Hey! I'm not sure if you remember me, but it's Karen. Let me tell you a bit about myself.
My name's Karen and I'm a blogger who does a lot of stuff. What does that involve? At the moment it involves a lot of slack jawed drooling. I've been locked to my desk for the past 2 weeks going through close to 2,000 of my posts deciding which ones to delete and which ones to keep and update. I've also spent a lot of time contemplating some of my life choices up to this point.
To put it plainly this is a nightmare and I hate every single second of it because it makes me antsy and bored at the same time which results in me wanting to scratch everyone's eyes out. I basically feel like I'm in jail without any of the cool stuff like having your meals prepared for you and learning how how to make a shiv out of hardened toilet paper.
So why the hell? Why the hell am I doing this exactly?
The reason I'm doing this is twofold. Because of Google and because of you. So mainly you're to blame and you should be the ones to buy me salve for the chapped corners of my mouth from all the boredom drooling.
A little bit about Google and how it works. You know when you search for something on Google? Say - a hamburger recipe? Well 99% of people will search for that on Google and never scroll beyond the very first page of Google suggestions. Because we figure the ones on the first page are the very best hamburger recipes. So as a creator of content, if you don't come up on the very first page in Google results you're doomed to a life of eating crickets and living under a dirty couch on someone's porch.
Google judges where it "ranks" you by how good your content is. How well written it is, if all of your photos have text built into them (alt text), if you use subheadings to make scrolling for information easy, and how well you cover every single aspect of the topic you're talking about. Google is looking for a certain type of structured post that has up to date, good information that's easy to read. I do that now. That is how I write my posts now. But 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 years ago? No. So I have to go through all those posts and make them friendlier for Google to say Hey! Look at that! That's a good post with updated information and pretty pictures! We like that!
And as far as you go, I have to do the same for you, the readers. I can't just throw a post out 6 years ago and forget about it because that's great information you're not learning about if you're new here. And if you aren't new here, I might have more information about that topic now. Or better pictures, or great tips that I didn't know about 6 years ago. Like garlic. I've been growing garlic since I was a teenager but in the past 6 years I've learned even more about it than when I first posted about growing garlic. So, tomorrow, I'm publishing my new how to grow garlic post. That's "just a for instance."
So my days now consist of waking up, getting a coffee and heading to my jail cell where I have a binder of every single post I've ever written, printed out in order from the most popular to the least popular. I have a cup full of highlighters that I use as I go through the binder from back to front. Blue is for delete, pink is for keep but remove it from Google's search, green is for redirect that post to a newer post with better information, orange is leave it as it is and yellow is update this post.
I'm just about ¾s of the way through the highlighting section of my nightmare. THEN it'll be getting down to the real work of rewriting the hundreds and hundreds of posts that I need to update. So that'll lead to more questions about my life choices.
STUFF I DID THIS WEEK
Other than work, I did do one super-cool thing the other week. I took a cooking class at Dundurn Castle, a historic home in Hamilton, Ontario where you GET TO COOK IN THE ORIGINAL KITCHEN of the home that was built in 1830. It was exactly like cooking in the kitchen of Downton Abbey (before they got electricity). We cooked soups from original recipes of the time using vegetables grown on the grounds of Dundurn Castle. And the most amazing part is none of the vegetables are varieties that would have been introduced to the world after that time. So all the varieties are obviously heirloom varieties of tomatoes, carrots, turnips and everything else.
We cooked on the original stove which was the size of a Buick and was fire fuelled. The kitchen is deep down in the basement (as they were in those days) but had the unheard of luxury of a WINDOW. A very small basement window, but still. That tiny window let in the only light in the room, the rest of it was lit with a couple of gas lanterns. That was it. You could hardly see anything it was so dark. 4 people chopped off fingertips in that class. It was unfortunate but necessary for the true historical experience. You understand.
THIS stack of dishes we used inspired me to go back to using my mixed antique dishes for Thanksgiving this year. LOOK how great it is.
I also harvested a WHACK of stuff from the garden like squash, dried beans, carrots and the last of the broccoli. I still have the regular potatoes, sweet potatoes, more tomatoes and the luffa sponges to pick.
I USED MY OWN TUTORIALS
My Herb Drying Rack - My onions finally fully cured on my drying rack - have you seen the drying rack I made? - so I got to take those off of the drying rack to make room for the 400 bean plants I need to dry before I can shuck them to get my dried beans.
Making an Onion Braid! I got to BRAID some of the onions to hang in my kitchen. That's one of those posts I found from AGES ago while I was going through my site that I completely forgot about. How to braid onions or garlic. If you're wanting to braid your own harvested onions click on the link over there to learn how to do it. If you can french braid you can do it. If you don't know how to french braid but can count to three you can do it. If you can't do either of those things you probably operate a phone or laptop either so I'm not worried about it.
I MADE A NEW SOUP
Broccoli & Butternut Squash Soup - I made this Half Baked Harvest recipe when I discovered I not only had every single ingredient on hand, but I had grown or made ALL OF THEM. Bay leaves, broccoli, squash (I used Delicata, my fave), DIY cayenne pepper, garlic, onions - EVERYTHING. I had it all. And best of all, this soup was MIND BLOWINGLY delicious. Like - make it right now good. NOW. The only thing I did differently (other than using a different type of squash) is I didn't have any puff pastry so I used my own homemade croutons, with some white cheddar cheese melted overtop of them.
Wish me luck, keep your eyes peeled for sporadic updated posts and hopefully another post next Sunday.
Have a good week!
Wendy
I really miss starting the day (3 times a week at least) with info, great photos & most important HUMOUR. Whenever I’m questioning something I ask myself WWKD?
(What would Karen do?)
Karen
LOL. Well I can tell you it probably isn't the same thing that Jesus would do most of the time. ~ karen!
Jane Baker
Okay, now that made me laugh!
Rebecca Holt
Hang in there, you can do this arduous task. Always be true to yourself. I'm beginning to hate the internet of things.
Jan in Waterdown
Dang it. I thought about going to that thing at Dundurn by totes forgot. We coulda bonded and everything. Glad you had fun but it would have been waaaay better with me there 😏.
Jan in Waterdown
Dang it all. I thought about going to that thing at Dundurn but totes forgot. We coulda bonded and everything. Or had a food fight. Ah well, glad someone had a good time there but it would have been waaay better with me 😏.
Karen
LOL. It was indeed a good time. Just being in the room was fun. ~ karen!
Stephanie
Pleaaaaase don't delete the sock darning post! It was how I found your blog! And I also refer to it from time to time.... I am confident I don't need to ask you not to delete any Cuddles or Cheez Whiz or Christmas house tour or Hallowe'en posts! :-D Thanks for sharing all you do!
Karen
Hi Stephanie! Not to worry the darning post stays. I won't be deleting any posts that have good information in them. Like sock darning. :) I will just be updating them. The posts that are being deleted are, for example, the post that was literally just a picture of a frog in my backyard. Yup. That was the whole post. It's gone now, lol. ~ karen!
Bev
Ooh! I’m looking forward to the garlic article- planting mine in a week or two and it would be sooo good to have them bigger than frozen peas 😂
Marian
Wow you are way more organized than I am... don't know if I'll ever get to doing that blog stuff. I'm just flying by the seat of my pants (now isn't that a saying!). Good for you though! All the best and I'm sure you will reap the results!
Cool cooking class and recipes too, you are amazing!
Karen
Please. YOU'RE amazing. I've seen your cookies. They're INSANITY. I love them so much! ~ karen
Diane
Sorry, I'm havin' one of those days where everything makes my hair hurt. Farming is hard AF! I ain't gettin' no younger. I'm 55 and not ready to throw in the towel. The way you write is inspiring and makes me smile. p.s. Tall Clover Farm's blog also makes me happy.
Karen
Um, yeah, farming is hard. HARD. And at times 100% out of your control if you're farming crops. Plus you know, the whole never ending thing with no days off ever. Good luck! Farmers are feeders and everyone loves food. ~ karen!
Chrissy
Missing you, K.
Do you grow your own bay leaves?
Karen
I do! It's one of my favourite things to grow. ~ karen!
Doug K
Ok, I can’t get the “how to grow garlic” link to work... it says something about me being stupid...or something like that!
Doug
Karen
Oh! Sorry Doug, that's because you're stupid. LOLOL! Justttt kidding. That post won't be available until midnight when it automatically publishes. You'll get notified about it in your inbox when it's up. Just a few more hours to go. :) ~ karen!
RG
I know this is needful, but I am starting to worry that my favorite posts might be deleted. Is there any way you can give us a heads up on what's going away so we can reread one last time?
Karen
Only posts that are terrible are being deleted. Like ones that LITERALLY no one has looked at for an entire year. Many others that I think are reader favourites, but not necessarily ones that Google would have a use for have been archived ON my site. So even though it might not show up on Google when you search, you can always find it by searching my site. ~ karen!
Vikki
I'm hearing this same comment about Google from quite a few bloggers lately. While I like the instant access to all kinds of information today, I really HATE how the media drives our choices--likes/opinions/desires/information. One example (not on blogs): I wanted to watch the U.S. baseball World Series. On our satellite TV with 999 channels, I could find about 300 football games, lotsa basketball, various and sundry hockey, soccer, wrestling, racing, and probably even toe wrestling. But I could find no baseball. Whenever I read your latest blog, I always go back and read your earlier ones; that's what I've been doing the past 2 weeks. Thank you for all the time and information and humor you put out there for us--your fans.
Karen
You're welcome! But it's not entirely altruistic, I mean, selfishly I want to continue to make a living blogging, so to do that I have to keep updating. And crying. And drooling. ~ karen!
Ann Mehrman
I think you should be nominated for internet sainthood for doing all those good things to make your blog user friendly and explains them to share that knowledge with us!
AND
This was bonus blog with the Ontario Castle kitchen story...sounds like a great experience.
Stay calm and carry on! ;-)
Karen
I'm tryingggggg. But I'm really getting antsy not doing stuff. I'm currently just holding myself back from stripping my dining room table before Thanksgiving, which is in a week here Canada. ~ karen!
Jan Hebert
What fun! I'd love to take a cooking class like that - in a castle!? How cool is that? The soup sounds amazing. I was looking for something to make for dinner, and I have all of those ingredients even if they are all store bought. I'm sure it will be almost as good. I love your kitchen too. Especially your copper pots! Nice collection! And how do you make your floor so shiny? Do you use a buffer? I'm so jealous. My kitchen floor is very similar but cranberry and cream in color. We have it on the diagonal too. I love it. Yours is lovely! Good luck with your updating. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end.
Karen
HI Jan! I actually put a finish on it a couple of times a year. :) It's called Zep Wet Look Floor Finish. You can get it at Home Depot. At least you used to be able to! ~ karen
Lin
Hang in there dear. At least you are missing all the political hysteria. So consider yourself fortunate.
Maria
As long as you don't delete the yogurt tampon one, it's all good. I still have coffee up my nose from snorting while reading that one. It's where I learned to never eat or drink while reading your blog.
Karen
Oh that POST is never going anywhere! ~ karen
Jody
Other than coveting your kitchen I covet the Dundurn Castle kitchen just as much....well...maybe your kitchen a bit more.
Glad you're still posting....I miss our thrice weekly adventures together.
Kunyi
Jesus Mary and Joseph. You are in purgatory. A very productive purgatory but nonetheless, purgatory. Or maybe the seventh ring of hell. Whatever. I wish you luck. Salve will not help with amount of drool youll be producing. So I’m sending a plastic bib. The ones with the catch basin at the bottom. I have a feeling the terry cloth ones aren’t going to cut it. But... thank you. You have amassed a phenomenal amount of practical and hilarious information on our behalf. Keep up the good work.
Karen
LOLOLOL! Thanks Kunyi, I look forward to the bib. ~ karen!
Danni McLaughlin
Oh, this is the super sexy part of blog life. Hang in there. Your old writing was excellent! I hunt for posts sometimes when I decide to do something I really don’t have the skills to do. Like once a month usually.
Mike Clark
The last time I saw you you were giggling and drinking whiskey. Was that before or after old-timey cooking and making soup? It's hard to keep up with you.
Karen
Old timey soup making was last weekend. :) Or maybe the weekend before? It was the first Saturday after I put myself on posting hiatus. ~ karen!