too. So please email this Ezine to at least five people, bcc me at info@gardengirltv.com to put your name in the contest. The more people you forward my Ezine to the better chance you'll have to win.
I also would like to open up the Ezine to folks and highlight their urban sustainable living efforts.
This month meet Froggi VanRipper for St. Louis! Check out her Chicken Tractor and her brand new baby birds. The grey one looks just like my feistiest bird Rocket when she was that age. Good Luck Froggi!
So if you have pics of your projects, email them too me for consideration into my next Ezine.
Well, back from the trip and to say that I learned a lot would actually be an understatement. I was truly honored to be among America's most exciting emerging TV producers, writers, and directors. The NATPE Diversity Fellowship programmers really kept us busy and gave me a new way of looking at the television broadcast and cable industry, and how hard it's going to be for a program like mine to find a home. I did however get to speak one on one with the President and CEO of Red One the makers of the camera I use to shoot my show and the CEO of WithoutaBox.com. Both are companies who have empowered filmmakers and moved the media industry into the 21st century. Thankfully, the fellowship has been extended for a whole year and all of the fellows have been invited to the NATPE conference in Vegas, Jan '09. What a blessing! Thanks to everyone who made the event special and a big thanks to my NATPE mentor Ray Solley.
Now, I knew that product placement was a big deal with the TV biz, but it was confirmed that sponsors truly define the programming. Big businesses like GE will just tell the network what they will fund and that is what is produced. It makes perfect sense if you watch cable networks like HGTV. They are clearly making shows that are designed by the executives at Home Depot and Lowes. Frankly I'm not discouraged, because this month I will be presenting Garden Girl TV to Independent Garden Center retailers and marketing an in-store television network. Click the link for a few LATV festival highlights.
I also got a chance to hang out with my favorite Band "Sorry Nelson". My personal highlight of the trip was getting to sit in on their rehearsal. I got my own personal concert. Lead singer and songwriter Marisilda is amazing. She's written a song for Garden Girl that will be unveiled this fall. I was so honored to when I heard it and I can't wait for all of you to hear it to. Listen to their music by clicking the link. Check them out in concert this month in LA if you live near by. I promise you won't be disappointed. Sorry Nelson
