Halfway to Hippo Heaven

So we completed our little pizza film and launched our crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.com three nights ago. As you may have gleaned from the title here, we've raised half of our minimum goal of $5K.

It's pretty inspiring to get emails AND financial backing from people all over the country saying, "Yeah! Go for it. And your pizza looks amazing. Please make it happen and take Pizza Hippo national so we can eat some, too!"

Hey, I'm totally down with that! I really do hope to make it happen.

The one thing I'm a little bummed about is that Jamie Oliver, the Naked Chef on a mission to bring organic food to the masses himself; Emeril, Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain, and all the other food celebs I've contacted via Twitter haven't promoted our campaign, not even a retweet! WHAT THE HECK?! I know they don't really manage their own social media, but come on fellas. Yeah, you too Bobby Flay. How about helping out the Pizza Hippo? If any of my four to seven readers know someone who knows those guys, send them the link to our video. I think they might be down with the cause. At least a throw down. Something.

On another topic, I had to kill one of our two roosters a few days ago. He was at the bottom of the pecking order and getting pretty beat up, as well as overcompensating by violently mounting our hens as much as possible. Since we turned him into gumbo (excellent stock, kind of tough and stringy meat - someone suggested this can be mitigated in the butchering process - anyone know more about this?) egg production has gone up 33% per day. Yes, we track daily egg production. Plus with only six layers it's pretty easy math :) So I'm looking forward to Amber getting her flock of meat birds later in the spring, and hopefully a few ducks as well. No, this has nothing to do with Pizza Hippo, but it is part of my outlandish dream. The part that says I don't go to the grocery store ever again.

I know this is kind of an impossible dream, but with Pizza Hippo's new wholeseller accounts we really might be able to pull it off. Buy the things we can't grow in bulk at cut rate prices and, well, grow the rest. Definitely going to preserve A LOT more veggies this year. And apple juice for that matter. But that comes in the fall.

For now, Spring is in the air, and we have all season to watch things get big, grow fat, and soak up the earth's energy to sustain us later on.

Until then, I can't wait to get back to making organic pizza Vermont style and pushing my limits as a businessman, a farmer, and a person.

Out of my comfort zone is where I feel the happiest, after all.

PS I just wrote Jamie Oliver another letter. I hope he writes back.

GMO Labeling, H.722, Take Action Now in Vermont

The following is the correspondence between my local state representatives in Windham, VT concerning H.722 requiring labeling of genetically modified foods for sale to consumers. It would appear our representatives are happy to let us know the bill is in committee, and they'll support it IF it gets out of committee.

As someone who's been a political operative before, you can take it from me this is NOT supporting the bill. Please take the time to contact Carolyn and/or Matt to let them know they need to take action!

Carolyn Partridge - cpartridge@leg.state.vt.us

Matt Trieber - matrieber@gmail.com

Dear Mr. Trieber and Mrs. Partridge,

Thank you both for writing back to me.

As a former lobbyist in Louisiana, the tone of both of your emails
sounds like the bill is going to be put to bed in committee.

My neighbors, friends, and colleagues all urge you to TALK to the
committee chair and use all your influence to push the bill onto the
floor.

NOT TALKING TO THE COMMITTEE about such an important issue is the same
as NOT SUPPORTING THE BILL in my humble opinion. The day will happen
whether or not we get out of bed, after all.

This is the most important agricultural bill in Vermont at the
present. Please do more to support it than offer lip service. Take
action! We, your constituents, are counting on you.

If I can personally be of any service to you, I live down the street
from Mrs. Partridge and am easy to reach in person, by email at this
address or by phone at 802.874.8120.

Thank you both again for writing back to me.

Best regards,
Malcolm M. Hood

On Sun, Mar 11, 2012 at 5:37 PM, Matthew Trieber <matrieber@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Malcolm,
>
> Thank you for contacting me regarding H.722. I agree with your e-mail, and

> as such, was a co-sponsor of H.367 which sought to require labeling of

genetically-modified food. H.722 has been referred to the committee on

> Agriculture. My understanding is that the committee has taken testimony on
> the bill, although, I have not spoken to anyone on the committee directly
> about it. Please know that I do intend to support this legislation should it
> come to the house floor. Feel free to contact me again if you have any other
> concerns.
>
> Regards,
> Matt
>
> --
> Rep. Matthew A. Trieber
> State Representative for Windham-4
> (802) 376-1134 or
> Sergeant-At-Arms: (802) 828-2228
>