Cocktail Confessions

My Earthbox after just 1 month

About two months back I posted Podcast Episode 17 - Earthbox’s with my buddy Al. If you listened to that episode, you’ll also remember that I shot some accompanying video using a Kodak Playsport flash camcorder and I said I’d eventually get around to posting some videos once I figured out how to convert the raw footage and edit them.

Well, wait no further. This past weekend I was able to download a free shareware version of ‘Total Video Converter’ from Cnet.com to see how hard the process was to covert from native .MOV to .WMV formats.

To my pleasant surprise it was actually quite easy. However, because this is freeware, the videos I converted also have a small watermark which is present in the upper left hand corner of the finished video. If I go ahead and decide to buy the full registered version once I decide on getting my own flash camcorder, then the watermark will disappear.  Once in .WMV format, I used Microsoft Movie Maker to edit them further, adding the credits, transitions, text call outs, and finally splicing and trimming them together.  Now I know this is all nerdy, geeky, tech stuff, but now that I have explained it this first time, I won’t tell you about my future endeavors behind the scenes.

To get to the meat, or in this case, vegetable of the matter at hand, I have included two finished video here’s both totaling an approximate 13 minutes if viewed together introducing and showing off an Earthbox and replanting one.  I think it’s very educational, and in the end I hope to have some really good jalapeno and Anaheim peppers along with some very fragrant cilantro.  You can plant just about anything you want given the right soil, weather, and seasonal conditions.  Albert has planted squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, various lettuce, and much more just to name a few.  But you can easily plant flowers, other herbs, or whatever.

In the above picture that starts off this post you will see a top down picture of my actual Earthbox that Albert and I planted together and is the subject of this video.  After only about a month, I can say we use the cilantro quite a bit and the pepper plants have almost tripled in size and have just begun growing their fruit. (i.e. jalapenos).  In a few more weeks I should be able to harvest my first home grown peppers and enjoy them on the BBQ, homemade salsas, and much more.

Video #1: Approx. 5 minutes.  Shows an empty box side by side with one that has finished it’s growing season. 

Video #2: Approx. 7 minutes in length and we look at the plants I am about to use, the individual parts and construction of an empty Earthbox, and the concept on how it works.

Future videos in this series will appear shortly as I need to go through the process of converting and editing them.  Look for parts 3 and 4 in the coming weeks.