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Administrative note in response to a comment left on a recent post expressing distress over my lack of response to a question……. This blog is a work of love, not my fulltime job. I wish it was my fulltime job. I would love nothing better than for this blog to be my fulltime job. This blog is my passion. I willingly and unstintingly (and to my family’s detriment at times) devote time to this blog. I love writing this blog! I love to make people happy, and I think, in a way, maybe a small way, that I make people happy when they come here. That is what I want to do, and what I strive to do, every day. I am the type of person who finds personal fulfillment in making other people happy, so to that measure, this is a selfish endeavor. (Just sayin’. Not pretending this is some kind of selfless act.) I do this because it makes me feel good if I can make you feel good. That is why I’m here.
I get questions on a daily basis not only on current posts but also on older posts from people who come to my previously-posted recipes via search engines, as well as questions in emails. There is a lot of activity on this site that is not visible here on the main page of the blog. Sometimes I fail to answer a question in a timely way. Sometimes I even get distracted and COMPLETELY FORGET to answer. At all. This is not in any way a lack of desire on my part, but simply a factor of quantity vs one person. I am one person, with three goats and eleven chickens and two dogs and eight cats (EIGHT CATS!!!) and three children. I work from the time I wake up in the morning until I go to bed at night, in various ways and on various projects, trying to scratch out a living, and in between I take care of my farm and my family and my passion–this blog. Every comment, every question, every email, and every forum post is a blessing to me, even when–sometimes–it can be overwhelming, so this is no complaint, simply a reality check (for me, because I have refused to ask for help before now). There is no slew of people running this website. It’s just me.
I know that you are busy, too, but there is a way that you could help, if you would like to and are in the position to do it. There are six categories on the forum. The Farmhouse Table, Just Recipes, Primitive Crafts & Country Style, The Old Barn, The Country Garden, and Living the Country Dream. I read every forum post as quickly as possible because I am concerned about the potential for spamming or flaming on the forum. I would read every forum post anyway because I love the forum and it’s so much fun, but I put a great priority on monitoring the forum in an urgent sense, which is often distracting from questions in comments or emails, and generally tends to divide me in a dozen pieces and makes me forget to answer people. I get online and there are so many questions, emails, and forum posts–I’m trying to prioritize and I read the forum first to make sure everything is okay because keeping my forum a safe and warm and happy place is a responsibility I take seriously. Then I run out of time and forget that I had a question in email or the comments, and I have three kids standing over me demanding dinner. (They are so demanding when they’re hungry!)
If six people who are already active and involved on the forum would like to volunteer to help me monitor one category each (six people who are free enough to check in at least a couple of times a day so that they can read their forum category in a timely way and be responsible for monitoring it so that I could relax, knowing that if they spotted trouble, they would alert me), that would help me quite a bit. Then I could read forum posts without so much panicky urgency and give less distracted attention to the questions and emails I receive. Unfortunately, I can offer no compensation for this other than my undying gratitude.
Anyone? Six anyones? (If you’re willing, let me know in the comments on this post and also which category you would like to monitor.)
And if you emailed me or asked me a question in the comments and I didn’t answer, will you do me a favor? Ask me again. I want to answer you. I’m blessed that you would even ask me–that is my attitude. Attitude of gratitude is my goal, every day, in every way, especially about this blog and about each one of you. (Even the ones who lurk and I have no idea who you are–I am grateful for you, too! I love you, lurkers.) So please, if you ask me a question or send me an email and I don’t respond, give me the benefit of the doubt and ask me again……..
P.S. The chickens have been feeling very left out lately, so I must add this photo to show you how they decorated their coop for the holidays! Festive little devils, aren’t they?
P.P.S. Clover and I have endured our holiday photo shoot now and we both survived. (Pay no heed to those hoof prints on my back.) Don’t miss “A Very Clover Christmas” on Christmas Day!
