KICKSTARTER

9 August 2011 - ATTENTION: WE HAVE A NEW KICKSTARTER PROJECT HERE:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/acorns/eating-acorns

GREEK TEXT HERE:  www.iloveacorns.com/kickstartergreektext.html

We've had years of experience with acorns and are ready to show our island and the world what can be done with the fruit of the Oak! The process to make Acorn Oil is not difficult and our recent innovation for extracting bitter tannin from acorns without large amounts of water, has enabled us to really begin dreaming and planning products based on Gluten Free Acorn Flour and Protein Rich Acorn Oil. The list of possible acorn products includes: specialty acorn foods, organic skin care products, all natural animal feed, bio-fuel, vodka, beer, and many more.

The ancient Oak forest of Kea is diminishing as trees disappear to accommodate a building frenzy spurred on by large land developing companies that build sprawling residential complexes with zero regard for natural surroundings, for the purpose of making a few individuals wealthy. There are well over 400 unsold, mostly unfinished, homes and commercial structures on Kea at this time. The financial meltdown in Greece has slowed down large land developers but the Oak forest will never be safe unless local farmers and residents can make an income from managing their trees rather than cutting them down.

These are only some of the abandoned buildings on Kea that will never to be finished or demolished. We've been looking at many of these skeletons for over 10 years.

We continue to see large chunks of land cleared of trees and illegal roads bulldozed across ancient paths. The ancient Oak forest of Kea and network of ancient paths through the forest, has hardly changed for centuries and we are hoping our acorn initiative will help preserve this special place. The Oak forest was always an integral part of this agriculturally based island and my hope is to make it so once again.

We plan to make 1000 bottles of Organic Acorn Bath & Massage Oil, 1000 bottles of Organic Acorn Bubble Bath, 400 bars of Organic Acorn Exfoliating Soap, and enough Acorn Cookie kits & high quality iloveacorn t-shirts for all who order.

We know exactly what machinery we need and we're ready to do it! We need $33,000 for the basic tools to extract acorn oil, mill acorn flour and create organic acorn products with integrity. We've also calculated costs for gathering, storage and packaging. The more of a KICKSTART we get, the more we'll be able to explore acorn possibilities.

Our island has less than 3000 residents yet the Oak forest is in danger of being destroyed, we want to share what we've learned about turning the fruit of the Kean Oak forest into high quality organic products. We will teach free seminars as soon as we have the necessary machinery and post our progress on-line so others who live amongst Oaks can learn from our experience. We'll also provide oil and flour processing services to anyone on Kea who wishes to use their own acorns and eventually we plan to open a retail outlet for all things acorn!. We hope to lead by example and get this thing going!

Thank you for reading and watching. There is more information about processing acorns here: www.iloveacorns.com but PLEASE push the GREEN button first. Thank you. For more information and photos of our guesthouse here on Kea please visit: www.redtractorfarm.com BUT PLEASE push the GREEN button first! 

Thank you for your efforts to pledge!
The Kickstarter/Amazon site is proving very difficult for several people
and I'm afraid many people have told me they have trouble with the
process. Here's how it should work:

1. Press the green pledge button.
2. Sign in as a new user to Kickstarter (no credit card details here)
3. Next page has you sign in to Amazon. If you already have an Amazon
 account the process is very quick. If you do not have an Amazon account
you'll need to create one now by filling out another form - this time you will
give your credit card details.
Now you are a member of both Kickstarter and Amazon.com!

Thank you. thank you, thank you!

More about rewards:

$25 + postage = 250g Organic Gluten Free Acorn Flour with an illustrated recipe written for children and adults featuring our new mascot, Vella. Vella loves to cook with acorns and invites your kids into the kitchen to make Acorn Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Great gift!

$45 + postage = $25 reward + 1 bottle of our artisan Acorn Oil Bath & Massage Oil. We have many ideas for infused acorn bath products and this will be our first series. Nothing too fancy but you can be sure that Acorn Oil is protien rich and known by American Indians to be a natural salve for dry skin making it the perfect bath & massage oil. 1 T-shirt, I'm still working on the design, it'll be good!

$75 + postage = $25 reward + Acorn Bubble Bath, hopefully the 1st of a long line of Acorn Bubble Bath products + St. John's Wort Healing Oil, we've been making this for years, it is a remarkable Healing Oil for cuts, burns & bruises. Every bathroom shelve should have one of these. 1 T-shirt.

$120 + postage = $75 reward + 1 bottle of Acorn Nut Gourmet Cooking Oil. This oil gives salads a unique taste, the best of the annual acorn oil pressing. 1 T-shirt.

$200 + postage = 20 packets of Organic Gluten Free Acorn Flour. For personal use or resale. Recipe book with some of my favorite Acorn recipes including: cookies, muffins, tortillas, dark bread and more. 1 T-shirt.

$400 + postage = $120 reward + 3 free nights at the Red Tractor Farm on Kea, Greece 15 October 2011 - 15 March 2012. 2 T-shirts.

$600 + postage = $120 reward + 3 free nights at Red Tractor Farm 15 March 2012 - 15 May 2012. 2 T-shirts.

$1000 = $400 reward + guided hike to the ancient site of Karthea & boatride in beautiful Soultana. November 1, 2011 - March 30, 2012. 2 T-shirts.

UPDATE 14 JUNE 2011

All pledges for $45, $75, $120 & $200 will receive an iloveacorns t-shirt, including those who have already pledged. We'll print on good quality 100% cotton t-shirts. Very cool.