First Crack Podcast with Garrick Van Buren

Jonathan Dahl and I discuss his latest project -
Tumblon.com - a parenting website focused on development milestones and easy sharing with friends and family.

Listen to Tumblon.com’s Jonathan Dahl [9 min].

A more detailed write-up and some screenshots over at Minnov8.com

Thomas Bohmbach and I discuss DJ Edna, his open source project empowering musicians, and other artists, to take control of the sales and distribution of their creative work online.

DJ Edna - Open Source Website for Musicians [33 min].

I bought Tony Thomas from Minneapoliscast, Andrea Meyers from HowWasTheShow.com, and Justin Grammens from LocalTone.com, and Brian McDonough from MinnieIndie.com lunch to talk about the Minneapolis music scene.

We cover the goal of each of their sites, the challenges of finding good independent music, and Brian makes some band recommendations.

Listen to Lunch with Minneapoliscast, How Was The Show, LocalTone, and MinnieIndie.com [35 min].

Tyler Patterson just finished up a Masters Thesis project investigating adding all the University of Minnesota Twin Cities’ campus energy sources into the Chicago Climate Exchange.

In this numbers and stats intensive conversation, we discuss:

• The methodology of the measuring the campus’ carbon footprint
• The economics of the carbon trading and energy efficiency
• The trade-offs in determining energy sources (fuel oil vs. coal vs. oat hulls vs. natural gas)

Listen to Measuring Carbon Footprints with Tyler Patterson [41 min].

We catch up with Twin Cities coffee legend Jeremy Raths and talk about:

1. Moving The Roastery from a coffee shop in the middle of St. Paul to delivering coffee from an abandon convent.
2. The history of the speciality coffee market - nationally and locally.
3. How the coffee market is changing to benefit the small, local, coffee farmer.
4. The flexibility to choose just the coffees he finds interesting.

Listen to Jeremy Raths and the Search for Extraordinary Coffee [28 min].

Jeremy Raths, from The Roastery, teaches us how to cup - the traditional process for tasting and choosing coffee. He walks through:

• The cupping process
• How he teaches others how to cup
• The need to be emotionally self-aware when cupping
• How to get the cupping experience at home
• The responsibility and integrity of a good cup of coffee

Listen to How to Cup Coffee with Jeremy Raths [14 min].

“I listened to a fascinating interview on the radio the other day. What made it fascinating was that the interviewer’s voice, and questions, had been entirely edited out. What you heard was a very eloquent explanation of a difficult topic, in which the questions were tacit, unheard. Compared to most radio articles, op-eds and even interviews, this spot was tight, engaging and informative. I dubbed it (in the spirit of the term Un-Conference) an Un-Interview.” - Dave Pollard, blogs.salon.com

Dan Haugen and I talk about Northeast Beat, his citizen journalism project covering my favorite part of Minneapolis, and hyperlocal journalism.

Listen to Dan Haugen on Northeast Beat and Hyperlocal Journalism [14 min].

As Jeff Williamson, co-owner of St. Paul’s Flat Earth Brewing Co. awaits kegs to distribute the first batch of Flat Earth Pale Ale, he and I talk about;

• Getting a microbrewery off the ground
• How a new child changed his the direction of Flat Earth
• Flat Earth’s place in Minnesota’s beer scene.

Listen to Jeff Williamson on St. Paul’s Flat Earth Brewery [16 min].

Rich Huelskamp built a 100% off-grid, renewable-energy home down in Red Wing, MN. He and I talk about how he got his home down from the average 25kWh/day to 6. Along the way, he goes through the steps to making a urban/suburban home more efficient.

If you’re looking to replace your home’s appliances, Rich recommends picking from ACEEE.org’s list of most energy efficient appliances

Listen to Rich Huelskamp on Making an Energy Efficient Home [36 min]