Now it seems as if PPP is dead--the website is gone and I haven't seen an issue in quite awhile. I finally let my subscription go but a lot of people lost some money on it.

It's really a shame as it was devoted to New England gardening and was just great for those few years of its heyday. I really hope someone with a commitment to a regional magazine will start one up again. I do think Paul Tukey owes his former readers an explanation.

He was very involved in the SafeLawns "movement". Perhaps that took him away from the mag?

safelawns.org is still up

I'm on the email list for SafeLawns, and he sends out weekly updates - I got this one today. He sounds very, very busy.

Claire

"From: paul@SafeLawns.org
Subject: Weekly Update: SafeLawns Receives Matching Grant
Date: October 12, 2009 3:04:37 PM EDT

Happy Columbus Day today! I’m delighted to be writing from my home in Maine, where I’m making a brief but much needed pit stop before heading out to Ketchum, Idaho, this weekend. The foliage is beautiful, even spectacular, right about now as leaves become a major topic of conversation. Soon they will be falling on our lawns and gardens and how and why to clean them up will be the focus of this week’s www.SafeLawns.org/blog posts. Taking affirmative action with your leaves can lead to lawn care success on many levels.

We kicked off the leaf cleanup season by producing a short segment with weatherman Sam Champion on Good Morning America last Friday: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8789909. That was the culmination of two of the most exciting weeks in the almost four-year history of our organization.

Here is a quick review:

Friday, Oct 2 — We spent a half an hour on the air with Ira Flatow on NPR’s Science Friday program and you can listen in by clicking ere: www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2009/10/listen-in-to-npr-science-frid ay/. Of all the media activities we’ve done in the last four years, and there have been thousands, this one show practically out-did them all. For nearly a week after the show, sales of our book, The Organic Lawn Care Manual (http://www.safelawns.org/organic-lawn-care-manual.cfm), rose into the top 200 of all books sold on Amazon.com. Visits to our web site rose exponentially. Thanks to Ira and NPR for helping to spread the message.

Saturday, Oct. 3 — The Maine premiere of our film, A Chemical Reaction (www.chemicalreactionmovie.com) sold out well in advance and made for standing-room-only conditions in the theater. Post-screening comments were enthralling — including one woman from Baltimore, Md., who waited in line until everyone else had left the theater. "I really need to talk to you," she said. "Everyone needs to see this film and I can help."

On the spot, the woman offered a $10,000 matching grant for all donations raised by our non-profit foundation between now and December. Her goal is to help us raise the finishing funds needed for the movie to pay for historic footage and insurances etc. so that we can begin selling and distributing DVDs to the masses. We really need EVERYONE’s help in reaching this fundraising goal in the next two months. If you are interested in making a donation to help fund the movie or our foundation, please visit: www.safelawns.org/chemical_reaction.cfm. If you’re not familiar with how a matching grant works, it simply means that if you donate $20, the grant writer will also give us $20 to effectively double your donation.

Sunday, Oct. 4 — More than 160 people attended the premiere of the movie in New Brunswick, N.J., on the Rutgers campus. Feedback continued to be wonderful.

From there, we were off to Florida for three days of consulting with LandCare Organics, a company that is bringing organic lawn and tree care to that state. I’m helping them out with some how-to pieces and public relations materials. It’s interesting to me that organics really hasn’t gained a foothold in a state where the water issues are so prevalent. If you are interested in learning more about their company, a brand new web site is in the works at: http://landcareorganics.com/.

Yesterday I was in my back yard for one of my favorite days of the year: wood splitting and stacking. Although my 48-year-old body doesn’t quite respond like it used to, I still enjoy the exercise and the scents of autumn! Few things are more satisfying — at least for this Mainer — than seeing three cord of wood stacked to the rafters in the garage.

Later this week, I’ll be flying off for my first visit to Idaho, where I’ll be giving a speech on Friday night and screening the movie on Saturday night. I’d love to see you there. Please stop by and say hello. Here is a link to the details: www.sbgarden.org/special.html.

Have a great week.

PT

The Safelawns Foundation

Auburn Hall, Suite 202
Pineland, ME
04260
US"