Happy anniversary! Cottage Smallholder is three years old today
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Cottage tales | 38 comments
Photo: Ripe plums
It was a cold and wet day in August when I started this blog. Danny set up the software and I hovered in the background impatient to make a start. By the time everything was ready to go I looked at the default message on the first Classic WordPress screen. Two simple words stared out at me.
“Hello world.” All enthusiasm was punctured with a phut.
“Well what are you going to write?”
“I certainly wouldn’t have started like that.”
In fact I hadn’t actually thought about what to write about. I glanced around the kitchen and spotted The Contessa lolling in an elegant basket on top of the puppy’s cage. And today she lies beside me under the capacious white duvet that covers the human dog basket. The weather is the same, cold and wet and drab but so much else has changed over the last three years.
The blog is no chatty 3 year old toddler. It’s more of a wise friend. Nudging us to share what we discovered. Encouraging us to experiment, reflect and search further. The blog has brought a focus to our lives. We have learnt so much, had loads of fun and ‘met’ so many people. Blogging is a community activity after all and our lives have become richer and more rounded as a result.
There are 1,052 articles here as of today. You contributed most of the 12,804 comments that make up the bulk of Cottage Smallholder content. Thank you all for that magnificent contribution, for reading this blog and helping us grow.
My first blog post 12 Aug 2006
Leave a reply
Hi Mnemosyne
Thank you for dropping by!
Hi KarenO
Thanks for all your support much appreciated.
Sorry have been offline for over a week so missed this – but HAPPY ANNIVERSARY anyway. Love the blog and you are so dedicated to write it so regularly and reply to the comments, so a big thank you. Glad you’re feeling a bit better too.
Happy happy happy birthday and many more! So glad to have found you!
Hi Carol
Thanks for dropping by!
Hello Domestic Executive
Yes blogging is a real journey – I would never have expected that to happen.
Hi Belinda
Thanks for your good wishes 🙂
Girls & guys – thank you so very much for leaving a comment to mark Fiona’s blog 3rd anniversary. Maybe you have guessed, and she might never admit it, but your comments are a major part of the fuel that keeps her going. The first 6 months were a little desperate, with few responses, until her blog finally gained momentum. That’s a long time to be putting articles and feelers out into the ether with little feedback.
But she is the most persistent, persevering person that I have ever met, and that is what it takes to build a successful blog IMO. Never quit.
Lest she gets a big head when she reads this, may I temper the adulation with two small but amusing home truths:
Truth #1:
She has been feeling slightly better these past few days and this afternoon she ventured forth to do the weekly shop. Unfortunately, she did not pick up the shopping list in her way out of the door. She arrived in the supermarket and opened a recipe for pickled walnuts! I blame Magic Cochin 🙂 Where are my onion rings?
Truth #2:
Fiona is a natural born magpie. She has a deep rooted pathological aversion to throwing ANYTHING away. I cooked brunch at lunchtime and poked through the fridge to find bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns etc. As you do.
Couldn’t find tomatoes, but I did retrieve certain suspect and abhorrent substances – leftovers that were carefully stored in small dishes and had undergone the mandatory 3-week storage period before being discarded. I retrieved seven of these offerings to the Fridge Gods. She carefully examined each one and explained her rationale for retaining them before I was allowed to dump the lot. 🙂
I will suffer for this!
Happy Bday CSH! Sorry I missed it.Mwah!
I remember the first day I started blogging and it was much like yours. Congratulations on creating a haven for other bloggers to share in your world. You’ve been an inspiration for me and I’m planning a new blog to get more serious and more focused about growing and food. I know the effort it takes to blog so thanks for all yours.
Happy third blogiversary! – better late than never – I’ve been away from the computer for a few days and am just catching up.