Today was the big day; Joe
Lamp'l and his hardworking Growing A Greener World TV television crew came to my yard to
feature my front lawn vegetable garden. Joe wanted his feature to be about
educating people on "Victory Gardening" in a more modern way. Joe and
the whole
crew were on site at my front lawn vegetable garden and we had a fantastic time working together. Joe, working as producer and host, puts everyone at ease, and
his staff is kind and professional.
Here's how the shoot went - first, I invited some garden blogger friends over
to give me a hand with the day. Here they are in the photo to the right (left to
right) Brenda Haas of BG Garden blog,
Louise Hartwig, (supportive Mom of Kylee Hartwig Baumle), Shawna Coronado
(that's me) and Kylee Hartwig Baumle of Our Little Acre blog came the
evening before. We celebrated with dinner, margaritas, and wonderful
conversation. We all had a great time!
Brenda was the photographer for the day, taking over 800 photos - wow! Kylee
had her camera out snapping away as well, and Kylee and Louise helped with
organizing lunch for the television crew. Each were invaluable and offered
incredibly appreciated assistance for the day - and all of them drove from Ohio
just to help out! Thank you ladies!
Joe called me later the day before the shoot letting me know that their
episode on the rooftop of the Daley Center had simply been a delight (yes I AM
being sarcastic) with torrential downpours and sticky-humid Chicago heat - it
delayed the shooting time tremendously, so he and his crew would be several
hours late in the morning. I began sweating profusely worried about timing, but
crossed my fingers.
By the next day, the time for his visit had been extended beyond 10 AM. Lots
of people had arrived to watch the show being taped. We all waited patiently
with fingers crossed hoping for the best. At 11:00 AM Joe and his team pulled in
my driveway and a small cheer escaped the crowd. With no further delay I ran out
the door and gave Joe and his cameramen a five-minute tour of my sustainable
garden so they would be able to build the best shots in a short time -- turns
out they all had to be at Midway Airport by 2:00 PM. This meant we had to be
done in less than two hours for them to make it on time.
Let me explain my garden; essentially it is the garden that ate Warrenville,
Illinois. It is on a cul-de-sac in a very common suburban neighborhood in the
suburbs of Chicago. However, with my intense gardening addiction, it has now
taken over my life and my neighbors properties. No kidding. It is a LOT of
garden to cover with a television show taping in less than two hours. Therefore,
the executive decision was made to focus only on the front vegetable garden
which I am using to help people understand more about how to feed the
hungry.
We surveyed the area discussing what would work best, then jumped in taping
the show. Above you see Joe and I discussing how to address the vegetable garden details on film. At the right you see his
crew filming us sitting on the front porch in front of the rain water cistern system. His crew is trying to push light
onto our faces with a portable shiny mirror so the camera can see us better
while we are having our conversation.
My neighborhood is relatively quiet, but of course today during our shoot
several extremely loud trains went by on the local train line, a dozen airplanes
went over head, loud trucks drove by, the mailman drove by, the UPS man drove
by, and cars drove by. Surprisingly there were no marching bands going by. Below
you see Joe and I cracking up while we are waiting for one of the trains to go
by.
And guess what? We finished in under two hours with smiles on our faces. We
all had a fantastic time during the shoot. My helpers were absolutely fabulous.
Thank you Brenda for all the amazingly well-taken photos and to Kylee and Louise
for helping with lunch. Most of all thank you to all the wonderful team
from Growing A
Greener World TV, both on site and off, for helping make my debut on your
television show such a terrific experience. It was fun - can I do it again
please? ::wink::
**All photos on this page credited to Brenda Haas of BG Garden
Photography.
- http://www.thecasualgardener.com,
- The Green Blog - http://www.gardeningnude.com, or
- The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com
Filed under: Food & Health, Help Neighbors
Tags: green lifestyle, green living, growing a greener world, rainwater cistern, vegetable garden
