Tags
000 views, Basketry, Blog Exceeds 75, Blog In the Past, Blog where we are Headed, chair caning, Heritage Basket Studio & Chair Caning, seat weaving
Today this blog exceeded 75,000 views, which is amazing to me considering when I stared it in April 2009, I was hopeful that one person would find it online. I remember one day when writing a post, thinking wow, perhaps one day a long time from now I may just have 10,000 views, never thinking that it would ever get this far and be headed for 100,000 views.
In the beginning this blog was started for advertising and promoting basketry, hand caning and the various forms of seat weaving, over the years it has taken on a wide variety of topics, such as mentioned above, and including Old Order Mennonite Life in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Gardening, both flower and vegetable, it was at that point that I included posts on home canning, freezing and dehydrating.
Many requests over the years came from friends that I had met on the internet and subscribers to my blog wanting Mennonite and Amish recipes, as they knew that I had been Old Order Mennonite (horse and buggy) during me mid teens to mid twenties, and that I loved to cook and share recipes used by the Mennonites and Amish. It was at that time when I started including those recipes as well as the home canning that and explosion in growth occurred on the blog.
Around 2006 and unfortunately going through to this day, were some pretty lean times for me, however the blog and its posts are what kept me going, it actually caused me to eat better, during those lean times, as in order to prepare posts, I had to make do with what I had on hand and learn to stretch what I had, hence recipes on a shoestring occurred. preparing foods for my well being as well a writing posts to the blog,, this was a great success, as these years were full of depression for me, robbing Peter to pay Paul was a daily occurrence something I did not like to do,, however sometimes we just have to do it. In short during these past 7 years cooking on a budget in short how can you create a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. It can be done as I have discovered, it just takes some patient thinking, experimentation.
Since 2009, writing for the blog has been a real life saver for me, writing posts have helped me to release tensions built up by taking my mind off of the situation at hand that I could not change. Over the past two years very nice opportunities with my baskets and chair caning, however the circumstances resulting from 2006 forward are making it very tough to take full advantage of the current opportunities being offered to me. I really hate this as I love writing posts about basketry and chair caning, which I really like to remind people of the hand labor involved in this dying art form of hand caning and seat weaving, as well as the intricate complexities of various forms of basketry. I have been looking forward to being able to post and post pictures of the baskets and chairs that I do as well. However it is looking as if I will have to re-invent myself once again as an artist but the coming month will decide if I can continue in basketry and chair caning or turn to new art forms.
I am hoping that basketry and chair caning can continue, however life is all about being able to re-invent ones self during tough times. I will add here that the blog will continue as well as the website that is being worked on, in which I will sell, the art that I create whatever that may be. I look forward to seeing where the blog will go from here.
As far as readers, subscribers and those that are new to finding my blog, it has had a steady growth over the past 4 years. seeing a rise in readership from several hundred per month, to an average last year of 2,500 per month to the current trend of closing on 6,000 views for the month of July.
I am always happy if my blog can help people find the information they are seeking in any of its categories. I want to thank each and everyone that reads and subscribes to my blog. THANK YOU ALL!