Where have I been - again?

Hallo! I can't believe it's been over 3 years since I last posted. Time really flies when you get distracted doing other things. For those of you who don't follow me on social media (primarily Facebook - and not that I've posted much on there either), here's a bit of a rundown on what's been going on in my life:

1. I started up a cottage bakery and farm stand, selling mostly bread and cookies and some other bakery doo-dads that I felt like making (like the Kouign Amann pictured to the right). I did this in fits and starts for a couple years. It was very popular, but I found it to be challenging to physically meet the demand in my home kitchen, especially during the summer months when it got too hot. So... I've sunset that business in the past few months.

2. I'm still homesteading, preserving, growing and canning as much as I am able to and when I have the gumption to. I'm hoping to blog about some of the improvements my son and I have made to our garden space.

3. Both my kids still live at home. It's been a blessing having them here with me and I appreciate their company and help. I'll be posting about the benefits of having adult kids living at home (22 and 23), both from a financial perspective and others as well as the social criticisms. More on that later.  

4. A few years ago, I started the first draft of a book, Rusty Quail Farm: Losing My Mind in the Mountains, about my adventures out here in the mountains of the Central Cascades. It covered how challenging it is to grow food in this environment, particularly in light of the weather and animals. My publisher told me that that kind of book just doesn't compete anymore with the like of video content and wasn't what they were publishing these days. I feel a bit like I missed the boat, but to be honest, I have a lot more content to add since I started the draft and I might just self-publish. I think it's pretty freaking hilarious so maybe I'll jump back on that bandwagon.

Honestly, I haven't been blogging much because I really felt like there's not much reach with blogging anymore. Obviously, things have changed since I started back in 2007 and YouTube and social media have altered the landscape of how people get information. 

But, that said, even though I don't post anymore, I was surprised to see that my blog still gets over 70,000 hits a month. And, that's just on my old, crusty content. So, perhaps there's an appetite for my nonsense mental meanderings after all. 

Stay tuned...