Everything Else

Lately – A few updates and some very exciting changes ahead!

October 31, 2013

Hi All!  I just wanted to check in with everyone and see how we’re all doing!  I am way behind on my reading and commenting on blogs and I miss you all for it! I will get caught up with everyone ASAP and wanted to, in the meantime, give you all a short update on what’s been happening behind the scenes around here lately!

New Baby – Sprout
As you might know, Sprout joined us at home on October 7th and is absolutely perfect!  She is sweet and easy and has turned our lives completely upside down in every way possible!  I wonder daily how anyone ever gets anything done with a newborn around!  I mean really?!  Between the feeding and changing and gazing lovingly into each others eyes, what else is there time for?  Needless to say, the 24 hours in each day are not enough to get everything (anything) done, despite the lack of actual sleep-time!

New Opportunity – Capper’s Farmer
A couple of months ago I became aware of Capper’s Farmer on facebook, an old magazine with a shot at a new life!  you know Grit and Mother Earth News, right? Welp, Capper’s Farmer was around well before either of them and is experiencing a come-back!  In the midst of this comeback, I was invited to blog for them! So, of course I said yes and have been doing my best to send in a submission form time to time!  The goal is to get up to one or two posts directly on their site each week in addition to continuing to post here 4-6 times per week.  I might be crazy, but that is the goal!  If you haven’t already, pop on over and check out their site!  Also, if you still prefer a hard copy of a magazine to the web version, theirs is gorgeous.  Really.

New Community – Village Green Network
At about the same time I joined up with Capper’s Farmer, I was also accepted into Village Green Network (VGN) as a Featured Publisher.  I applied last summer thinking that, if accepted, I would simply be a part of a community of green/like-minded bloggers that I could learn from and grow with in a casual way.  I couldn’t have been more wrong!  Yes, there is community and learning, but the resounding theme of the majority of the bloggers and the network is the monetization of their blogs in an attempt to make a full time salary while blogging.  Not a bad thing, but definitely a huge learning curve for me!  Yes, I’ve dabbled in bringing in a bit of income through ad spaces and a few giveaways, but what we are encouraged to do is serious business!
So, while I try to find my equilibrium within the network you may have seen a few new things happening in this space…like ads on my sidebar and along the bottom of this page and some amazon affiliate links in the text of some of my posts.  The truth is, I would love to bring in some income from this space since I devote so much time to it.  However, I do not want to lose myself in the process, so I am learning how to find a balance between who I am , what I write about and what I want for the future of this space.
Now, you might be wondering what the heck I mean by “affiliate links”.  Using Amazon affiliate links simply means that there are text links within the body of some of my posts.  If you click on them and are taken to Amazon.com and then purchase anything within the next 24 hours I will receive a small commission (4-8%) on the sale with no extra charge to you what-so-ever.  Alternatively, if you place an item in your Cart after clicking one of my links and purchase it within 30 days, I will also get a small commission (again, with no extra charge to you).  Additionally, you will find a few eBook scattered about that fall under the same premise except that I am working directly with their authors and will receive a higher commission rate (usually anywhere from 30-50%).  These books will only be books I am personally excited about or already own myself and would highly recommend to anyone.
The small amounts of affiliate monies will slowly add up and help contribute to a tiny affiliate income to help support our urban farming endeavors and I am incredibly grateful for every single click a reader makes!
Of course, in addition to all the learning, there is also some f-u-n happening in the way of group giveaways!  Did you check out Octobers giveaway?  Well, guess what?  November’s giveaway is equally awesome! Are you ready for it? Here’s what we’re giving away beginning Nov. 4th…
kitchenaid mixer
Pretty cool, right?  I am very excited about this giveaway and I hope you will be, too!
Also, I have found some awesome homesteader bloggers that I’d like to share with you 😉 If you don’t already know about them, please check out: Five Little Homesteaders, House, Barn, Farm, Blue Yurt Farms, Whistle Pig Hollow, Learning and Yearning, Faulk Farmstead and The Browning Homestead.  All of these women have been immensely helpful in my learning with VGN!
11/14/13 – EDIT
After much deliberation, I decided that Village Green Network is not for me.  I have decided to work on my own and collaborate with other bloggers and individuals without the constraints of contracts and rules.
Everything else in this post remains true and current 🙂 
New Website – Sky Minded & Ever Growing to Ever Growing Farm
After much thought and debate, while becoming more intentional about this space, I have decided to move my blog over to wordpress and essentially re-brand.  I have a dear friend who is helping me with the transition, design and all of my various computer challenges and I am very excited about this transition.  This space will contain all of the same information on organic gardening, chickens, bees, and DIYs, the format will just look quite different (as you can see form the below screenshot).  We will now officially be a dot com and hope to launch the new site sometime in the next week even though there will be still be some dusting to do behind the scenes!

What does this mean for you, my dear readers?  Hopefully it means you will have a better experience  when visiting my space!  Other than that, you shouldn’t have to worry about anything!  If you would like to update your reader or your bookmark when we switch over, please do!  Otherwise, a “re-direct” will be put in place on the old blogger site and you will automatically be directed to the new site when/if you try to come back here.

I am very hopeful that you all will love the new format/site as much as I do! With all the blood, sweat and tears that have been going into it, it better be a good experience for all 😉


New Newsletter – Ever Growing News

Along with the new site, I intend to send out a monthly newsletter highlighting both upcoming and recent content covered on the blog as well as a few tips & tricks and any current giveaways!  I promise not to clog up your inbox every week nor repeat myself incessantly, though I can’t promise there won’t be an occasional “announcement” newsletter if something especially exciting is happening!  Truly, I would prefer to have my newsletter be something my readers actually want to open instead of it being something you dread seeing in your inbox!

There is a sign up area on my sidebar in this space as well as in the new space or you can sign up below right now!  I do hope to see many of you become my newsletter subscribers!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin! Since Google shut down it’s Reader, Bloglovin’ has become my favorite!  Please hop on over and follow me there!

 

Alright, I think that’s enough news for one day, what do you think?  Thank you for sticking with me over the past 2 1/2 years and through this new growth period!  I am very excited to see what the future brings and am so happy to have you share our journey with us!

xoxo,
M

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