I’ve been feeling that familiar yearning to return to an art I’ve cherished since I learned to hold a pencil. It’s the yearning to write—to transform my surroundings into a story on paper.
It comes as naturally to me as breathing, and when I turn my back on it for too long, it’s as painful as holding your breath underwater, not knowing when you’ll reach the surface.
I know firsthand from the time I nearly drowned in a lake because my foot got stuck in the weeds when I was swimming beneath the surface. I freed myself before anyone noticed I was missing. It must have only been a few seconds, but down there, it added years to my life in a matter of moments.
When I began this blog, I had one mission: to share my passion for homemaking. I began boldly by proclaiming my faith and belief in biblical family structures. My first mistake was doing this on social media, where I was praised and penalized. Over the following nearly three years, I struggled with being seen as either a leader or an enemy, depending on where your beliefs landed.
At no point did I want to be either of these things.
I wanted to be like a helpful neighbour, sharing my wisdom of homemaking or, perhaps, an author illustrating the art of seasonal homemaking. I didn’t want to delegate my life to a nearly-instant conversation with so many different voices. However, I was grateful anyone had cared to listen to me at all, so I remained and continued to try to figure out the world of being a ‘social media influencer.’
What I figured out is that it isn’t worth the hype.
I don’t care to go over every inch of it, but here’s what was consuming my time: algorithms, SEO, content calendars, content creation, photography, hashtags, keywords, comments, and more.
What I wanted to consume my time was life—and then sharing about it as it happened.
I don’t want to live a staged life where my time is set to a schedule I made weeks ago. I don’t know precisely when all produce comes into season, or the last frost settles, or when I’ll be able to get certain ingredients or others. I don’t know when I’ll have extra linen to practice fabric dying or when I’ll be gifted a bouquet of flowers that I’ll eventually turn into dried flowers or paints.
And I certainly don’t want to spend my entire life feeling the urgent need to reply to comments and messages, lest the Meta Gods push my content down and no one sees what I’m doing anymore.
So, I’m back to plain and simple blogging. Perhaps with a bit of SEO, but nothing major. And certainly, with no hyper-specific niche or professional photography.
Just me, my words, and the blank page in front of me, reflecting on the day or week I’ve had and sharing the tips, recipes, or skills I’ve learned.
I’d like this to be a journal that serves as an ode to seasonal living. One that tracks how I predict and react to the turning of the weather and availability- or lack thereof- of various types of produce.
It’s true, I believe in biblical families, and I have ‘radical’ views of femininity and a women’s role when compared to the modern narrative our mainstream society spouts. You will see evidence of this throughout each post I write. But I’m not here to be an influencer of any sort.
I’ve only been going to church again since May of 2024, and I’ve only been a homemaker for eight years. I’m hardly qualified to be any sort of influencer in any of this. Talk to an elder woman in your family or church if you’re looking for an influencer. She’ll know what to tell you.
As for me, I’m just writing about my seasonal life and hoping, in some way, we can fellowship over this.
Do you care to pour a cup of coffee and join me?
I’ll begin posting updates of our life just as soon as this goes live.
God bless,
Julie
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