A Green and Orange Halloween

I’d planned this month's main blog to focus on autumn harvest, but my green teen friends, Jenna and Jessica, and Mr. GP convinced me otherwise. Mr. GP enjoyed dressing up as Mr. Potato Head so much, he became excited when his teen friends offered to make him a Halloween costume and refused to discuss the harvest until next month. To placate the gardener in me, the girls designed a pumpkin/tuxedo costume. Both Mr. GP and I were blown away by their work. The best thing about his dapper costume is that it hides the perpetual scowl he wears as a sign of his anger over the state of our planet. For a few days, at least, he has been enjoying happier thoughts.

Mr. GP's costume, like those other green revelers created this year, is made of natural fibers and totally biodegradable. There are many ideas for eco-oriented costumes like Captain Recycle, Baby Bin, and other recycle characters I found at:

http://www.oureverydayearth.com/2009/10/07/top-10-green-halloween-costumes/ and

_halloween_costumes_ideas_mother_nature_would_apprecia_

3http://inventorspot.com/articles/7_easy_diy3644

For a more green than orange holiday, this year party hosts are using recyclable and biodegradable decorations--holiday decor they can add to the compost bin when the party’s over--like cardboard and paper cutouts or cotton-ball ghosts. As always, the trusty jack-o-lantern makes rich compost, perhaps offering a surprise next year: home-grown pumpkins.

Many hosts create or purchase decorations to last year after year. This is a super way to reduce the waste stream. Another way is to choose pumpkins, gourds, scarecrows, fall leaves and other decorations to carry decor through Thanksgiving.

To eliminate purchasing over-packaged snacks creating party trash depicted by the costumes at the left, green hostesses make their own party food and serve one drink for all guests--apple cider. Cider can be jazzed up or toned down to meet the taste needs of guests no matter their age.

To include guests (whom you've invited with paperless invitations, of course) in the fun, ask them to bring eco-friendly, homemade decorations. Enjoy the surprise creativity and camaraderie as your home is decorated for you. Then hold a contest for the most original use of recyclables, best eco-message with a Halloween theme, most likely to enrich the compost bin, and other such categories. Don't forget to make all prizes more green than orange.

Mr. GP reminds us, when trick-or-treating, as always, "Take no more than you need and leave no litter on the ground." It doesn't matter how it got there, he says, "Pick it up." After all, where would he be if I'd left him where I saw him just because I hadn't been the one to toss him away?

Green Teens' work ignored?

I wasn't ready to post another blog, but when I read this letter in the Key West newspaper, The Citizen, on October 14th I had to share. This news should be headlined, along with other positive environmental news in the Keys such as rescuing wildlife, protecting lobster traps, and releasing rehabilitated sea turtles.

Let's applaud, let's support, let's encourage a new generation of environmentalists. Let's not ignore them. Here is a teen who... Well, read his letter to the editor for yourself.

I'm doing what little I can to get the word out, Heindreck.

Nobody wants to print a positive news story

I am a student currently enrolled in Key West High School's alternative energies program. We recently got a grant to build two wind turbines on campus, which I have started a student movement to name after comedian Stephen Colbert in an attempt to draw attention to our program. We will be the first public high school campus in the country to have wind turbines.


I wish I could say that is the point of my letter; sadly it is not. This past Friday, I spent my entire lunch period collecting signatures for my "student interest form." I ended up getting over half the student body and more than half of the staff. This is despite the problems I have encountered with everybody in the media.


In order to help publicize this event I talked to the teacher in charge of The Snapper, who promised me it would be in the paper. I submitted two tips to The Citizen about our program before that.


It never got in either paper. After the school newspaper came out without my promised article, I submitted yet another news tip to this newspaper and yet again got no reply of any kind. I practically wrote the article for them.


I'm not sure that this should surprise me. After all, an enterprising young high school student trying to gain national attention to his school has nothing to do with sex, drugs, death, a scandal, or "anybody who disagrees with Obama is a racist." No, my story is simply one of those feel-good stories that might catch somebody's interest and make them feel good at the same time. Sorry if this bored you; perhaps I should just let you get back to your depressive stories.


Heindrek Allen

Cudjoe Key

And the Cover Is.... Ta Da!

There are some amazingly insightful marketers out there. Twenty three BonnieBlogsGreen readers agreed with the design and marketing departments at Leap Books. You may have already known which one was chosen if you perused this blog or my website: http://www.bonniedoerrbooks.com/.

Most readers agreed with Leap Books. These comments were pulled from emails that don't show up in the comment section below the Five Covers, One Book, You Pick post. You know who you are.

• Black against yellow is the most contrast you can get.


• I like the understated type.


• It seems to visually communicate more than the others.


• It would draw me to pick it from a shelf filled with hundreds of other books.


• The bullet holes in what looks like a road sign and the skid marks ...convey a sense of mystery and danger, with shooting definitely involved. The cover promises to put the reader in the middle of the action.


• It is the one that stays in my mind long after I leave your blog.


• I like the close up of the caution sign.


• It pulls me right into the suspense.


• It is the most graphic of the pitch.


• [It is the] most eye-catching and evocative of the pitch.

• The entire decision process was shared by one reader (paraphrasing here) who reasoned that the style of two covers resembled a vanity press, one was of a pretty scene, but didn't tell anything about the story, one looked like an adult mystery or romance instead of being geared for youth, leaving the favorite, which was eye-catching, clever, understated and would make one want to know what was inside.

Oh, gadzooks, I almost forgot. You want to know the count for the other covers. Sixteen people preferred number four and twelve people preferred number five.

And me? I'm super lucky. I agreed with Leap Books, too.

PS To the caffein-starved reader out there: I know it's difficult to tell in a small image, but no, those are not coffee beans on the cover.

Coming soon, Mr GP returns to the fall garden.

Five Covers, One Book, You Pick

Usually I post one green blog a month. This month I couldn't resist a bonus blog, and it isn't green. It's black and white--at least in overall effect. Here's why: it's about the book publishing industry--where business decisions are rarely black and white even though the pages often are.

Did you ever wonder what goes on in an editorial/marketing brainstorming session? Especially a session in which book cover art is chosen? Stick with me here. I'm taking you behind the scene at a publishing company. We're going to see the cover art that was discussed for my soon to be published novel, Island Sting. I peeked in on a secret session and I'm sharing!

Ordinarily, an author is not privy to cover art brainstorming sessions, but Leap Books, is no ordinary publisher. The company is leaping into production with bold innovative steps. One of the braver steps Leap took was in not kicking me out when I was busted as I eavesdropped on their meeting.

You wouldn't believe the cover ideas that bounced around. I'm going to share the images I managed to grab in whatever format I could as I split from the very stressful meeting. Well, it was stressful to me. I mean, I know what my plot is about and would recognize any of my characters on the street. I've practically lived in their environment for what feels like centuries. What were these people thinking? The ones I show below, at least, were offered by designers with insight. For a while I worried that Island Sting, a mystery about an authentic endangered species in an actual location (on Earth), might wind up with a casket full of endangered vampires, or maybe werewolves, on the cover... Hey, I love paranormal fiction: vampires, werewolves, and fun fantasy. But you'd be hard pressed to find those elements in Island Sting. Just got an idea though for the next book. Maybe the real reason the marsh rabbit is endangered in the Florida Keys is-- Whoa, back to the subject.

Some of these cover images are very rough, done in low resolution on a whim, others a bit more polished, and most use sample only stock images for illustrating design ideas. One suggested cover even included a title change. I was not able to make the images any larger or clearer than you see. I was sneaking them out of the building, you know. I could hardly ask, "Hey, do you have a better copy of this?" Actually, it's a minor miracle they aren't covered with pizza stains.

So, what do you think of the choices? As an author, which would you pick to wrap your baby in? As a reader, which would entice you to pick up the book and read the blurb? What factors influenced your thinking? Better yet---grab a teen or tween and ask for an opinion. That would be way cool.

Ta da! Here they are:


Number 1 (The sign reads Caution Endangered Species Area.)

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4 (The dude in the image is pointing a gun.)

Number 5


Now that you have a preliminary idea, here's the flash blurb for Island Sting.

Kenzie didn’t expect her first summer in the Florida Keys to be murder. Cute guys, awesome boats, endangered species, gun-toting thugs... In Angelo's up and down world, Kenzie needed a life jacket and Dramamine.

Still like the first one you picked best?

Please comment. Let me know your thoughts. If you can't or choose not to leave a comment, contact me. I'll compile and summarize all comments and thoughts for you next month.

You know what? Now that I think about it, this is actually a green post. Not a single piece of paper was used to create even one of these images. Yet...

Teen Seed Collector Huge Success

January has obsessed me. To the point I forgot September arrived and with it my blog duty until Mr. Green Pants (GP) made commanding eye contact with me, jolting me back into the moment.

January? What’s the big deal, you wonder? January 6, 2010 is the publication date for Island Sting, my mystery novel celebrating green teens. I thought when my book was finally contracted by a publisher, my workload would lighten. So wrong. The steps involved in publishing and marketing Island Sting have presented an unexpectedly steep learning curve for me. I’m struggling with a host of new skills, while simultaneously editing Turtle Dog, my second tale wherein green teens save an endangered species. Thank goodness for two classes of brilliant middle grade and young adult authors: the class of 2k9 authors whose experience guides me, and my own supportive class of 2k10 authors (website under construction) or I may have given up ages ago.

Enough excuses. I’m getting that GP look again. His unhappy face today may be due to the unexpected chill in the air. Though to me sixty-five degrees is a delightful change from the August nineties. Fearing both hawk and snake, GP had spent so much time in his Mr. Potato Head disguise that when he felt secure enough to remove it, the chilly air was an unpleasant surprise. Until I fashioned him a jacket, there was no way he would join me in the planting of a fall crop of peas The seedlings we planted are from the farmers’ market, but I also plant heirloom seeds. Know who else is a fan of heirloom seeds? Oprah. Yep. Oprah and me.

No kidding. Oprah is a fan of my favorite heirloom seed company, Baker Street Heirloom Seeds. What good taste I have! (A little garden humor.) Yes, Baker Street's catalog is a work of art. Yes, they are major supporters of and providers for gardeners of all ages. Yes, they've created an amazing Ozark Mountain village offering history, music, folklore and more. But here’s the really cool part of their family story: Jere Gettle, co-owner with Emilee, his wife, began collecting seeds as a teen. To quote Michele Owens’ article in the August, 2009 issue of O The Oprah Magazine, "[Jere] began collecting and trading seeds the way other kids trade baseball cards, and he printed up his first seed catalog in 1998, when he was 17, growing almost all the seeds himself."

Now that’s a green teen! The Gettles have built that business into one that involves fifty seed producing farmers and, at last count, offers 1,200 fruit and vegetable seeds. Why the Gettles’ passion for heirloom seeds? The Oprah Magazine quotes Jere: "We're saving something that Thomas Jefferson grew or that was grown by the Romans, or that was passed down in a family for 300 years, that might otherwise disappear. And it's important to maintain the genetic diversity these varieties represent. Otherwise, you have the Irish potato famine. Everybody plants the same variety and a disease comes through and wipes out the entire crop. Every one of these old-time varieties has a different flavor—and that's worth getting excited about."

I think so, too.

In this photo GP stands upon the Baker Street Heirloom Seeds Catalog with dragon tongue seeds scattered about--our favorite. He's leaning against sweet dumpling squash and holding their seed package.

To me gardening is a metaphor for writing. I begin each plot with compost--a mixed-up batch of daily life cooked and stirred until ripe. For many days or weeks both garden plot and story plot seem little more than one of two four-letter words, cr-- or the one that rhymes with flit. But eventually tiny seeds sprout and slowly grow into larger, organized living visions. Just when the creation bursts forth, pests and weeds leap forth to impede progress. After contemplation, study, and research, I counterstrike. Detractors are deleted. Destroyers are yanked. Order restored. Healthy, strong bits of the whole are salvaged. When all is said and done, my back aches from digging, sowing, and weeding, both in the garden and at the keyboard. I would have it no other way. I understand Jere Gettles' passion; gardening connects me to those who came before me. It reminds me I am of the Earth, and as such, I share responsibility for Earth's well-being.

Gardening feeds my soul. If I'm very, very lucky, my writing may do the same for a reader or two.

Read more of Michele Owens’ article in The Oprah Magazine:
http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200908-omag-heirloom-seeds
Visit the Baker Street Catalog online:
http://rareseeds.com/

Green Teens in the Garden

In the weeks since I rescued Bob, the angry discarded toy, from the bottom of a flood debris pile, he and I have become better acquainted. Recently, he made it clear that his name is not Bob, and that he is most definitely not a sponge. He refuses to divulge his real name, so we call him Mr. Green Pants, GP for short.

After his hawk scare, GP was frightened to return to the garden. I told him I was expecting a garden visit from green teens who wished to congratulate him on his survival. Still he would not risk it until--figuring hawks are not much attracted to potatoes--he disguised himself as Mr. PH.

GP asserted that green teens would be hard to find anywhere, never mind in my backyard garden. (He’s a bit jaded about young people in general since he was so rudely deep-sixed by one from a speeding car.) Of course, it is difficult for a five inch tall toy to see above the foliage, and those big green glasses are more hindrance than help, but he perked right up when his huge, borrowed ears heard voices.

The girls were enthusiastically discussing organic and/or urban gardening. GP and I eavesdropped as Jenna, the lovely redhead, shared her experience at Orchard Farm in Princeton, NJ with Jessica, her brilliant BFF. (Orchard Farms, Caroline & Robert Phinney, crphinney@patmedia.net, 1052 Cherry Hill Rd, Princeton NJ 0854.)

Orchard Farm

“What impressed me most about the farm,” Jenna said, “was that they used every plant and animal to their advantage. When the plant was done for its season, the cows were moved into the area to graze and provide manure. Then they would move the chickens in to scratch at and even the new area. Then, if the ground was out of nutrients, they would put in a plant that added more to the soil. Or if there was too much they would put a plant that would take some away.”

Great description, Jenna, of sustainable, organic gardening!

Teens across the U.S.A., and beyond, are involved in urban/organic gardening. In many cases, teens are leading the way for gardeners of all ages. The height of urban gardening is practiced by some intrepid teens in New York City. As reported by Brian Merchant in Treehugger, these teens “have set about cultivating green roofs on skyscrapers around the city. Their goal is to create a citywide ‘skyscraper garden’ across Manhattan.”
These teens are caring for seedlings on top of the ninth floor of a building in midtown Manhattan. The seedlings will then be transported to the rooftops of buildings all over the city. Building green roofs is an important business with significant positive environmental benefits. This experience may prepare young gardeners for future jobs within the growing green industry.

Martin Middle School, Austin Texas, will be entering its fifth year with green teens gardening on campus. Past gardens have yielded Texas-sized vegetables! http://www.keepaustinbeautiful.org/GreenTeens-Martin


The Cleveland Botanical Garden in Ohio founded a work/study program called the Green Corps for teens attending metropolitan high schools. Teens transform vacant lots into urban farms, growing fruits, vegetables and flowers while creating a healthier, greener community. They earn as they participate in the production and marketing of products they’ve grown. Their Ripe from Downtown Salsa is a best seller. http://www.cbgarden.org/green_corps.html




In Portland, Oregon, teens produce vegetables and herbs on Boyd Street Urban Farm. As teens garden, they learn hands on sustainability concepts. While growing and distributing food to elderly residents, teens also engage with the wider community. Cultivatingcommunity.org


After learning about green teens, GP has a new respect for young people, acknowledging that his initial encounter with one rude human may have prejudiced him. I suspect, though, the real reason for his change of heart is that the Jenna and Jessica spiffed up his wardrobe. He’s now sporting a brand new pair of green pants.

In my previous blog (7/03/09) I suggested reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I cannot overstate its value and high interest level. HS students or teachers who wish to use this book in the classroom may find the following web page helpful: http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/260.html


Below are resources to help teens grow gardens and books to further the green teen lifestyle:

• http://www.cln.org/themes/gardening.html



• http://www.communitygarden.org/rebeltomato/fruits/garden-classroom.php
  


• Generation Green: The Ultimate Teen Guide to Living an Eco-Friendly Life by Linda Sivertsen and Tosh Sivertsen (Paperback - Aug 5, 2008)
  


• The Green Teen: The Eco-Friendly Teen's Guide to Saving the Planet by Jenn Savedge (Paperback - May 1, 2009)
  

Green teens — let me hear from you. What are you doing to get the word out and inspire others?

http://www.bonniedoerrbooks.com/

Treachery in the Garden

After weeks of scrubbing, Bob is finally free of the mud and muck he accumulated when he was swept down a storm drain into a raging creek. (See previous post.) You’d think he’d be pleased, especially since he’s wearing his new GO GREEN pants. But consider this: one minute he’s in the hands of a happy, cooing child, anticipating a new life with super heroes and Disney characters, and the next he’s jettisoned out of a moving vehicle onto the street like a wad of throat mucus. Helps you understand why his face is forever engraved with that PO’d expression.



For weeks Bob was too frightened to venture outdoors, fearing another deluge. Days of blue sky convinced him to accompany me as far as the garden where, in his new green pants, he initially felt right at home.



“GO GREEN,” he chanted. “Raise your own food. No chemicals. No hormones. Fresh food leaves the tiniest of footprints on the planet. GO GREEN! GROW GREEN!”


Bob can be quite entertaining while you work even though he gets a bit carried away. Best not tell him that though, the words "carried away" freak him out.



I’d managed to collect only a handful of contender beans for my writing buddy who was due to arrive, when raucous screams interrupted Bob's cheer. He fled to green bean camouflage.


“No worries, Bob. You’re not on his menu.”





But he’d not only heard, he’d glimpsed that majestic feathered hunter and the sight left him terrorized. I explained that one of our resident red shouldered hawks was telling the other she’d spied dinner—likely, the small, quiet, long-eared creature in the clover.



Things quieted down and Bob emerged from the bean row to enjoy the sunshine. Whoosh! My hair ruffled as great wings swooped over us. Bob retreated. Trembling, he peeked over a bean leaf.

The bunny was statue stiff. Above us the bragging hawk screamed off, a snake writhing in its talons.


Bob’s not sure he’s going into the garden again. Ever. It was not the peaceful place he’d expected. He spent the rest of the day in the kitchen on a stack of soft fabric shopping bags. If it’s safer to shop in a grocery store than to work in a garden, he’s not coming home carrying food in anything but these. Maybe he’ll come home inside one of these comfy bags, just in case those hawks are around.



If you haven’t already, please read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver, a delicious tale about growing and eating good food while leaving the tiniest of footprints on Earth.

Visit me at http://www.BonnieDoerrBooks.com/