All day long I’ve been dithering… there is stuff going on at the farm (there is always stuff going on at the farm) and this is technically a farm blog so I’m sure I could come up with a suitably farm-y topic. But I’ve also been having a lot of fun playing with some of those photos I took up in Kelowna (which is definitely not on the farm).
Here’s one:
And, here’s another that could, without too much of a stretch, also be included in today’s Daily Prompt Challenge: ENCHANTMENT
But neither was taken here… and really, they are as much about fooling around with some basic photo editing techniques I don’t generally bother with as they are about any particular topic…
So, my question is this: Does it matter? Does a blog with the name “Dark Creek Farm” always have to be about the farm? Should I start a different blog for stuff like this? (I see lots of people who seem to maintain multiple blogs… to me, this seems like some kind of insanity, but if people get annoyed because they come here expecting to see frozen water buckets, I don’t want to be too irritating…) Should I force my creative powers to somehow relate creepy red skies and frosty winter scenes from my travels to relate back to my life here at the homestead? (I was, technically, digesting a home-grown turkey while I was out on that photo walk…) What is the protocol? Or are we inventing protocol as we go along?
Given this is the first day of a brand spanking new year, I’m a bit loathe to merrily set off on the wrong foot, but given that these photos took up my designated blogging creative time, I’m afraid that’s all I’ve got! Maybe this is the perfect spot to insert a quickie poll.
darkcreekfarmdotcom 
See if you can sort this out: I like blogs that are about *something.* I don’t like blogs that are not about something. But the something doesn’t have to be exclusive.
For example, I’ve un-followed at least one blog I thought was a quilting blog, but it really was a quilter’s blog, and was at least as much about her grandchildren as about her quilting. The kids are cute, but it’s a family record, and I don’t care much…
I’ve also un-followed a blog I found didn’t have a center. Each post was primarily a list of … different things depending on the day.
That said, Jim and I decided to create Our View from Iowa to post any topic we chose. So is there a theme or a *something*? Well, I would say YES, as it is a theme or something about us and how we see things, though the topics vary.
And Catbird Quilt Studio is designed to be about quilting and its peripheral topics, not about travel or baking. That said, I’d feel comfortable posting recipes there for great food to take to a quilting retreat…
So “farm*… I think *farm* could be a pretty inclusive topic, spreading its arms in a variety of ways. Farming touches everything. Surprise us. Enjoy. Experiment…
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Most people enjoy some eye candy. Farming has a flow that goes in spurts. There are down and reflective times. There are tsunamis of activity. When you get opportunity, show us things like this. It is who you are. It is about where you live. I think that is why we blog and follow others. We want connection.
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Farming is a lifestyle not just a livelihood, so your blog is as much about your life as it is about hauling water, and thankfully is not entirely filled with water buckets, or it would be rather a dull blog. Who has time to write multiple blogs to keep all the different threads of their life going? And what’s the purpose of the blog anyway? Journal? Sharing? Expression? It can be whatever you want, right? As Melanie pointed out, if it doesn’t interest some people, they just won’t read it. And it doesn’t matter, because other people will.
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I’m a teacher, an archaeologist, and a micro-scale farmer. I am a single mom, a grandmother, and a writer. I tend to talk too much. I’ve tried having two blogs, one for the farm and one for the rest of life. I don’t have the time. And, really, I don’t have the inclination. For me, it all ties together. If people who want farm and sustainable ag only find too much personal stuff here, then they are free to not read. If farming-only people don’t like my academic rants, they are free to not follow. I enjoy reading everything you post. I follow another blog that is incredibly informative but it is all the farm all the time. I find myself wondering a bit about what some of the contributors are really thinking and feeling. Would we ask Wendell Berry to stop with the poetry, already? Or with his various reflections in his various books? Go for it — you have a great blog here!
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You are capturing the life of an actual farmer in all its aspects. If you could read a farmer’s memoirs from 400 years ago, you would be interested in his/her travels, and interests, and thoughts, as well as daily farm chores, right? So I think you can show your audience all the things in life that interest you.
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I think your blog should be about you. Your farm. Your world. Your thoughts. It’s your blog. Enjoy the freedom!
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Oh my wonderful bloggy friends – thank you!! I read all your comments and as I did so could not help but smil and nod and marvel at just how cool this community is. Yes, of course Wendell Berry is who he is because he has dirt under his fingernails AND writes poetry – and yes, I would love to know ALL about the secret lives of farmers 400 years ago (or, today – in Botswana, for that matter), and yes, I agree that a blog that is all about one narrow subject and only that one subject tends to get a bit tedious… It is fascinating to me that all these caring, thoughtful comments are, without exception, from bloggers whose blogs I read and enjoy precisely because of their variety and personality… We are not unidimensional, so why should our blogs be so? It all seems so very obvious when you point it out like that! I feel hugely relieved and will carry on and not fret again… for a while… until I fret again. At which point, you will all promptly set me straight.
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Visuals are key, and yours are beautiful. Choose any topic you like, but find a way to tie it back into the overall blog theme.
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You are on the FARM. Therefore, you can write about YOU.
Frankly – life would be too boring if it was non-stop this or that.
Let loose. Go for it.
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In the Healing Garden we spent considerable time looking over the three dots for your survey. Thankfully, our ability to recognize paralysis by analysis still remains. Understandably. It is cabin fever season.
If the question were, “Choose which of three cabbages to harvest for dinner…” When we in the Healing Garden perch our awareness along Dark Creek, we are at a place. This sense of place blends the all places made by the Life sharing this same place. Near and Far. Now and Before. Hopefully After. It is an inner and outer place. Life is always more than the sum of the parts marking our places. Here in the Healing Garden, our most satisfying eye candy relates to the juxtaposition between these inner and outer places.
Maybe the inner place is a very small cult of one. Maybe the outer place is quotidian. In the relationship between our inner worlds, and our every day outer worlds, and the places where we define our community, we find deep meaning. These places are like rivers of dialog. Each river crossing is different. Each time the river is different.
In the Healing Garden, we are always looking for clues of meaningful human activity. There are signs of it everywhere, here, all the way from the hog pen to Kelowna. – The Healing Garden gardener
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