Two days ago I received a promotional e-mail from Blurb, the online self-publishing service that makes it easy for almost anyone to be the proverbial “published author.”  The promotion offered a discount for publishing a notebook format book that could include numerous pictures and little or no text. Since I’ve been spending a lot of time in the past couple of years doing photographs to promote Hiram Farm, I thought this might be a good way to use some of those pictures to provide another promotional channel and perhaps generate a small amount of income for their program of providing vocational services to adults with autism.

So, I downloaded their “BookSmart” composition software complete with the notebook template, and in a matter of a few hours developed a finished layout for the book. While the BookSmart software doesn’t give one the kind of flexibility and control I’m used to with applications like InDesign, it was adequate for this simple project. In less than a day’s time I was able to complete the layout, make a few revisions and finally publish the book which is now available for purchase on the Blurb website. Hiram Farm will also have a few copies for sale at their upcoming fall festival.

Over the past few years, photographers have begun to use Blurb, or any of several other self-publishing services, to make promotional books as well as wedding albums, portrait albums and other products that expand the income potential of their core business. One of the best features of these online publishing services is that you do not have to purchase large numbers of books up front. Just make it available online and customers can order as many as they want. No extra work for the photographer, just collect your [small] royalty from each sale.

http://www.blurb.com/books/2452519

This week the Trout Lillies appeared from out of nowhere and began to blossom. This is the first sign that Spring is here for real in northeast Ohio. Yesterday I heard an Eastern Phoebee calling from the woods and almost stepped on a garter snake while walking the dogs. I think it’s finally safe to remove the snow blade from the tractor.

After weeks of digging, pouring concrete, building forms, pouring more concrete, more digging, more…, the big day finally arrived when the floor of the new barn at Hiram Farm was finally poured. Yesterday a large contingent of workers from Cement Mason’s Local 404 (IAOPCM) arrived at the farm and supplied most of the muscle and all of the skill to pour nine inches of concrete over the 32×48 foot floor area.

The end result is a level, flat concrete slab that will be the base for the barn and will provide a low-maintenance, durable floor area that will last for more than a century.

Hiram Farm has begun construction on a new barn—the first permanent building to be built on the site. A grant of $20,000 was given by the First Christian Church in Wausean, Ohio to fund most of the construction costs. This group will also be sending a crew of skilled workers to Hiram later this month to work on the framing.

In addition, Hiram Farm is participating in Chase Community Giving which is a competition in which Facebook users can vote for up to twenty different non-profit organizations from a field of several hundred, with the organizations that receive the top 200 vote totals to receive grants of from $20,000 to $200,000. It sounds like it would be easy to organize five or six hundred Facebook users who are already members of the Hiram Farm Group and Hiram Farm Page on Facebook, to vote for the chance to raise that kind of money. It isn’t.

I’m not one who likes to hound people to get them to do what I want. You can see how infrequently I post to my own web-log. Turns out that’s what you have to do. So, in case any of you Hiram Farmers are reading this, consider it one more reminder to vote in Chase Community Giving. And, if you’re not familiar with Hiram Farm, you’re invited to join our Facebook Group—and vote for Hiram Farm in Chase Community Giving!

Hiram Farm Facebook Group:

Hiram Farm Facebook Page:

Chase Community Giving:

As all of my family and close friends are aware, my younger son, Vincent, has autism. Over the years we’ve learned that he is most happy and productive when working with animals and doing other work related to farming and gardening. He has worked at a horse boarding stable for the past 12 years.

A little over a year ago we became involved with the Hiram Farm Living and Learning Community, a non-profit organization that is developing an employment program for adults with autism based on an organic farm in Hiram, Ohio, just 12 miles from where we live. We’ve been really excited about this project because the organization was founded by a very energetic group of families of people with autism who seem to have no end of creative ideas on how to build a concept into a living and working program that is already having an impact. After less than two years of fund-raising, the program opened on a 120-acre organic farm last June. At the time there were six people being served and in the first year, the program has grown to serving 13 participants. Vincent began working at the farm one day a week in February of this year. Our hope is that he will increase his participation in the coming years so that Carol and I will have some peace of mind that Vincent will have a source of steady employment as well as the therapy programs that he needs for years to come.

Recently I assisted Hiram Farm in producing a video and submitting a grant application to the Pepsi Refresh Project. Pepsico is awarding 1.3 million dollars a month to projects submitted to a special web site that allows the public to choose the proposals that they feel are most deserving of support. The site requires you to register in order to vote so you will need to submit your e-mail address, but it’s easy to opt out of any e-mail lists or other annoying promotional mailings, so it’s perfectly painless. Our proposal is for a grant to fund the construction of a building on the farm that will serve as program space and administrative offices.

If you’d like to support this effort, use the link below to go to the Hiram Farm proposal on the Pepsi Refresh site and vote for our proposal. Oh, and it’s free!

http://www.refresheverything.com/hiramfarm

The above page contains the video presentation that I produced as part of the grant application.

The latest poster promoting the Panoramic Photography course at Lakeland Community College features a remarkable photograph by Karen Zamiska. The class will again be scheduled for Tuesday evening at 6:00 pm in the Imaging Lab (room H-32) in the Fall Semester. Register early because there are only twelve seats available in the class.