There's a revolution afoot and Dirt's covering it

A note from the editor of Dirt, the healthy living magazine from Straus News Why are people driving hours for a $25 gallon of milk? Find out in the fourth issue of Dirt, the magazine for those who want to live closer to the earth and have some fun doing it. In the November-December issue, you’ll learn what happens to food at your grocery store after it passes its expiration date, meet the West Milford computer geek that the Huffington Post nominated a game changer of 2011, and hear from a chemical engineer about why a plastic Christmas tree actually might actually have a smaller carbon footprint than the real thing. Dirt is printed on 90 percent recycled stock. The bi-monthly magazine covers the agriculturally and culturally fertile black dirt region, but mails to subscribers all over the country - and even has an interested subscriber in Vietnam, although those postal logistics haven’t quite been nailed down. Six months in, Dirt’s creators have learned all sorts of things they never knew they didn’t know about putting out a magazine. They learned there is a crucial difference between creating colors using red, green and blue versus using the cyan, magenta, yellow and black the newspapers use. So, if you felt like you were slightly drunk when reading the September/October issue, sorry. They learned backing a FedEx truck up to the shed at the end of a small parking lot is not easy, particularly when it has recently snowed. And plenty of other unforeseen details. Dirt still has a long way to go, but its reception so far has been very encouraging. Here’s a sampling from Dirt’s recent reader survey: “Provides info on things not covered by the mainstream.” “It’s great. Down to earth. Tuned in. Informative.” “Very much enjoyed the magazine and read it cover to cover. Info on local people, businesses and events is great to see and very helpful to me since I’m not from here.” “That you are putting together a magazine like this is very admirable.” To subscribe or check the magazine out, go to dirt-mag.com. If you’re interested in advertising, contact Betty Allen at sales.dirt@strausnews.com. Dirt is always looking for story ideas and readers’ nature-inspired poetry, if you’re feeling stirred.