Blogging: Cold, Lonely Internet

I know that I have been a little quieter than usual lately, and I apologize for that. It has been quiet here this fall, so there isn't much to write about. The pigs are far enough away that I miss out on their daily antics, and the weekly visits that I make to them don't always result in any kind of real story. The chickens are molting, and therefore not laying, but that isn't much to talk about. The garlic is planted for next year, and the garden has been put to bed for the winter. So, I have been filling the time I usually use for writing with reading other people's blogs and trying to promote my own a little.

I added a fan page on Facebook. As of today, I had SIX "Likes". That is sad, people. I am really pretty disappointed about that. Even adding a link to it on my sidebar isn't helping much, nor was recommending the page to almost everyone I know on Facebook. I do not update every day, so you don't have to worry about me jamming up your feed, if that was your concern. I do, however, post when I put up a new article, and post status updates when something happens that isn't long enough to write an entire story or essay about. If you want to follow me on Facebook, you can use the LIKE button here directly, or see my page HERE (then click LIKE, right?).

I set up a separate Twitter account for the blog as well. Like the Facebook page, it will include short updates, links to new and old posts, and maybe the occasional farm-related joke (I will keep the puns to a minimum, for those who know me personally and who have requested it). Of course you can send me @ replies and direct messages as well, and I will always answer (though not always immediately- I have a day-job, you know). Did I mention that I follow back? Well, I do. Here's my TWITTER PROFILE.



https://twitter.com/StealthFarming



I want to thank you all for your support. I know that we crazy, chicken-chasing, dog-snuggling, wood-splitting, fruit-canning, yard-planting, animal-slaughtering, suburban hicks are a rare breed. This blog, and others like it, are a small niche, and I appreciate each and every one of you. See you on the InterWebz!!

My Dearly Departed Father-In-Law's
Top-of-the-Line Commodore Pet PC
Circa 1984
Belongs in a Museum, right?

Off Topic: Blog Stats

I avoid checking my blog statistics too often. After all, this is a small blog, followed by like-minded people and people I actually know. I don't advertise; I don't go to Blog Hops, and I don't have enough followers on Twitter or Facebook to drive any real traffic here. I don't want to be disappointed when I see how few people are reading the blog that I put so much work into writing, so I usually keep my visits to the blog statistics page infrequent.

Imagine my delight when I recently saw that I had 159 views in one week! I just had to see what I had written that had caused such a buzz. Was it the usual front runner in my stats, the No Shell Egg post? No? It was the Piglet Castration post! I don't consider it my best work, and it certainly doesn't have the most compelling photos or any useful, step-by-step information. In fact, it is little more than a post about me complaining about how dirty and exhausting the process is, with just a sprinkle of me being proud of myself for actually helping out with the process. I must admit, I was surprised to see all those hits.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I just had to look further. Was I getting all those hits from web searches? No. Was I getting them from that "Link Within" widget on my own site? No. Then people must have been following a link from another site! Wait, I thought, that site name kind of sounds like... no, it couldn't be... (after visiting the referring site)... Good Lord... It's an ADULT site!!

(I guess it is clear now why I edited the name of the referring site out of the screen capture above.)

Apparently, since human castrations are illegal in this country except in cases of serious medical issues, there are a group of people out there who indulge their morbid curiosities by researching animal castrations. Again, since I removed the name of the site, I have the uncomfortable job of explaining that my post was of particular interest because I am a woman. (Shudders.)

The Internet is scary sometimes. Maybe I should stop looking at my stats altogether.

Life Is Good: Inspiration

I spent most of the day today nursing a sick dog. It would seem that he got into some (possibly spoiled) trash, and his digestion was suffering for it. The weather was cloudy, cool, and dreary, and any possible hope of doing any outside work was dashed to pieces by the whining of my poor doggie. So, between the emergency runs outside and the cleanup of the accidents inside, I sat at the computer and tried desperately to put to words the many ideas I have come up with over the past few days. The words just would not come. The interruptions were just too great a distraction. So, at 1 pm when the 8 hours of constant doggie-rhea finally ended, instead of writing I took a nap.

When I woke up and went out to fetch the children from the school bus, the sun had come out. It was still a bit chilly outside, but it was nicer. The dog was feeling better; the kids were home and about their chores, and Mr. Farmer was able to coax me outside.

It was a refreshing afternoon. I put on my work gloves, moved some stones for garden walls, and before I knew it I was tying my hair back, taking my sweatshirt off, and really getting down to work. I hauled stone. I hauled soil. I raked up wood chips from the winter wood splitting. I enlisted the help of the bored neighbor boy to haul the chips away. I worked until my back got tired and I could take the hunger no longer. It felt so good!

While I toiled away in the yard, my brain finally woke up. All the ideas I had been working on started coming together. One idea that I had last summer came back to me as I worked on the project I started way back then. I had ideas for new blog posts that almost create a story line.  I started planning the order that I would put my ideas into words and what order I would put them out for everyone to see. I was enjoying the work, and I was looking forward to putting my plans into action.

I suppose I should not be surprised that working outdoors inspired me. This entire blog has been the result of our outdoor lifestyle and our appreciation for hard work. The fresh air and heavy lifting got my blood flowing and my mind alert. In spite of all else, today was a good day.

My Neighbor's GORGEOUS Red Tulips

Life Is Good: Blogging in 2011

"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

When Mr. Farmer says it, he means it as an insult- in spite of the fact that he is frequently both a doer and a teacher. That's OK, though, because the vows that include "love, honor, and obey" do not state "always agree". After all, there are many things that I cannot do, and others that perhaps I'd like to do, and still more that I can do, but choose not to. About these things, instead of teaching, I write.

The blog has been good for me so far. I have always enjoyed writing, but I always thought my life was a bit dull. I never had a knack for inventing stories, either. I do, however, have a small amount of talent for humor and timing. I understand form and format, and my spelling and grammar are above average. Now that I've found a topic that is interesting to some people, I can exercise my skills.

There have been some unintended positive results of the blog as well. Many years ago, Mr. Farmer and I discussed putting together a family cookbook either for posterity or maybe even for profit. The project just never panned out. I even have an folder in my file drawer that contains just two recipes, both of them mine. This blog has a significant cooking section now, and it is turning out to be an excellent start to a project we have been talking about for over 15 years!

I also like the idea of having a record of the things we have done. Some dates could come in handy for comparison for projects that we do year to year, like the garden. I frequently come back here for my pickled egg recipe (which I do not have memorized yet), and maybe next year we won't have to tear the house apart for the Irish Soda Bread recipe. It might be nice to look back at the things we've done with nostalgia. The children could even look back at this one day in the future and think, "I remember the summer that we did that!"

I do most of my writing on Sunday afternoons. The children are out playing with their friends, and Mr. Farmer is taking a break from housework to tinker with this and that. The house is quiet, and I can think. It gives me a nice break from the housework that I usually take over on the weekends so I don't get too exhausted. Sometimes I'll write 3 or 4 entries in a single day, then set them up to post throughout the week to keep things going.

The most fun part, however, is grilling Mr. Farmer for details and following him around with a camera. I'm his own personal Paparazzo. I take my notes, snap my photos, and run back into the house to compose. So, with all respect for my dear husband:

"Those who can, do. Those who can't/won't... WRITE!" 

I'm a Sunset Paparazzo, too.

Off Topic: Searching For Myself

I was reading an article recently that pointed out how a certain company had registered terms and phrases related to homesteading in urban situations as trademarks. The article spelled out how a number of cease and desist letters had been sent to bloggers and other authors using their trademarked terms, and how legal action was actually possible under these circumstances. There was even some controversy, as the terms are apparently common enough that numerous bloggers were using them, and a book had actually been published some 10 years ago with one of those terms in the title!

I had never really thought about the idea of trademarking, especially since almost no one reads my blog. I didn't even really consider the fact that perhaps the term "Stealth Farming" was clever or original. After all, the revelation of the Stealth Bomber in the days of my youth was such a dramatic one that in my generation's lexicon almost anything done secretly or even quietly was referred to as being done in "stealth mode". This article made me think, "Is this movement so widespread that I need to think about a copyright, or even a registered trademark?"

Naturally, all I could do next is a little research to see if the term "Stealth Farming" was actually original. So I visited a few search engines and found that maybe it is! The majority of results from that search were related to the kind of video games where you build your own world, and the farming was actually more of a code word for stealing. I was lead to a few blogs that were similar to my own, where "stealth" and "farming" were used in the same post, but not as a term in and of itself. Oddly, though many blogs were displayed and many of them were from this very same blog-hosting service, mine did not come up in any search engine (but that is an issue for another time). Perhaps my name is original after all!

Mr. Farmer thinks registering a trademark is a good idea. After all, there are a number of blogs like mine out there, and this country continues to grow in population. The more realistic sustainability movement is overtaking the pie-in-the-sky "green" movement on a daily basis. Additionally, this current weak economy is driving folks to creativity regarding how to stay afloat until this passes. Americans are endlessly creative and determined people. Adapting to the changes in the world by combining old technology with new- and combining agriculture with the need to house large numbers of people in limited space- might just be the way of the future. Maybe we won't even need to do it in stealth by the time my grandchildren are on their own. Until then, I'll be keeping the term Stealth Farming. Don't expect a cease and desist letter any time soon, though.

Stealth Pig???