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| Photo by Lauren DeCicca |
I am SO EXCITED to announce that the magazine my husband and I worked
on all summer is out in the world. It's called Fresh Dirt Ithaca and
it's a profile-driven local green living magazine.
Here is my husband's editor's letter, (he is editor-in-chief and publisher) which explains the whole mission better than I can:
"The seeds for Fresh Dirt were planted soon after my wife and I bought our first car together, a Prius. It was 2003; we were living in Columbus, Ohio; gas was less than a dollar a gallon; and everyone thought we were nuts.
As with many people who start to pay attention to the environment, our conversion was jump-started by the prospect of having children. How would we keep them healthy? What kind of world were we bringing them into? What kind of a world did we want to be bringing them into?
Working for women's magazines, my wife Rebecca was up on the latest health fads--and fears. Beware of BPA! Steer clear of No. 7 plastics! Avoid pesticides! So we fed our kids organic food and used glass baby bottles. Again, people thought we were nuts.
We were reading--and Rebecca was writing for--Organic Style. After that folded, we found Plenty, whose tagline was, "It's easy being green." But actually it's not so easy being green. It takes work to cook fresh, real, food. It takes more time to hang clothes out on the line than to throw them in the dryer. And it can be pretty depressing to hear the endless litany of doomsday prophecies. It wasn't long before Plenty folded, too.
We knew we weren't the only ones who recognize how awesome it is to eat real food, how much better the laundry smells when it dries in the sun, and how troubling our addiction to fossil fuels has become. So how, my wife and I wondered, might we take a page from some of the thriving magazines we worked for--People, Seventeen, Real Simple--and find a way to celebrate sustainability?
We decided our magazine would showcase the amazing things people are already doing: farming without pesticides--or tractors (page 54); making great local food (pages 22, 50, 58, and 60), building innovative, ultra-energy-efficient homes (page 42), fighting fracking (page 27).
After we formed the idea, we took it to a classroom at Ithaca College. We sat down with 21 students and said, Let's make a magazine. Together we sharpened the mission. We developed the voice. We went out into the community with tape recorders and cameras and hope and excitement.
We came back inspired by this place and its people, feeling lucky to be able to celebrate it, grateful for how rich it makes our lives. What you see here is possibility. Enjoy!"
--Tommy Dunne
(For the record--we loved Plenty, which wasn't full of doomsday prophecies, and were REALLY sorry to see it go.) Anyway, after a lot of blood, sweat, and begging my family for just a little more childcare (thanks Mom, Dad and Maria and Dave) it's done and out on in the world.
In the premier issue:
"The seeds for Fresh Dirt were planted soon after my wife and I bought our first car together, a Prius. It was 2003; we were living in Columbus, Ohio; gas was less than a dollar a gallon; and everyone thought we were nuts.
As with many people who start to pay attention to the environment, our conversion was jump-started by the prospect of having children. How would we keep them healthy? What kind of world were we bringing them into? What kind of a world did we want to be bringing them into?
Working for women's magazines, my wife Rebecca was up on the latest health fads--and fears. Beware of BPA! Steer clear of No. 7 plastics! Avoid pesticides! So we fed our kids organic food and used glass baby bottles. Again, people thought we were nuts.
We were reading--and Rebecca was writing for--Organic Style. After that folded, we found Plenty, whose tagline was, "It's easy being green." But actually it's not so easy being green. It takes work to cook fresh, real, food. It takes more time to hang clothes out on the line than to throw them in the dryer. And it can be pretty depressing to hear the endless litany of doomsday prophecies. It wasn't long before Plenty folded, too.
We knew we weren't the only ones who recognize how awesome it is to eat real food, how much better the laundry smells when it dries in the sun, and how troubling our addiction to fossil fuels has become. So how, my wife and I wondered, might we take a page from some of the thriving magazines we worked for--People, Seventeen, Real Simple--and find a way to celebrate sustainability?
We decided our magazine would showcase the amazing things people are already doing: farming without pesticides--or tractors (page 54); making great local food (pages 22, 50, 58, and 60), building innovative, ultra-energy-efficient homes (page 42), fighting fracking (page 27).
After we formed the idea, we took it to a classroom at Ithaca College. We sat down with 21 students and said, Let's make a magazine. Together we sharpened the mission. We developed the voice. We went out into the community with tape recorders and cameras and hope and excitement.
We came back inspired by this place and its people, feeling lucky to be able to celebrate it, grateful for how rich it makes our lives. What you see here is possibility. Enjoy!"
--Tommy Dunne
(For the record--we loved Plenty, which wasn't full of doomsday prophecies, and were REALLY sorry to see it go.) Anyway, after a lot of blood, sweat, and begging my family for just a little more childcare (thanks Mom, Dad and Maria and Dave) it's done and out on in the world.
In the premier issue:
*Where local chefs go when they feel like dining out.
*A
series of profiles on people who are making art out of life, including
the folks at Wide Awake Bakery, The Veteran's Sanctuary, The Good Life
Farm (see Melissa Madden, above at her wonderful polycultural farm),
Keeley's Cheese Co, and RootsRoseRadish.
*A section
on hydrofracking, including a beautiful, moving lyrical essay by biologist and
writer Sandra Steingraber (who just won a $100,000 Heinz award!). Oh,
and there are apple recipes from local
chefs, and cartoons by former New Yorker staffer Marshall Hopkins.
So,
if you want to know more about that fab skin care line sold at Petrune,
or the man who saved Buffalo St. Books, or the philosophy behind that
house on Cascadilla Street with the amazing garden in front, look for this
magazine!!
Right now it's available at Gimme! in Trumansburg, Good to Go in
Trumansburg, GreenStar Co-op, and will be available at Red Feet in Ithaca starting
tomorrow. I'll keep you posted on other venues as they get confirmed. (We're hoping to get them into Wegman's and Barnes and Noble as well.)
Meanwhile,
a big thanks to everyone who contributed and to Ithaca College. We were so lucky to have such a talented group to work with, and such a rich variety of subjects to
choose from. This is a a great place and people are doing so many dynamic, interesting things. Join us in toasting it!
Cheers!
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