Changes

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cityhippyfarmgirl.com

There has been a few changes round these bloggy pages of late. Some are obvious and some not so obvious. After nearly five years of cityhippyfarmgirl stories, recipes, simple living tips and general waffle, it’s this year that has been a big one for me. Opportunities have jumped up, friendships have been cemented, and some things I’ve had to cut loose.

When I first started blogging, I didn’t do instagram and didn’t do facebook. While I’ll always be a little unsure on the merits of FB, Instagram I’ve loved every inch of. With the addition of both of these social media avenues, along with “everything else”. My posts have been slowly cut to two a week. Gone are the days when I posted every second day. I simply couldn’t keep up. The blogging environment has changed as well, I’ve noticed a massive shift even in the time since I first started. (See this post here, if you are interested from another bloggers perspective.)

So with posts, getting less so, social media time divided, what else am I doing?

earth garden || cityhippyfarmgirl

Well along with ‘other real life stuff’, I was tickled pink to be asked to join the Earth Garden team. I’m now very humbly a regular story contributor to a magazine that I hold in the highest of regards.

EARTH GARDEN is Australia’s original journal of sustainable living for householders seeking a more eco-conscious lifestyle. For more than 40 years the supportive network of Earth Gardeners has been guiding and reflecting the movement away from high- consumption lifestyles. 

If you are a long time reader of cityhippyfarmgirl, you’ll probably guess at how excited I am to be a part of this.

This year, you might have also seen me in Organic Gardener Magazine. This was a one-off, but a really happy one off to be even asked.

Recently you might have seen my name pop up over on the (forever wonderful) Milkwood blog, (excuse me a minute while I squeal with joy) and it might even pop up a few more times!

MILKWOOD We’re dedicated to awesome homesteading skills for city & country – keeping life simple, organic and deliciously real…

Some truly wonderful opportunities indeed, and something I’ve worked really hard for. Writing round these parts is mostly done in snippets, and quite often with a sleeping toddler in my lap. Photographs are taken on the run and emails are returned with an eye on a cooking pot and baking oven. This is how I get things done at the moment, and amazingly… it all seems to work in an odd patchwork kind of work process way.

One thing that remains the same of this tiny corner of the blogging world is you guys, the readers. The people that I have connected with over time, the people who taken the time to comment, and the people who have been so unfailingly supportive. At times I’ve felt like my heart is going to explode with how blown away I’ve felt with your generosity of time, words and incredible kindness. Those connections are gold.

That’s what makes blogging. Right there. Community.

It’s an online community that differs from a real life one, but on so many occasions it’s trickled through to being much more than that. Real life connections, and damn, I’ve loved that.

So thank you for hanging around for the changes and as always, you guys rock- and I’m incredibly thankful for that.

afternoon light || cityhippyfarmgirl

 

 

68 thoughts on “Changes”

  1. Brydie, HUGE congratulations. Really excited for you! 🙂
    You utterly deserve this success. Organic Gardener looks like a great mag – holding a tangible, paper version of your words will be quite a thrill! I’ve been watching the blogging world incrementally change too, with interest and a dash of fear, particularly over the past year. Looking forward to a good read of the Design Sponge article. Alas my quiet time has just ended though… the 7-year old awakes…

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    • Saskia I’d be interested in what you thought about the article. It was a year ago I first read that, and I think in the past year it’s just confirmed everything even more so. Everything is changing all the time that’s for sure. (And thank you lovely.)

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      • I just read the article Brydie. I love how honest/upfront Grace is, and how she values feedback from her readers. I must confess that even Design*Sponge’s email alerts get only a cursory read from me nowadays though. If something grabs my attention I’ll hotfoot it to the actual blog but it’s not an automatic click-through for me any more. I’m really feeling how saturated blogland is, and no longer feel guilty or pressured when I don’t post for a while. It’s so much easier, and quite satisfying, to engage quickly on Facebook or Pinterest (my favourite). Still fighting the urge to join Instagram, but my finger is hovering above the ‘sign up’ button!!
        Everything in Grace’s article rang true. I follow less blogs nowadays (life is just too busy), but really love the ones I do read and connect with, such as yours 🙂 I’m quite interested to see where blogging will be in a year’s time!

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      • I think I know what I like about this blog, besides the beautiful photos and musical words … You don’t need to make another click to go into a web browser. You can read it right there in your InBox. Some others force you to go into a web browser to see the rest. It’s soooo much easier skimming over if you’re in a hurry if it’s there in front of you. Sometimes there’s just no time to do those extra clicks. It helps that I love reading them to begin with. They’re always a lovely length too.

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      • It’s so interesting isn’t it how things have changed over the last few years isn’t it…I wonder where blogland will be in another 5 years. Good to hear your thoughts on this Saskia….ps. Instagram, instagram, instagram….

        Brigitte, it’s interesting you wrote that as I always used to do only a snippit, and then you had to click through (there are reasons why) I had changed it through the year, and then just this week have changed it back again to a snippit. Bare with me, while I work out what’s best…and in the mean time click through!

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  2. We just never know where blogging will take us do we? And you’re right, community is such a pleasurable part of blogging, more so than I ever could have known. Do you know, I have never been on Instagram 😳 . I don’t take that many photos you see, so I have never been able to see the point – as well as what you say – there is only so much time we can spend on social media, and I have chose Facebook and Twitter. I love hearing the journey your blogging has taken you on xo

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  6. Well done Brydie – what fantastic opportunities these sound like – I have joined FB this year and find it fascinating and frustrating – haven’t joined instagram because I resist joining yet another platform and I agree with you that it is healthy to find new activities and friendships but something has gotta go to cope with it all. Your blogging has seemed quite constant and full of lovely musings and photos even if a little less regular.

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  8. Congratulations on these exciting expansions to your writing career Brydie. So well deserved! I cant remember how i came to subscribe to your blog (i think through an instagram connection) but i really appreciate your posts and beautiful photos. Its heartening to see another woman successfully juggling motherhood and her other aspirations! Best wishes on your journey, Melinda Whyman

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    • Juggle is a key word there Melinda. At times it’s a helluva juggle, but… it’s so worth it because they are both damn important to me.
      Thanks for jumping over from insta, they don’t intertwine that much so I’m always happy when someone makes the journey across (jeez, sounds like a battle in a boat! ahh, you know what I mean anyway.)

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  11. Congratulations Brydie!!! So thrilled for you. It’s been a pleasure to read your words, follow your recipes and admire your photos. Thanks for sharing your journey with us. They are lucky to have you on board xxx

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  14. I’m so happy for you Brydie. It’s so wonderful to see someone so lovely getting what they deserve, and have worked so hard for. Might have to buy those mags just so I can point and say “That’s my friend”! (I’ll leave out the ‘never-actually-met’ part. Besides the point!) Congrats, and a huge hug from me x

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  15. Of course we rock Brydie, we’re echoing how you rock us! In a bloggy-mum-friend way I am inordinately proud of your successes this year, I’m proud that you are working your writing into the time you have available. In a few years time when you have a little more time you’ll be ready for even more opportunities which will be coming your way.

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  16. You know what…I actually didn’t notice that you had been blogging less because the quality of your posts is always top notch. So I was feeling just as satisfied with less bites. Plus I love reading your articles in Earth Garden.and wherever else you seem to pop up !
    Having been reading this blog for such a long time, I feel so happy that this journey of yours has lead to you being a writer of some renown in the things that you are passionate about. Well done , Brydie xx

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  18. I am so happy for you. When ever I have the time to read your blog I am always delighted by your words and how sometimes with so few of them you can fully portray a complete concept and feeling. You go girl!!

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  19. Brydie, what wonderful changes you have had this year! Very impressive! I’m very happy for you and hope more good is finding your way. It’s a cliche, but i really don’t know how you do it! I know, you explain it in your text above, but still. You are inspiring, you truly are.
    Have a wonderful sunday, xxx irene

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    • Irene, I don’t know how you run! You find time for the things that you love doing…(and clearly I don’t love running as much as I do writing 🙂 )
      Thank you and I hope the week is a wonderful one for you.

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  20. That’s wonderful news and you really do deserve it! Although I don’t know you (in the flesh), your writing and photography is stunning. Your writing strikes a chord … is almost musical. it just goes to show, if you do what your passion is, something comes our of it. keep following your passion. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and photos.

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  21. Congrats on all of your successes, Brydie. I love reading CHFG and catching up with what is happening in your little part of the world. Each time I read your blog I keep thinking that I need to get some sourdough up and running again.
    Take care and enjoy all of these new challenges and opportunities. X

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  23. Wonderful news Brydie. Your words and pictures always brings a smile to my face. I’m a bit old fashioned in that I like to read my favourite blogs in the evenings (when i can get internet!) and I appreciate the work bloggers put in to their posts. I keep it simple with instagram and FB is not what it use to be. But then you have to keep up otherwise you get left behind hey. The link says it all, very insightful.

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  26. Everything changes and nothing stays the same but how we adapt to those changes is what makes us unique. Your blog shines out for it’s honest desire to reflect sustainability in our neck of the woods. Your beliefs are echoed in every post and our response echoes that honesty. I would have been very surprised if the natural flow hadn’t taken you to the literary sustainable format and am excited that you are starting to spread that passion you share here with a much wider community. Blogging is a way to reach out feelers and find that community, engage with people who just “get” you and feel your way into new territories with support from afar. You deserve every happiness Ms Cityhippyfarmgirl and we will be right there cheering you on from the wings. More Milkwood? “SQUEEEEE!” 🙂

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    • Thank you for being ever supportive Ms Narf. If you lived a tad closer you would probably find me lurking in your garden, (now wouldn’t that be odd) just to get my hands on some ‘real’ garden time, and your garden certainly fits the bill.
      Need a wwoofer or wboofer? (‘willing blogger’ clearly 🙂

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      • HAHAHAHA! You would turn up, take one look at all of the blackberries (that you never see in my photos) and would hightail it out of Tucson in 10 seconds flat (most probably screaming and making the sign of the cross 😉 ). Spent the day relocating a tap into Sanctuary, whipper snipping inside Sanctuary, Moving a small dinghy (previously the duck pond) into Sanctuary to be used as a water wicked strawberry bed and relocating a fridge that half is going to be a worm farm and the other half is going to be a pond (to keep the worms cool in summer and to grow water chestnuts in) into Sanctuary. Lots more planting on the cards, gardening, seed planting and garden joy. I LOVE spring 🙂

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  28. I’ve found that my blog ebbs and flows with all the things that present themselves in my life. It sounds like things are just the same for you. A big congrats to you on embracing all the opportunities that have presented themselves and how easy it is to find the time (even though it may not be uninterrupted time) to spend on those things we’re passionate about xx

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  32. Oh boy, I’ve been so absent in the blog world lately, but I will always take time to sink into your blog, read, look and enjoy fully. You do wonderful work and your hand us such rich, loving, wholesome posts. I’m loving it. And BIG congratulations on your new projects! This is so wonderful and I can see how your fit so perfectly into them. You’re an inspiration Brydie.

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