The Giving Tree Band's  Album, Great Possesssions, is in stores and online.

The recording of this album was done in a very unique way.  It is truly a Green product from start to finish. 

Here are some facts about the production of this album:

*The album was recorded at the World's first certified carbon nuetral building, The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center.

*The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center produces more than 110% of their power needs via the 198 solar panels on the building's rooftop and also heats and cools with help from geothermal energy.  Because of the way the building was designed and constructed, it is considered to be LEED Platinum certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.  It has also achieved the title of "The Greenest Building in the World."

*The recording, engineering, editing, mixing, and mastering was all done on site at The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center in Baraboo, WI  from June 23, 2008 - July 19, 2008.  

* All aspects of the recording and production of the album were done on site utilizing the building's carbon nuetrality and using only renewable energy from the sun harvested by the building's solar panels. 

*The small but determined crew of seven people camped at Mirror Lake State Park, located 10 miles away from the temporary recording site.  They biked to their recording site to continue to minimize their carbon footprint during the making of this album.

*The Giving Tree Band and crew commuted over 500 miles by bicycle to and from The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center and their campsite during the 30 days of recording.

*With a crew of seven members all riding over 500 miles each, this totals over 3,500 miles commuted by bike.  This is almost enough to go from Chicago to New York City and back about 2 1/2 times. 

*The band and crew ate local, organic produce donated by Harmony Valley Farm of Wisconsin.  The food was all prepared by open fire and on a camping stove.

*Due to the extreme flooding in that area of Wisconsin, the mosquito population was higher than it had been in many many years.   This is an excerpt of a news release put out by the City of Madison Parks Division and Madison and Dane County Public Health Departments.  It reads:

Mosquito monitoring traps were catching less than 50 mosquitoes per trap per night before this spike. The monitoring done this past Monday and Tuesday(June 24th- 25th) yielded 3,750 mosquitoes per trap. After last fall's flooding, the traps were averaging about 200 mosquitoes per trap per night. 

This news release stating that the mosquito population was over 600 times the normal average was put out at the start of The Giving Tree Band and crew's camping and biking adventure.

*The mosquito and tick population posed an extreme hardship during the camping and recording. Our sound engineer contracted Lyme Disease, but luckily it was treated early enough to not cause any serious health problems.

*The cover design and layout for the album was done by a local Chicago green graphic artist, Jen Husted.

*The booklet insert was designed by Mary Sue Wasielewski and Cara. The booklet features liner notes written by Michael Johnathon, the host of Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour.

*The manufacturing of the album was done using 100 percent post consumer recycled materials and printed with soy based inks.  The CD's were packaged with 100 percent bio wrap, a non-toxic biodegradeable cellouse made from corn.

*Any other carbon created in the manufacturing or shipping and handling was offset via an investment in wind energy.

*All other aspects regarding the making of this album were done with the most environmentally conscious thoughts and care that we at Crooked Creek Records have available to us.  No animals were harmed during the making of this album.





Click here to purchase this green album.