FUEL FILLUP PICKUP PARTY aka the URBAN FARM MANIFESTO OPENING PARTY

You know you've gone to a Manifesto opening party when you see this sign. Visible Voice Books Merch Table Pre-party. Pre-party Urban Farm Manifesto Manuscript 1. Pre-party Urban Farm Manifesto Manuscript 2. This is my favorite photo of the evening. This is my favorite non-people based photo of the evening. Courtesy of Anna Wallace Birchler, as are most of the rest of the others in this blog. This is my favorite crowd photo. First, we got Urban Farm Manifesto artiste extraordinaire, Gabriel Bond completely shunning the camera. Somebody told me that he was grumbling something about, "no pictures, no pictures." Second, immediately to the right of Gabe's right shoulder is Chuck.

Chuck told me a funny little story that went something like this (completely paraphrased). I never heard of ya, til about 10 this morning when somebody sent me the video. Then like five minutes later you walked into the Root Cafe. You were getting cups or something. And I recognized ya cause of the shorts. YESSS!!!

To the right of Chuck, is Farmer Dan in the Pennsylvania River Woman Mustard-colored hat. He is definitely enjoying that sweet potato donut with Ohio Maple Syrup glaze! In the foreground directly south, we got Ms. Perkins, who is standing pretty in pink, and her crew, Maria and Paul. The little poof of a white cloud chef's hat is Adam Hughes.

The redneck-lookin' dude in the camo hat is Root Cafe's owner, Bobbie. He rode his bike in the only snowstorm of 2012 for this thing! And last but not least at the end of the right of the page is Manifesto Brewmaster and Sofa King Killer Micro-coffee bean Roaster, Aaron Pearl, representing his own bad self and Origins Beanery.

So going back to Gabriel Bond as our focal point. Immediately to his left is LEAF Queenpin, Annie with a more German last name than thou. To Annie's left, methinks is Rob Burgoyne, who happens to be the LEAF Kingpin. Just below the LEAF folk is Ron Kretsch, who I just appreciated for showing up, but then he also bought a Manifesto. Thank you, Ronk! In the bottom left corner is Rob Resch; he'll fix your amp.

Urban Farm Manifesto Artist, Gabriel Bond getting all snarky. I like this photo because there's two dudes eating donuts. I like this photo because I don't know most of the people in it. Vegan Sweet Potato Donuts in Action! We made sure no kids got anywhere near the fryer. A good friend, farmhand, rocker, and masseuse, I call this one, "Jessica and Justin." I had no idea Tunnel Vision Hoop Founder, Todd Alexander is this tall. My marketing department should have never allowed me to take this photo. Birch on the beer. Aaron looking elsewhere. Maria and Chef Hughes on the sweet potato, one and twos. At the end of the evening beyond all the people folk who literally published the Urban Farm Manifesto. Mucho thanks goes out to these peeps: Ed Sotelo for hooking up the event. Visible Voice for hosting. Zappitelli's for all the delicious pizza. Adam Hughes for always coming through. Rockethub for the infrastructure. Origins Beanery for the Manifesto Strong Ale. And power fueler, Sarah Buck, who contributed majorly to the wine tab. Now for distribution!

Fuel Fillup Pickup Party Prep

Just because the Manifesto has been to the presses and back, doesn't mean I've been sitting around unmanifesto-ing. In fact, the contrary is true. I always thought I'd be handnumbering a seven inch or LP at this point in my life, but instead, my first jaunt at handnumbering comes with this Urban Farm Manifesto. I'm glad I got it over with when the adrenalin from the Jakprints pickup was still flooding my emotions because the physical act of handnumbering 500 copies isn't as cool as it sounds. And I'm sorry if it got a little sloppy.

Numbers 1-100 are the black 180 gram vinyl edition and come in black sharpie. Numbers 101-200 are the Sarah edition in turquoise sharpie. 201-300 are the Monsatan edition and come in red sharpie. 301-400 are the green edition in green sharpie. 401-500 are the Old as Dirt edition in brown sharpie.

Besides handnumbering, I've been ripping five-count stacks of Corporate Food Still Sucks sticker packs. I've sweated over (but not into) boiling vats of Pennsylvania River Woman Mustard, the Manifesto Edition. I've bought a gallon of Ohio Maple Syrup for the Ohio Maple Syrup Glaze for the vegan sweet potato donuts. And the Manifesto Strong Ale has been bottled and is currently in the process of the bottle fermentation thing.

Still on the "Prep To Do" list are sweet potato material acquisition and figuring out what we're pouring the beer into; though methinks, we're using half pint canning jars. If anybody knows where to get Cleveland sweet potatoes or even Ohio sweet potatoes right now, please let me know. Then Tomorrow or Wednesday, I think I'm doing an Urban Farm Manifesto podcast (whatever that is) with this fella named Doctor Fermento.

Only three days left on the Rockethub pre-sale. Don't be shy.

http://www.rockethub.com/projects/5451-old-husher-s-urban-farm-manifesto

GOAL ACHIEVED! PRE-SALE STILL ON!

In eight furious days of crowdfunding, the Urban Farm Manifesto was able to achieve its stated goal of $900! That's pretty amazing, and I thank the diverse group of friends, strangers, and family, who've contributed to the success of the Rockethub campaign.

That being said, the price tag on this entire project including artists' fees, marketing, printing, and Ohio Maple Syrup is $2,100. I absolutely have no problem footing the rest of the $1,200. I believe in this project 101% and would have paid for the entire thing, if necessary.

What I do mind is holding inventory. So far, I still have 478 units of Manifesto unaccounted for, 97 limited edition posters awaiting walls, and nine jars of Pennsylvania River Woman Mustard looking to be slathered on sandwiches. Therefore, pre-sale is still on!

From Where I Could Use Help

Though, I'll take a rocket fueling where I can get it. There are a couple of generalized groups whose support I'd like to see. These are my Coastal Peeps and Cleveland's Policy People.

Coastal Peeps

I know out of sight is out of mind, but I'd like to see some more fuelings from my folks all up and down the West Coast and Brooklyn. Though land is much more affordable in the Midwest, the zoning/sales/bureaucracy issues are the same whether it's Cleveland or Berkley. Thanks again to Scot Pansing for being the first coastal fueler.

Cleveland's Policy People

This is a huge group of traditionally tight-moneyed people in the governmental sector and private non-profit sector, whose general jobs are to promote all things green like urban farms and sustainability. Personally, I think every one of them should pre-order a SUPER COMBO, consisting of "A Farm In Cleveland?!" t-shirt and an Urban Farm Manifesto.

So far, though emails have been sent to the Office of Sustainability, Neighborhood Progress Inc, and the Cuyahoga County branch of the OSU Extension Office about the Manifesto, no individuals within these groups (or the groups themselves) have contributed. Tomorrow's payday and maybe I'm being hasty. I would really love to eat my words on this one and owe all of Cleveland's Policy People an apology. I wish I could conclude with a name-dropping "thank you" right now, but I literally can't.

Therefore and to re-iterate, pre-sale is still on! Thank you. http://rockethub.com/projects/5451-old-husher-s-urban-farm-manifesto

THE URBAN FARM MANIFESTO AND ROCKETHUB

It definitely appears that some of you have already taken notice, but for good measure, please checkout the video. I'm well on my way to my financial goal of $900. However, I am a far cry from my per unit sales goal of 100 units (so far 18 Manifestos are accounted for).

Please note, this is not a charity case.

http://rockethub.com/projects/5451-old-husher-s-urban-farm-manifesto