Recently as I waft about the internet I have come across many references to the decline of the blog as we know it. Many people who started out at the same time as thekitchensgarden have disappeared off the blog map. Many are disillusioned and wanting to be involved still but batteries are running low. Many feel they are sending out messages in bottles. Some of you have even commented on this in your blogs.
But I still do not believe that the age of the blog is done. But maybe blogs need to change. Maybe there needs to be more of the US and less of the ME.
True, the real monetised blog is a very rare thing now and those who do make money from their blogs work a full time week to ensure they make money from it. But reading good blogs still has its place and , more than that, the conversations that result in the comments sections of blogs are pretty important too. In fact I think that this dialogue is critical. This is the US bit. 
So I am proposing two new pages to this blog. The Library page and Our Cottage Industries page.
(Of course my daily farm page will not change. And nor will it be affected by the new pages. After all I write the farm page – you will be writing in the new pages).
The Fellowship (you – my readers), The Fellowship of the Farmy, have blended yourself into a network of sorts. We have one important page already the Join Us page where we introduce ourselves to the other readers. Many of you comment and even more just read and sometimes you even answer each others comments. I want to take this a step further. I want to set up these two new pages where the comments are the reason for the pages to exist. I want to give you two new pages where the comments ARE the blog.
I want to extend our network and take one area of this blog world in a new direction with new challenges and really build on our relationships – create new networks in a very modern sense, let’s jump on and see where this vehicle takes us. The two new pages are all about you. Not me. I will only be the hostess.
The two new pages can be found under MENU – see above.
The first page will be Our Cottage Industry page. So we can really focus on supporting small home industries. Your industry. Many of you work from home, many of you sell on the internet, or in markets, many small businesses are women led and I for one really want to support these initiatives. So, go into the comments of the Cottage Industry page and tell us what you have for sale. Come on – we want to know!
This may be a small page but I bet you it will be an inspiring one.
Do you make soap or jewellery or chicken houses? Are you an artist, do you knit hats, sew aprons or ballgowns, sell antiques, do you have an etsy shop or a webpage to promote your wares. Do you have a CSA, sell eggs or pasture raised pork or vegetables. OK. Leave your link and a wee description in the comments on the Cottage Industry page. And where you are based – you do not need to be specific but if you are weaving rugs in Turkey, quilts in Australia, or making soap in Missouri, or pottery jugs in Chicago, or wedding photography in Wellington, you just never know who might get in touch or be just down the road.
What a wonderful thing it would be if we were searching for that perfect birthday present and were able to buy it from one of The Fellowship and support our own people. We are going Personal. Forget Global we are that already, Global is so Tuesday anyway, we can’t get more global, now we are going Personal. Think small, lift each other up and think of how we can support each other and promote each other and enrich each others lives in the process. Let’s work together.
If you think Big Business is taking up too much room let’s find all the Little Local Businesses with integrity and quality and show them to each other.
The second new page will be The Library.
If you read a book and love it: jot down the title and author and genre in the comments of this new page.
If you have written a book and want to tell us about it – write about it in the comments of this page.
I will find all our previous book lists and add the links to this page too. Now we start afresh and our 2017 list will be current and growing as we read and write. No need for a cattle call of books – we can check the page anytime we like.
We have a very strong community of readers right here. Many bright clever people. You belong. I hear from many of you. Many of you have good strong voices. Use them. We have a wealth of talent in our own little village. Let’s share our strengths and use this blog as a spiders web of real connections.
And yes – I AM THE SPIDER!! ha ha ha ha. No not really – more of a squirrel.
Anyway – what do you think? Can we pull it off?
Can you and I make a change in the blog world and build from the networks we have already begun constructing. Shine a light on the readers – the most important members of this blog.
Have a lovely day.
Love c
The Kitchen's Garden 
112 responses to “Intro-Ducing Two New Pages”
Great idea.
I hope so. You could advertise your bed and breakfast in the Cottage Industry page. Many of the fellowship travel. c
Good idea, thanks.
What a fun idea! I usually read this blog early, before many of the Fellowship has commented, then don’t necessarily come back to read later comments so I’m often curious about the folks who make up this community. It will be interesting to explore more about all your interests / hobbies / lives–almost like having another whole new blog to read. And book lists…I can never have too many book lists!
My personal blog has had it’s ups and downs, but through it I have connected to a small group of virtual friends who support and brighten my life, and I hope that I do some of that for them as well.
And by the way Miss C-that soap looks like vanilla fudge, ready for a little nibble 🙂
Vanilla Fudge! Maybe i should make some before I finish milking! c
Well YES!
I’m close..I could taste it for you!
great idea…..your observations are spot on and I look forward to seeing and reading everyone’s take on this new approach to blogging.
I have had several blogs since 2006….. and this idea makes me think about how I can do things a bit differently! Thanks!
Hi Kathe, Re-purposing! I love the idea of a little internet village of shops and shoppers, and travellers and good things.
I love how you keep reinventing yourself and taking us all along with you too. All your soap looks beautiful, the new pages are a great idea. Laura
yes, lets see – already there are a few good ideas in the Cottage Industry page.. c
Love the new pages ideas! I will check them out regularly. I have begun a Google map where I can save locations of the bloggers I am in daily contact with. For me that was a sign that I’m thinking of these people as ‘more’ than a quick stop and look experience. I have enjoyed adding a landscape to my thoughts of their experiences. Perhaps a page with a link to a shared Google map would be interesting too. We could put our names and a picture of either us or our landscape to add another dimension to the appreciation of the Fellowship.
What a great idea, i am sure your map is wonderful to see! c
Whatever it takes to keep you blogging and the Fellowship vital, I’m for it. Mostly I just read blogs and don’t take time to comment but I value yours so much – and I like to hear about YOU.
Margaret
I will be blogging for a while yet, as long as I am farming probably.. c
I am so far behind reading since my trip up north! I think your new pages are excellent ideas. I am all about supporting each other, and buying local – supporting others who are like-minded, promoting a better way of life. I marvel at how you manage to put a daily post out. It’s inspiring to me, and whether I read your prose first thing in the morning or just before bedtime or a day or five later, it’s a feel good read that reaches the depths of my soul in some way. I tend to stick with bloggers who nourish me with thoughts, ideas, or simple considerations. I feel like a little sponge in this life… and I have connected with some wonderful people here. I come back every day to be involved in the Fellowship – to feel a part of a very special community.
The kitchensgarden readers really are a special bunch – and don’t worry about reading back or doing a catch up here – just jump straight back in – it is a slow moving soap opera – you can pop in once a week and still be up to date!! laughter! AHA I can hear Tima on the verandah knocking over all the buckets – the monster is out – this morning during chores she lifted her gate and pulled it off the hinges, it hung there on its hook and she walked straight under it – naughty pig
The naughty ones always delight me! I can never be vexed with them. Ha ha!
Thank you! It took only about 5 seconds to find someone near me on the Cottage Industry page!
That is exciting! I love that! c
I have long been unhappy reading a blog that is nothing but advertising. Sometimes it can take way too long to get through the meat of the blog because of the ads popping up here and there and everywhere. I like a nice clean, to the point, sorta blog.
Excellent idea, Miss C.
Linda
There are lots of ad blocking software program’s. Here is an example: https://adblockplus.org/en/chrome Just click on your browser icon. And it’s free.
OH! I didn’t know that! Thank you!
You’re more than welcome. My husband is a very techie fellow. He told me about it.
Thanks Kim!! c
I so appreciate it!
Great idea, I’ll have to add a comment in cottage industries, although it will be on behalf of my industrious better half who remains blog shy 🙂
That is great! You never know who is reading from that side of the world – have a good one, Eddy! c
I can thank you for one sale already 🙂 Cheers C!
Wonderful idea, Celi. I find the blogs I follow from comments on blogs I’m already reading and now I find them everywhere I go. Katechiconi reads many of the same blogs I read and we crisscross paths with so many others. It is like an extended family. We all care about one another. The comments are like writing a small note to the person who has written the blog. I rarely post more than twice a month. I’m not that interesting and I don’t want to drive readers to boredom. I learn from each of you and that is what keeps me blogging. Connection and learning. I love my visits here even though i have no farm. You have a great deal of substance here. Something for everyone.
Yes it is lovely how we all bump into each other – the blogging community is so inclusive! c
this has inspired me to finally figure out how to leave a comment here. so…will type this in and see if it works?
I know that reading your thoughts, seeing the photographs is huge inspiration for commitment to the animal
beings we share Life with. I was linked to you by a blog friend in Australia about a year ago. These connections
change our sense of Place on the planet, our sense of one~ness. They strengthen the Goodness.
Hello Grace, waving from Australia xx
O!!! YES!…Hello…..here WE are!!!!!
Will your soap-making be a cottage industry? Because I would really love to try the Ugly Soap! 🙂
You got through!! Yay! I never make enough soap to sell on much of a scale. Maybe I should think about it though. I would be happy to sell you a bar or two once it has cured though. c
Oh hooray! I actually commented on your soap post, because I was hoping…
Thank you for doing whatever you did that got me admitted for comments again 🙂
A great idea. I will check it out.
Thank you Mama, enjoy your evening! c
I’ve been writing my blog for ten years; I have seen many come and go. I will continue to do so long as I have a an itch to scratch about writing. I hope others feels that way as well, for I do like reading other people’s prose.
Ten years! That is great. I am a newbie! I think I am coming up for six years. Yes i think there will still be blogs – for me it is part of the routine in my day. I actually would be a sad person withOUT my blog – and the link it creates to the readers. c