Archive for the ‘Media’ Category
July 31, 2009 – Midwest Living Photo Shoot
Thursday and Friday a crew from Midwest Living magazine descended on the farm.
At a photo shoot like this, they leave very little to chance, including bringing their own potted sunflowers.
They also bring various hard good props (in case we don’t have enough junky old stuff lying around)!
On Friday, they started at sunrise. Martin was game. His only complaint was the rare near-record July 31 cold – he’s in a short sleeve shirt and others are wearing jackets
Martin was accompanied by a female model who also came in to participate in the shoot.
On the farm, you never know when you’ll be surprised by some animal, in this case, an early-rising hen to the delight of the kids.
The photographers checking out the shots in the living room later in the day.
Next it was Emma’s turn. Her job was to water the sunflowers!
The crew setting up for another shot. The people who came were extremely good to work with. They worked well with the children and took wandering dogs, chickens, and the like all in stride. Martin and Emma made money as models and high hopes did get a site fee as well. Kudos to the Midwest Living folks for making a good shoot. So look for us in an issue of Midwest Living next summer.
one year ago…”Thingamajig Thursday #126″
January 6, 2009 – Upcoming Practical Farmers of Iowa Conference
After many years in Des Moines, one of the largest gatherings of interesting farmers is coming to Marshalltown Jan 9th and 10th, in part due to Linda’s efforts in creating the agriculture program at MCC. Linda is part of the opening session where she’ll welcome people to the conference and introduce the keynote speaker. Mark will be part of a farm energy roundtable and talk about the farm’s wind turbine. I’ll try to post the presentation after the conference.
We greatly look forward to meeting friends from across the state, meeting the King Corn filmmakers, and playing host to hundreds of progressive farmers. More details can be found at the Practical Farmers of Iowa web site. Stop on by if you can make it!
one year ago…”Leaving for Home”
August 29, 2008 – “Living the Country Life” Film Crew
Today a film crew from the cable TV show, “Living the Country Life” descended upon high hopes gardens. Being one of the few households in America without cable or satellite TV, I’ve never seen the show on the RFD channel. They were working on an episode featuring things acreage owners could do to be more environmentally friendly.
We’re like poster children in that regard! They didn’t want us, just our farm as a backdrop for a few segments. Although it might seem that we have been out pounding the bushes for media attention – each one we have been asked to do out of the blue.
The Screenscape Studios trucks roll into the farm.
The first stop was the chicken/turkey waterer that is filled from a gutter on the roof. Shh, don’t let anybody know that the day before the crew arrived, the now old stand that holds the 55 gallon barrel up collapsed after our first substantial rain in many weeks. I was able to cobble it together in time for the filming, but it needs a rebuild after this season.
The second stop was a 1100 gallon tank that we use to collect water for the gardens/berries/trees in dry times. It was empty two days ago, but the .60 inches of rain filled it up.
The third stop was at the compost bin.
Showing the compost raw ingredients off.
The last stop was at the wind turbine where I didn’t get a photo. The crew was here from about 9:00-3:30 without much of a lunch break for three one and a half minute segments. Other segments on the show filmed elsewhere include drip irrigation, organic lawn care, rotational grazing, solar energy, and a few others I don’t remember.
So all you faithful blog readers take comfort in the fact that you had the inside scoop on all these things long, long, before the TV viewers. I’ll let you know when the show will air, probably late in the fall.
August 26, 2008 – Linda on Grinnell College Home Page
Linda can’t stay off the web, we found out that she graced the home page of Grinnell College on the first day of school.
xxx.
one year ago…”One BIG Local Meal Arrives”
August 24, 2008 – Front-Page News – Linda
Someone alerted us that the article about Linda in the Marshalltown paper was not only on the front page, but above the fold. Linda claims it was a slow news day!
So, it was a nice break from having Barack or John on the front page!
June 23, 2008 – “EcoHeartland” Film Crew
Today we had a visit from a couple of documentary film makers, Nick and Max Cain.
They are putting together a documentary entitled “EcoHeartland” described as “Two brothers, one a filmmaker and the other an environmentalist, take a road trip across the nation to spotlight innovative environmental projects coming from the American Heartland.” We had a nice visit and interview with them and look forward to seeing what they find on their tour of “flyover land.”
October 30, 2007 – Catching Up on Old News
A while back I promised a link to a magazine article about the girls of high hopes gardens. Here it is. To see the whole article (3 pages), click next when you arrive at the site.
September 14, 2005 – School Tour and Film Crew at High Hopes
This morning we hosted four groups of West Marshall 6th graders for a farm tour on Ag Day.
The kids pile off the bus, ready for a farm tour.
I’m not sure what has so captivated everyone’s attention (except Martin’s), but it sure looks interesting!
We set up a hay wagon with all the things we sell at the Farmer’s Market and/or have made for ourselves – dried flowers, bouquets, vegetables, sheepskins, honey and candles, etc.
Linda was miked the whole time and film rolled the entire time the tour was on. The film crew was from Iowa Public Television – we’ll keep you posted when and if we make a program.
We feel good about sharing our farm with the kids – they get to sample real apples and raspberries, see where eggs come from, learn about local food systems and how people on diversified farms plan and manage the interrelationships between crops and animals.
