This week was a CRAZY week for us.
Monday we released our new episode of the Podcast, “Why We’re Selling Our Farm”.
B O O M !
It exploded onto the internet, with the biggest download day we have had in a year. 4,000 downloads in 1 day… WOW!
And a lot of mixed reactions.
People had many differing opinions about our upcoming changes…
(if you have not listened yet, those upcoming changes are )
- selling our farm animals
- selling our farm
- going on a 6 month road trip
Some were very excited to hear about the changes…
Like Instagram User jgmilholm:
“Did exactly what you are doing a year ago. You won’t regret it a bit. Now you are a Nomadic Homesteader.”
I loved those ones. Then there were the bad comments… Shocker, most of them were on YouTube 😉
User Jaad o Wrote:
“Seem like you guys just can’t make it but want someone to support you. It’s just my opinion”
When you decide to share your life on the internet you have to realize that you’re going to hear “Honest Opinions”.
Honestly, it is not always easy. But it is part of the job.
By the end of the day I was in a panic. Pioneers were canceling their memberships, people were calling us quitters, and I felt like CRAP.
I have spent the last five years doing some hard work on my farm, and two and a half of those producing a professional quality podcast in my spare time sharing that story. The podcast has grown, as have the supporters of it through our Pioneer Program. And things were going great!
And then with one episode it seemed things were falling apart.
I was about to pull the episode. Damage control.
Then K talked some sense into me. She said, amongst other smart things,
“This is Our life. These are the changes we want to make. If those fans aren’t excited about the changes, it doesn’t matter, because it’s what we want for our life.”
She ended with this,
“Don’t take it down.”
K is the level head in this relationship. I have learned in the last 2 and a half years of producing this show together that she is a great editor, and I need to trust her opinion on what to do with the show. I listened.
It wasn’t easy to watch the reactions and leave it up, but I did.
Later, I got an email from Alexia, who writes our podcast write ups and shares her own homesteading journey in her blog on our site, The Suburban Escapee (You have to read her latest post on Goats, it’s great! She refers to them as “instruments of destruction” which was fantastically accurate).
I mentioned the cancellations of the Pioneers, the angry comments, ETC.
She said “Don’t Worry, Growth Hurts. Your Core will stick with you!”
I thought that sentence was so good.
Growth Hurts.
It does. If you want to learn to ride a bike, you’re going to fall once or twice.
But that shouldn’t stop you from going forward.
And it will not stop us from going forward with our show.
By the next day the dust had settled. Only 1 more Pioneer cancellation. By day 3, no more mean comments, or cancellations. (I had added a disclaimer to the episode that may have helped people realize that the show will go on despite our changes…)
The funny thing is this…
So many of the angry people assumed that we were quitting homesteading. Like we were done for good.
And that was probably my fault, I did use the sentence once or twice “we’re done homesteading” (as in for the next few months… not for good…)
This big change coming in our lives, the 6 month road trip we’re taking, is going to take us from our homesteading life for a little while. But during the trip, we will be visiting homesteads across the country (maybe yours?) and sharing stories and lessons from other’s homesteads.
Homesteads across the country, all different sizes and types. We will be able to show more than we ever could just from our own small homestead in CT.
We will also be looking for “greener pastures”. Perhaps a new place for us to build a new, bigger, homestead.
We are far from done and the same goes for Homesteady.
This big trip is going to make this year’s upcoming episodes of Homesteady even better. The Pioneer Program is going to have some new and exciting changes coming too (TBA). I think you’re going to love what’s coming from this change…
So thanks for sticking around, those of you who are a part of our “Core”.
We couldn’t be where we are without your support. (Speaking of which, we wound up losing only 5 Pioneers, it just felt like so much more in the heat of the moment. And those 5 had helped support the show for a long time, so I am grateful to them no matter what 😉
Thanks, and stay tuned for our next episode, where we will talk more about the exciting things to look forward to next year as we embark on this Homesteady Journey, cross country!
Aust
PS: Would you like to become a pioneer and help support the show as well as get some really cool bonuses? Click Here and gain access to the entire Pioneer Library, which has hours and hours of bonus episodes, for Pioneers Only!
