Going green with the Hippo

What to do about all those bag?

So again, we are talking about helping the farmers markets go Green by using biodegradable and /or compostable materials for their trash bags, shopping bags, plates, bowls, etc. We need some feedback on this and may have to act quickly. Please send this to your friends who may need some of the products next year. Thank you! VH

Going Green

So, I just met with a gentleman about "100% biodegradable and/or compostable consumable plastics" and possibly using them at farmers markets. In the past I have had market owners ask if we could provide them with a "green" solution to the plastic bags currently being used at the markets.

One solution is of course to provide them with canvas bags or something like that. One issue with that is the cost - the material bags are expensive and most markets expect to be reimbursed for thier cost by selling them to the customers that visit their markets. Unfortunately, that has not caught on and any large scale as of yet. People are going to use plastic bags; the vendors, the customers, etc. because they are still cheap and easy.

Perhaps useing the biodegradable and/or compostable materials are an alternative. A market could still go green by using these items. They would pay more than using regular plastic but considerably less than using canvas or other materials.

I will talk to some of the market owners and get a feel for what they want and see if they believe it would be worth there time and money. But folks, we have to face the facts, we can't afford to keep using the products we have grown accustomed to. We are going to have to change and stop ignoring the problems.

VH

Henderson Community Garden

Video shot at the corner of 104th Ave and Belle Creek Blvd in Henderson, CO.



If the community board decides they want to use this vacant lot as a community garden we need to start prepping the ground quickly before it freezes. Hopefully we could get to work before the end of November. We do need help and support however; everything from people willing to volunteer next year as far as local gardening experts, landscapers, and those who will be willing to use a shovel or a rake.

Click here to send an email to the Belle Creek Community Center. Drop them a line just to let them know you are interested in the project and would like to see it move forward.

Stay tuned to the Hippo for further developments.

Videos

A wise person once told me that to achieve your goals you must first look at what tools are available to you and then figure out how to reach your goal with those tools. In other words, you can't sit around and wait until you have exactly what you need or wait till the time is just right. Just do it!

So, I have been wanting to incorporate videos into the Hippo website. Using videos on the various pages to explain the business programs and services will help me connect better with our audience and also add a sense of interaction. The first one is at the top of the blog page for example.

Now my issue is that I am limited to a very old camcorder and a slightly outdated computer system which does not allow me to create high quality videos - at least not nearly what I had hoped for. But, as I said above, sometimes you just have to make do with what you have and stop waiting for the stars to align.

I will be creating videos for the different areas of the site as well as doing a video blog. Yes, the quality will be rather poor but perhaps in the future we can afford to buy some new stuff. I hope you enjoy them and please, if you have any suggestions or comments on them let me know.

Dan

Garden for 2009 going forward

We are moving forward with plans to start the community garden this week. It appears that if we are to be serious about this we must get started this year yet. According to some of the experts we are talking to we will have to break some ground no later than the end of November before the ground freezes.

It appears that our challenge right now is acquiring a water source. I will have to do some research but if anyone out there knows about this please let me know.

Gardening bloggers wanted

A great addition to the Hippo blog room would be a blog or 2 about community gardens; how to create them, how to use them, their benefits, costs, etc. If anyone out there is interested or knows of a good blog on the subject please let us know!

Hopefully, by the end of this week I will have met with the local community about the garden they want to start next year. I have already spoken to a couple of local experts and everyone seems very excited about the idea and ready to participate.

Community Garden Opportunity

We are very excited about something! I got a call yesterday from a local neighborhood interested in building a community garden next spring and they are perhaps looking for someone to take the lead. Vendor Hippo just happens to have a number of connections in this area. Our thinking is to perhaps include some local farmers as well as college students in the development of such a project. I can't wait to tell you more about it.

25 blog question

I mentioned in the last blog that we want to have 25 blogs on the Zone. What we want are folks who are interested in local food, farmers markets, etc. to post their blogs on our site. One of the reasons the Hippo was created in the first place was to provide a forum for market owners and vendors in our community to communicate freely. There are lots of issues that are discussed at the markets between individual vendors but those topics never seem to reach any sort of arena where they can be openly discussed...that is where the Hippo Zone comes in. We simply want an area on the site where people can open up and discuss matter that concern them.

The Zone!

So this week I started working on the Hippo blog area called the Zone. This is really my first introduction to creating blogs and even using them at all for that matter. I can see how people can get sucked into them. I have already met some great people online and made some business connections. One more of those things I suppose that once you use it you wonder how you could ever live without it.

While the Zone still needs more work I do have to move onto some of the other areas on the Hippo site. "Have to stick to the Plan!" So now that I have the Zone up and going at least I will keep up on it and continue to work toward having 25 individuals blogs up by the end of the year. I am still working on getting some of the little things working like the AdSense and such but hopefully people will start to recognize the usefulness of the Zone.

I am moving onto another chapter in the Go Google book and looking into Google Base. I have someone interested in placing up some unpublished material regarding business marketing and such.

Boulder Ignite

Some friends and I went to the Boulder Ignite meeting last night at CU. I had no idea what to expect - I half way expected a room full of stuffy business people talking about financial stuff. Boy was I in for a surprise! This group, probably 100 or so people, were young and funny as all get out. Granted, most of what they talked about went right over my head. I don't know how many times the entire group busted out laughing, including my friend Craig sitting next to me, and I would just sit there and have no idea what just happened.

One thing I can say is that this group was able to take a subject that for the most part makes my eyes fog over and make it fun and entertaining. I am very new to the language and everything surrounding the Internet but am learning. Perhaps next time I visit this group not so much of the humor will fly over my head.

Ignite Boulder Event

Vendor Hippo will be attending this event. For more info check out the site at http://igniteboulder-invitefriends.eventbrite.com/.

See you there!

No markets today

Well, I woke up today to a beautiful Colorado morning. Today the sun is shining, its warm, and I thought "hey, it would be a great day to go to a farmers market" but then discovered that most, if not all the markets in my area stopped at the end of September. Bummer! That's too bad not only for me, the consumer, but also for the vendors who could be out there pushing holiday stuff. Now, besides the weather which I agree can be questionable this time of year, why on earth wouldn't you keep your market open till at least the end of October? Hmmmm?

Google good or bad?

Well, the good news is that after installing some of the new Google components onto my computer I just gleemed with pride and finally had the feeling I was getting in touch with my 'inner geek' as my friend Craig calls me. The bad news is that now my computer is struggling just to keep up with what is running my desktop applications! It seems all the Google stuff takes up a LOT of RAM!

In fact, it takes up so much memory on my little PC that I may have to remove the new Google stuff. It makes me sad to think that I once again will have to let my 'inner geek' go but until I can upgrade to a new computer I guess I will.

On a side note: a new friend suggested I take a look at Google Reader for some of the work I have been doing. It looks great and I am excited to get more into it. Thanks Ryan!

Google

So, today I am uploading igoogle and google desktop on my computer. Its pretty cool stuff. My intension is that it will aid the Hippo in keeping contact with the numerous blogs we maintain across the country. Our goal is to maintain around 25 blogs from CA to NY. If anyone knows of any particular blogs that are supportive of farmers markets please let us know. We will gladly share our information with you also.

The Reluctant Eater - dispelling the myth

Ryan Wanger, Boulder's own Reluctant Eater, on his blog has done one of my favorite things - busted a common myth! It turns out, that despite what some commercials on television suggest, research is showing links between diabetes and obesity with the intake of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) especially among children. To read more check out Ryan's blog at thereluctanteater.com.

On a side note: Ryan points out another very interesting fact - that Google and its search engine stats are an accurate indicator of public interest in a given subject in the media. Ryan says "when people are interested in something, they google it."

So I guess it is once again proven that just because the Boob Tube speaks it, it doesn't make it true. Thanks Ryan!