[jchrstn]

Patti
Not sure if you have your lister up and running yet but here are some sites that have a lot of info.
http://www.utterpower.com/ and http://listerengine.com/smf/index.php.
One idea for me is to balance BTU needs with KW needs and fuel use by having a battery bank and an inverter makes it a building block to add wind and solar later. Hope you have a good crew to make all your ideas happen, We will be pulling for you up north here.
Jeff

[LunaFarm]

i just found this on someone's blog today and i loved it! i was saddened to learn there is nothing else to see at this time and i hope you are able to get this project going.

i think you have a great thing going. i just spent too much time reading through all these comments and i am amazed at what you are doing.

fwiw, being a woman, i am not at all turned off by your appearance. it appeals to me more with you being a woman, being beautiful and being able to handle power tools and willing to get a bit of dirt under your nails. kudos to you!

i am rooting for you as much as i can from my small corner of the world. having too many blogs, i have plugged you on all of them:


Musings on the Farm

Stellas Terra (my private site)

Live Journal

the last two are by subscription only but i have a lot of readers on them, most of them being very into this sort of stuff.

and i will be adding a link to my business site as well tonight or tomorrow:

Luna Herb Co.

The only thing that stuck out for me in the video was the use of 'so' a lot but it could have just been the way everything was pieced together. Good luck in your journey!

Kristine

[rdsaltpower]

Garden Girl, great job on the video. Keep up the good work and I linked your site to the Lister engine board . I am sure they can help spread the word.

[jchrstn]

Sorry just realized that I gave a bad link above. It should be
http://listerengine.com/
Jeff

[FilmShack]

Just a quick update, I had my meeting today. It went well. They gave me no promises, but they thought that I was too green. Gimme a break. I'll post more details tommorow.

There will be some new video on google tommorow! Something from the "Lost Tapes".

More Tommorow,

Patti

[jchrstn]

Too green? I figure they just won't be able to sell corporate sponsorship (advertising) with your show and message. I think doing your show through the internet or DVD and a web site as some have suggested would parallel your message and grow a strong base of people and give you full control. MSM and corporate America are in a fight to keep the spin of business as usual going even in the face of the mounting debt starting to crush those on the margin. Add a slowing economy and an energy cost crunch i feel that will make it self evident in the near future along with GMO foods and clone meats in the market................well I sense a ground swell of people asking what is going on and there has to be a better way. If you had a show that would appeal to the entry level type that watch HGTV, then when I talked to someone I could easily point to your show/site before I overwhelm them with what I think.
I figure that you all ready know this. Just adding my support to your cause! Keep up the great work. Jeff

[FilmShack]

Well, the meeting went will. The producers were definately more interested in me as a host type than my show. I think if they are serious it is still a good opportunity in that I can increase my shameless self promotion. It does mean to me it is important that I get into WGBH, but the woman there hasn't returned my phone call or email. If This Old House paid me as a host for their thing, I could take that money and invest it in Garden Girl.

I did have a good vibe from the head of this Old House's underwriter. He was suggesting Toyoto Prius as my first sponser, and he seemed interested in working with me on the project. Either way I still need WGBH, for now. The problem with doing the project myself for the home video/web market, is the usual, money. I'm considering taking out a loan for it though, but it will be a lot of money, which I find scary.

I threw some of what I call the "Lost Tapes" up on google yesterday. It's mostly out takes from the Promo vid, but it's kind of cool. In one clip it is me in the pond, trying to fix it, and the other is me and my daughter playing with the livestock. They're both pretty relaxed behind the scenes type footage, but you get a better idea of my house and farmette.

I'll get back to specific responses this weekend. Thank you all!

Patti

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 4236943883

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 5040135390

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 1106557170

[FilmShack]

Here are the thoughts of an Advertising guy:

The show defenetly has potential although the demo seems a bit to crunchy granola/tree hugh / utne reader [lol] I mean not Martha Stweart enough (may be that'sthe intention) What I am trying to say is that it does not seem mainstream more like
a cable or video pod cast type.

Also for some one like me who grow up in the city and appreciates a bit of what the show offers... it still feels "to easy' it shows a great idillic world to easy to achieve. It seems to me that you need a lot of tools (lots of it) a lot of knowledge on many areas, carpentry, landscape, animal care, etc... And then the
rality of neighbors How many neighbors are going to tolerate all that mess? in such narrow spaces. That said it might be ideal for an audience of people with a bit more money who are escaping the city but may not ready for the suburbs, but they do
have a bit of land and they want to play "Green Acres". Also may be it could work as a community work a community where the chores are divided...

Technically the only thing I did not dig was the music it felt to Jazzy, to up front, knowing the TV exces out there they might want something more commercial, soft/neutral, flofier (sp).

My other recomendation for your show is to try to recruit a known star to be hostess of the show (you know a known face helps) Have you thought of any one?

Look forward to your thoughts on this one.....


Thanks Patti

[LeadEagle]

Yup,,,, Dont like any of the suggestions.
Being different is one of the best ways to get noticed.

Tried contacting Prius people directly? (Easier to pitch if you already have backing,,, even if it is tentative)

Cheers

[LeadEagle]

Any suggestions for a weekend/ish not so cold here in Maryland project? ( Now a good time to start a raised onion or garlic bed?. I can do my own research, but any ideas?


And if the idea was simple,, a bunch of people doing it would certainly raise awareness with their friends, family and neighbors!

As well as allow the opportunity for people to provide “buzz creating feedback”

Cheers

[skyemoor]

Again, determining your target audience will help you define and promote the show. The "advertising guy" seems to have a heavy mainstream bias, though probably that's because he's worked for mainstream clients who wanted the greatest possible market share. There's nothing wrong with getting many informed opinions, simply take them in context.

If you take too much of the green talk out, the show will be watered down and would just be another gardening show (albeit with animals). OTOH, too much green talk narrows your prospective audience (though even Bush has said "America is addicted to oil"). A fair balance can be acheived, depending on who your target audience is.

Your detailed segments will get into the details of what each garden feature takes to build/maintain, so I'm not too worried about the 'easy' aspect of the promo.

The gardening aspects shouldn't be an issue with any neighbors, unless one lives next to a landscape extremist who thinks yards can only be works of Versailles art, not sources of food as well. The only issues with animals in tight urban spaces might be noise (chickens) or smell, if cages aren't kept clean. On your 'lost tapes', the number of rabbit hutches might take some curious fence-sitters aback, so a gentle and slow introduction of small numbers of pens might help maintain interest and momentum.

I stand by my earlier suggestion about including urban, suburban, and exurban; often the difference will be scale, aside from livestock variety.

I think you would make a superb show host; how does he think those other people become famous anyway?

And hosting for "This Old House" would give you the inside networking and name recognition from which to more easily launch your show. Such a stepping stone may delay your show's debut, but in the end, could make it ultimately more likely to happen.

[topcat]

Great rabbits! What are they?

As for sponsors and the like, here are some ramblings, meaning they are off-the-top-of-my-head sooooo:

- Team up with Mother Earth News (you both are quite similiar IMO)

- Tool sponsors (Dewalt elect drill, Milwalkee sawzall, Senco nail gun, Craftsman shovels & rakes, Troybuilt tiller, John Deere anything, etc). I believe you had a Milwalkee drill in your video, only based on I remember seeing red. The manufacturers are clever in 'branding' a color. John Deere Green. Don't 'give' anyone a free plug. Make them pay, or actually allow them to provide you with some neat tools and money for the privilge of being seen in your series.

- Anyone else who will pay to have their name/product out there (Coke cans in the background, Nestle's green tea bottles, Perrier water bottles, Rebok sneaks, shameless promotional hats and T-shirts, drive to the hardware store in a Ford/GMC/Toyota truck, Rolex watch). Anything that has brand recognition from a distance.

- Feed companies and seed companies (Johnny's has a great tomato selection by the way and no I am not affiliated with them).

- More PR, get in the newspaper, have the local TV station do a piece on-site.

Enough rambling for now.

[topcat]

Just came back from walking around our farm to check on the trees and here are my latest thoughts:

1. Register the name "This Olde Farm"

2. Once you have the name registered/trademarked, let us here know and we will all write to PBS

3. Do one of your first farm-makeovers at our place! (shameless)

Seriously, go for the gusto. As a farmer, I/we watch This Old House. If it was a choice between T. O. House v. T.O. Farm, I'd have the farm show on.

Talk to MA Farm Bureau's promotion and education department. Ohio FB sponsors a show here. Started about a year or so ago. They spend LOTS of money. So you would be stuck in the Saturday morning time slot for a bit, then move on and up. Ag is Ohio's largest industry.

Go for the major gusto, talk to American Farm Bureau Federation. I have been to their HQ in DC several times and there is the jackpot at the end of the rainbow.

[Pam]

I have made a TV show sample that I think could be important for the furture and our planet and help people wean their consumption of oil. I need feedback before I try and take it to networks.

Your show looks great. Hope you make it. ARe you wanting feedback on content or concept?

I am on the board of a local public access tv station. Sure wish we had a show like yours to run here! Course, we couldn't pay anything, alas.

Pam in Fort Collins, CO

[AnniCat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('LunaFarm', 'i') just found this on someone's blog today and i loved it! i was saddened to learn there is nothing else to see at this time and i hope you are able to get this project going.

Kristine

[LunaFarm]

music too jazzy? i thought the music was perfect. when i heard it i had wondered where you found it.

the loan situation would frighten me too. i hate the thought of debt. i refuse to do that for my own business even though i could acheive my dream much faster.

[FilmShack]

Hey folks, busy day. I have been having way too much fun. I posted the email because I personally found it funny. I had just got back from this Old house where they had told me I'm a great (Their words, not mine) "How To" host and personality, to this guy who says, maybe you should get someone else! What is the point of shameless self promotion then? I also thought it was interesting that his beliefs about what it is, were so simular to my Mothers.

My Mom, when I first talked about it my urban farmette, said the smell will be bad, the neighbors will complain yada yada yada. Frankly, having figured that out to eliminate smells and nusiances, thats what makes my system possibly unique. I posted something on this earlier, I just think it's funny how peoples beliefs are so strongly structured without really looking at what is going on. The only livestock I have raised that makes a smell were the Turkeys, and my neighbors had one of my birds for their holiday supper.

The video(The Lost Tapes) I through up on google, is slow stuff. I threw it up there, becuase I think it is important to show how slowing down can be fun for young and old. You can hear the city in the backgrounds while I play with the family. I believe in slow food, and thats what bring country back into the city is all about. I also show me jumping in the pond, I guess because it was a great moment we still laugh about today, and that's what I mean when I say all of these projects are actually fun. I'm going to put some photos of me shaving a rabbit up on the website soon (Yes Anni, you can see your hat as it comes off the bunny!), speaking of that who's next for a hat after Anni, Miranda and Michael? (Remember you have to post me like crazy, it takes me a while to make one of these one of a kind beauties.)

I'm still having problems trying to get into to WGBH. (This Old House is actually owned by Time/Warner, and they are independent of WGBH). Hopefully I will hear something on Monday. If they're not interested I will try NH public television next.

LunaFarm: The music is stock music that anyone can licence for their shows. I personally dug the Latin Jazz. Can't please everyone you know. Debt doesn't scare me so bad, it is a stressor, but I believe in myself and my message so why not? You only live once right?

Anni:Check out the website, I'm gonna try and get the phot of the bunny up with your hat comming off it's back. Super warm day yesterday so I spent it in the garden. Kids loved watching me shear her!

Pam: Thank you, it means alot. Feel free to download my show sample and air it on your channel. I'm not chargeing for my content, and it might help with my shameless self promotion(Just post my website address please). Your support means alot, email my link to all your cable people, inspire them to make content for your public access that helps their neighbors and builds community.

TopCat: Meow. I actually like your idea. I think I will email it to my contact at this Old house and see what they say. Remember, I'm crazy, I think if Rachael Ray can do four shows, why not me? I'll come to the farm. When I get my website together more I will show my stuff to the government farm people, (I'm just afraid they will want me to be a poster child for animal registration, which I wouldn't be able to do.)

The rabbits are German Giant Angora's, thanks for asking. They are very big for rabbits, kind of like mini sheep. Super cool beasts. Mother earth news hasn't been super responsive, I would love to write for them, but I haven't been able to get into the door. Hound'em for me. The tool idea is brilliant! If women bought or encouraged their men to buy them, it would be a boon for the right manufacturer. Question on the feed company, I'm near blueseal, but they are notoriously cheap and don't care about marketing.

Skyemoor: First of all you are dead on again. I'm not trying to make some prime time television show. It's weekend, day time or evening programing. I was glad he gave his opinion anyway, because it reminds me to keep my eyes on those who's beliefs cause them to diss without actually seeing or smelling for themselves.

In terms of the green, that is the whole point. Sell them green without them thinking they have to change who they are. Change scares the hell of out people. In the lost tapes, the area shown durring the bunny walk is the "Demonstration Farmette", it is in a area of 20x60 and it was packed with cages because it was durring the fall gleaning, when the bunnies and chicks go and clean out all the twigs and leaves left over after the harvest. I have different size demonstration areas through out my property and my livestock are usually spread out more throught the property, so when we shoot it for real, we will see less livestock cages.

I agree working for this Old House would just be another component to my shameless self promotion and good practice for me. And if they did give a me a gig, I could pay my loan payments with that money!

LeadEagle: Compost and Vermiculture. Why not build a couple of four by four beds and collect a bunch of composting materials and some red wiggler worms and start prepping for spring. If you place a chicken wire tube in a raised bed you can fill huge amounts of organic debri in there and have some decent stuff by june or july! I'm gonna do a show on this worm casting factory I'm describing. Go around the neighborhood and collect peoples leaves and stuff and pile it in. Work that compost! I would just work on making good rich soil, so the later spring harvest is more pleintiful.

I figure the best bet is to get a sponsering station signed up before I contact corporate sponsers, but maybe not.

Jeff: Thank you for the kind words. I first found out about the Lister engine from Utterpower. The thing most people forget(according to my research) is that the Diesel engine was build to work on Vegetable oil! Rudolph Diesel specifically made an engine that wouldn't require gasoline, the oil companies invented Diesel fuel to keep the market share! Almost a hundred years ago a combustion engine was built that doesn't need oil based products. I'm shopping for a car that I can convert for the show, I also live really close to a fried chicken joint, you can see where I'm going with this. Maybe I can get those guys to sponser a project with a Lister engine?

rdsaltpower: Thanks for the Lister support! Around here people thought I was crazy, so HAH!

Kristine: Check out the Lost Tapes on Google. And thank you for your support, keep posting and emailing for me.

Sorry for the super long post. I just had a lot to say. Gimme more thoughts on the lost tapes, should I put up my blooper reel? Or does that ruin the image of being (close to) perfect or make me human and more real?

Thanks,

Patti

[CityBoyGoneCountry]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FilmShack', 'I') had just got back from this Old house where they had told me I'm a great (Their words, not mine) "How To" host and personality, to this guy who says, maybe you should get someone else! What is the point of shameless self promotion then? I also thought it was interesting that his beliefs about what it is, were so simular to my Mothers.

My Mom, when I first talked about it my urban farmette, said the smell will be bad, the neighbors will complain yada yada yada. Frankly, having figured that out to eliminate smells and nusiances, thats what makes my system possibly unique. I posted something on this earlier, I just think it's funny how peoples beliefs are so strongly structured without really looking at what is going on. The only livestock I have raised that makes a smell were the Turkeys, and my neighbors had one of my birds for their holiday supper.

[FilmShack]

The Car Stereo
The Dog Crap
The abandoned barking dog
Cats in Heat
Garbage smell

Oh CityBoy, you're so right. Have you seen the site or the new video?

Yeah, I was thinking what if we got Jennifer Lopez? That would make a great show.

Patti

[CityBoyGoneCountry]

I saw the video of you being afraid to dunk your head under the pond. LOL!! You know, the faster you do it the easier it is. And I did see the pic with citygirlgonecountry. Hey, now that I think about it, maybe that could be a title for your show. LOL

The Mythbusters were not "known faces" when Discovery took a chance and gave them a TV show. Lord knows that Jamie doesn't even have a TV personality. He's too stiff. But they know their gadgets and gizmos, and that's why their show is a success.

I can't imagine J-Lo as a Mythbuster and I can't imagine J-Lo as The Garden Girl.