Coming soon: new posts
Did you miss me? In two weeks, Beyond the Grid will be back
Jimmy.
Hi everyone. First of all, let me say how grateful I am to all of you subscribing even though I haven’t produced any content in months (maybe that’s why you’re still here? LOL).
Last August I took a new job as a deputy editor with a business to business publication on technology, and it’s kept me so busy I didn’t have the time or the appetite to write outside of it.
But on New Year’s Day, following the death of my beloved Australian Shepherd - Jimmy - I decided to drop down to part-time starting in February. Much of the motivation for that change came from the fact that in the last six months of Jimmy’s life I was tied to the computer, and didn’t have the time to spend with him. But on New Year’s Day, after we had to have him put down because of his incurable tumours (one of which had burst and began bleeding), I resolved to change my life, and focus on what brings me joy - and that includes my loved ones.
By dropping down to three days a week at work I will have the energy to renew my commitment to this newsletter.
A further help is yesterday I discovered I am one of 600 people accepted to the Substack (the company that hosts my newsletter and runs the underlying technology) Go program. The program is designed for both beginning and veteran writers, and is meant to help us find a regular publishing cadence. Six hundred sounds like a lot, but not when you realize tens of thousands of people are currently producing Substacks. I’m absolutely thrilled to be in the first Substack Go cohort, as are all of my other cohort members. I’ve already made friendships as far away as New Zealand, and signed up for other individuals’ Substacks.
I am really looking forward to opening up the conversation again with you, my readers, and introducing new content, and refining what I’ve done previously.
I'm so sorry about the loss of Jimmy! My condolences. 🐾
Though I wouldn't call myself an environmental activist, I'm definitely a conservationist. I'm a big believer in nurturing land and decreasing the use toxic chemicals. I spent a year doing an organic urban farming apprenticeship & learned so much. For example, most larger scale organic farm vegetables are grown with blood (or feathers & feces) from animals in CAFO's, which means even organics have some traces of petroleum and other nasty things (which also means most vegetables are not vegan!). I also am interested in green-washing and how some environmental solutions actually cause more damage to the earth and people.
I look forward to reading your tales from beyond the grid and hope this Substack Go program will help you reestablish your voice in this space.