Don't just sit there.
Let me know about yourself. Now I know there are a lot of lurkers out there in blog land that read this blog. How do I know? because I do it too! (Oh yeah and statcounter tells me so.) The reason I decided to ask for a little shout out from you is because lately I've had a marked increase in readers. Not just that, but I've had a lot of readers from Utah, my home. Where're you coming from all of a sudden? Is it my shameless plugs with the blog address in my signature block. Is it, like some of the link-ins seem to be, by references to friends. Perhaps you found me through one of the networking groups I participate in like Freedom Gardens or Kitchen Gardens International? However you came to stop by here, I wanted to take a minute to welcome you and to invite you to join the conversation, particularly if your local. I've searched around quite a bit, and haven't had a great amount of luck finding a local network of people talking about sustainability or urban farming/homesteading or whatever you want to classify this blog as. (I've seen all of the above references and appreciate all of them.)That is after all what I am trying to do here. One of my main goals is to reach out and find neighbors and people nearby that are interested in this arena. I found as I began to spend more time online, and then again as I began earnestly putting myself out there, that this is truly a movement that is beginning to get legs. I see it in the comments on the local news station news boards I hear it at work in conversations. I hope you'll take my invitation to add your two cents here. I want to know where I stand locally, and where you are.
I've seen a good bit of talk among some of my Pacific North West blogging counterparts about staging a get together. Perhaps someday, we in the intermountain west will have a strong enough presence and community built to do something similar.
Hope this post finds you all well... I'll be out for the next day or two on holiday but I hope to return to lots of feedback... c'mon, you know you want to!
P~
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13 comments:
Mind if I get the ball rolling? Although I'm not in your neck of the woods, I'm on the "dry side" of Oregon, smack in the middle of "high desert". It's supposed to be 36 tonight!
I found you from somebody (no help there) but came back because I like what you have to say.
I am still trying to decide where I am politically, environmentally and in my life. Each of the places I visit give me another perspective that I really appreciate. Thanks!
Other side of the Great Basin here, in Nevada. I think I first found your blog via Down--to--Earth, liked it and bookmarked it, and been checking back ever since.
~Sadge
Hello from upstate NY! We're not natives, rather a Hoosier and Georgia girl the Army saw fit to relocate. We have two small kids (Mancub is 2 and Baby Girl is 8 months) with plans for two more. Once my husband's military career is over (in about 15 years) we have plans to be overseas missionaries. Our goals for a simpler, more sustainable life have little to with politics or social/global responsibility, and more to do with Genesis 1, and issues like contentment and thankfulness. That and, as my husband likes to say, "It'll be nice to have some basic life skills for when the bomb finally DOES drop and we're all left to fend for ourselves and live off the land." He's such an optimist.
Like the Carpenters said, "We've only just begun..." and we're learning little by little better ways to achieve financial and economic freedom by caring for and respecting what we already have. We have a beautiful, and fairly simple life right now, filled with friends, Bible studies, long walks, and no cable (we opted for DSL). I'm so excited about where we are going as a family; it's only getting better from here. :)
Hi there, I too came here from Down--t0--Earth and keep popping back to check on you!
I'm from Oregon as well, but the Willamette Valley.
I found you via one of those awards that have been passed around.
Hi. I'm the Katie B. on the KSL blog. I started reading just yesterday, I am right now living in Southern Utah but I am from Northern Wyoming. We have lived in Utah for 3 years now.
Interesting blog. I was raised on a ranch and have never completely left the lifestyle. Lately I have been thinking that we in the US have become too dependent on technology and that we need to go back to self reliance. We also need to think positive and proactively, instead of panicking about high oil and food prices.
That's what I think.
I'm in Memphis, Tennessee, but I'm on my way out of the city. One of these days - soon as I can - I'm going to have a little homestead too. :)
I have no idea how I found you. From a food blog, or a homesteading blog, but I only remember how I found a blog for like three days, and you've been in my reader for a month or so.
I don't comment often, but I'm beginning to realize that most bloggers really look forward to comments, so I'll try to chime in a bit more often. Keep up the good thinking and writing!
I am from Layton and found your blog from a business card you left at the Syracuse Starbucks. I have lived in UT for about four years. I am originally from San Francisco. I am a daughter of some original "Hippies" When I was 13 my parents moved from the city, bought 25 acres in the Sierra Foothills and we started a new life. We built our own house complete with solar panals to heat our water! We grew our own food, organic of course, raised chickens, pigs, a steer, and had a few horses. I learned to sew, can our harvest, grind wheat, make our own bread, and all that went with it. That was over 30 years ago. When my siblings and I grew up and moved away, and the oil crises of the 70's passed, my parents gave up on a lot of what they had set out to do. They still have great fruit trees and heat their water using solar energy, but like my mother says now, it's cheaper and a lot less work to buy canned veggies! The military brought me here, divorce keeps me here, but I long for that life I had when I was a teenager. I like reading your blog because it feels like deja vu. I am a bit apprehensive about the state of our economy, but I have lived through it before, and there is hope. The green movement is not new, it's just more mainstream now. I have been reducing and recyling for years. I live in a condominium complex that prevents me from doing any gardening except for one tomato plant and a few flowers. My heart yearns for a patch of land, a big ole dog and a typewriter. (To write the great American novel of course!) Maybe one day, but in the meantime I can read about others are doing, and live vicariously through them.
Well, I've been a loyal reader for a while now, having found you through a link on another blog (can't remember which one, prob'ly down to earth). and I comment alot because, as in real life, I'm pretty chatty! :-)
Another Oregon, Willamette Valley resident here. I found you through Down--to--Earth, too, and keep coming back because I identify with much that you have to say. Generally others chime in in the comments, and I don't like to just post "me, too!" comments, but maybe I will next time ;-)
Hi! I'm one of your international readers (in Germany but originally from the US). Came to you via down to earth (i think!). I enjoy your gardening and sustainability posts especially; but I always pop over to see what else you're kicking about additionally, as it's usually gently thought-provoking.
I'm about as native Utah as it gets, except for the original inhabitants of course. I live in a 1922 bungalow in downtown SLC on 1/8 of an acre. I've lived here for almost 15 years and the garden and fruit trees get a little bigger every year. I think there might be about 15 square feet of grass left for the kids,dog, and ducks to play on. I've been canning quite heavily for most of that time, and our neighbors all think we're crazy, so I guess we would qualify as urban homesteaders. I found your blog from the urban homesteader's link on PTF's blog. You are very right about it being hard to find like-minded people in the area. I have noticed a lot more of my neighbors gardening lately though. I don't know if that is because I won't share my tomatoes but I will share my starts and canning advice. It is nice to have another local fighting the fight.
~meadowlark, Thanks for getting things started. I can understand being up in the air on the politics thing, It's a tricky mess. I'm basically conservative on most things but have to go my own way on a lot of stuff.
~Sadge, I was just out in NV this week, Wendover...good times. Thanks for stopping by.
~Katie, Sounds like your near our sister city on the East coast. I hope to get to NY one of these days. I agree with your husband that it will be nice to have some basic providing skills in the future. Hope to get input from you more in the future.
~robbie and scott, Glad to have you stopping by, Rhonda Jean has a great blog, I'll have to thank her again for her support.
~Bruce, Katie B. huh, good thing I wasn't flirting *LOL*. I was raised in the suburbs and honestly have no idea how I ended up like I am. I agree with you totally on the becoming to dependant on tech. I'll not be becoming a luddite or anything, but some basic skills should go a lot way to getting my "out of the loop" a bit. hope you'll keep stopping by. Oh, yeah and thanks for passing the link on to your friend in your So UT group. I appreciate it.
~funder, I've been there too. I wanted out of the "burbs" and to get my own little piece of land, but realized that "one day" is God knows how far away and if I actually could get it tomorrow, I wouldn't have the skills to work it. So I've made it my goal to do as much with what I have as I can, and to build my skillset now, until the dream finds me. You're right about us bloggers liking the comments. Part of it is that we thrive on the interaction. Of course part of it is probably just that we like the attention.
~Anonymous, I'm really happy to hear that that little experiment was fruitful. I had no idea if anyone would even notice the little cards. I love your story, and hope you will share much more often. I don't know how much space you have but you should stop by Freedomgardeners.org there's a lot of great gardeners there and some are doing a lot with a small amount of space.
~Rural Aspirations, And I'm so glad your here, and so glad your as chatty as you are.
~Mary, I'm beginning to think the Willamette Valley is the place to be and I didn't get the memo. Don't worry about sounding "me too-ish". All comments are welcome.
~heather, Yeah, I'm always up to something or other. Thanks for the kind words.
~michelle, Well, I'm happy to have another soldier in the fight for homesteading freedom!! *smile* And double glad that I now know for sure that I'm not alone here in UT. Hopefully we can spread the word a little more and help "grow the future".
Glad you all decided to play along with my excersize in "vanity". I appreciate all your input and your time. Hope I can continue earning it.
P~
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