The last couple weeks at home I’ve been reading so much, and cooking so much, and thinking so much, and my conclusions have been settling quietly in, like new family members.
I don’t plan on going vegan again, anytime soon. I feel badly about this, that it didn’t work for me, but I’ve been trying to go vegan since 1990. That’s 20 very long years of beating myself up because I can’t make a diet work for me that I’m discovering doesn’t work for a lot of other very good and non-evil people either. Thousands of dollars spent on books, magazines, entry into exclusive websites, and a few thousand more hours spent beating myself up when it didn’t work; I’m starting fresh. There will be no more beating myself up about not going vegan. If I end up evolving to a vegan diet over time, than that’s great. But this blog is no longer about “going vegan”. I’m going to change the tagline soon.
So what IS it about? That’s what I’ve been asking myself lately. It’s surprisingly hard for me to cope with the “new reality” of my eating habits not being about eventually going vegan. That’s been the main goal for so many years that it feels like utterly foreign territory to attempt to write without that in mind.
Which is why I’ve been considering the idea of starting an entirely new food blog about sustainable omnivory. I’d probably park it over at food.hollie.us, and call it something craaaazy, like Grass Dirt Beef. Just kidding. My other idea was to just start writing about food over at my personal blog. What do you guys think? Should I scrap this blog and start afresh, or is changing the focus 180 degrees something that you think readers can adjust to?
Do what feels the most liberating and freeing and inspiring to YOU, is what I’d suggest. If you think you might have emotions tied to this blog that might get in your way of feeling optimistic about your new direction, I say dump this schizz and start fresh.
Wherever you go, we’ll go with you. That’s some truth you can believe in right there, lady. On board and ready to roll.
Thank you! That’s nice to know!
I am hesitant about trashing this whole thing, about taking offline so many great pages. At the same time, paying for a website to stay “open” when I don’t really want to spend the time managing all the WordPress upkeep and comments seems like a bad idea too. Hmmmm.
I don’t see that the switch from “I’m trying to go vegan” to “I’m trying to find a healthy and sustainable diet” is anywhere close to 180 degrees. 25, maybe 30 tops.
180 degrees would be, “I am going to start raising my own food animals, because I don’t think factory farms torture their cattle enough, and the tears of animals make their flesh extra delicious!“*
That said, I imagine that, like me, many of the people who follow you here also already follow you on one or more other sites, or would start if this space disappeared, so if it’s cheaper and less hassle for you to consolidate your ‘Net presence somewhat, I say go for it.
*I know, I know. There’s something wrong with me.
I just finished a book you would love. It’s called “The Butcher and the Vegetarian,” and it was done by Tara Weaver (from over at Tea and Cookies. Basic premise: lifelong vegetarian has health issues and is encouraged to eat meat by her doctors, so she has to learn all about it (sustainability, how to buy and prepare it, how to deal with emotional/ethical issues, etc.). I thought of you quite a bit as I was reading it!
I think grass dirt corn still applies to your general quest for a Hollie appropriate (both ethically and nutritiously) diet.
Might want to change the subheading though.
George: There is nothing wrong with you. Okay, mostly there is nothing wrong with you. No seriously, I am now half tempted to start a new blog, maybe http://www.tearsofagony.com, in which I pretend to eat only the most terrified animals. Like squirrels.
Carrie: I just downloaded a free chapter to my Kindle! That looks so great, and she’s in Seattle, too! Thanks for the link. And for thinking of me. :)
I’m all for starting fresh, if that would help you leave old baggage behind. At the same time, this blog has great stuff and a great base to build on. I notice that your food journey is often a struggle of whether you conform/belong or reject (a school of food thought, a group, a label) — would a new blog (naming it, setting parameters, coming up with definitions) just be another construct to struggle with? Or could you stay here, just move toward transcendence? I’m with Meg -whatever is more liberating.
Sonja – Yup, I’ll be changing the tagline for sure.
Robin – Such a thoughtful response! I agree that this blog has been about struggling to conform or reject a label, and that’s actually exactly why I’m feeling a tug toward either creating something new, or integrating all my food posts in with my regular hollie.us blog. I felt like grassdirtcorn.com was my journey toward vegetarianism, whereas my personal blog is more just a journey. I’m interested in the idea of letting go of needing a whole blog about food and instead just writing about my life, which includes food. Know what I mean?
I love this blog, but I’ll follow you anywhere, whatever you need to do. I find “grass-dirt-corn” very catchy, actually, but it can apply to your journey to find your own way in the world of food, starting with lowly vegetables. Trying to eat a few more vegetables can be a fine enough goal, without the baggage of having to conform to some label.
also, I’m interested in knowing:
whatcha been reading?
whatcha been cooking?
seems worthy of a grass-dirt-corn post.
I agree with Meg that you should do what feels right for you and that if “staying” here would hold you back, then let it go.
But I also think that keeping this blog, with a linear connection to the journey you’ve taken us all through, would be a very valuable thing. A mitzvah, as it were.
I know so many people who struggle with related issues and somehow think that they are alone. As I’ve said before, I periodically point such people to your blog. Which I suspect is far from rare. That being the case, on top of everything else, by changing the tag line but keeping the blog, all of those accumulated links will keep working. And I can tell you that I see traffic every week on my blog from links in posts now several years old.
But no matter what you do, you have our thanks. And now for yet another reason for having asked us about where to go from here.
Our culture doesn’t make it easy for anyone to choose a non meat-centered diet. As a matter of fact, it virtually penalizes those who do, so I understand how frustrating you must have found this. I’m still transitioning to vegan, and it’s been over 15 years since I went vegetarian. Before that, it took me 13 years to make the transition to vegetarian (the first time I tried I gave up because there was so little support, hence the 13 years). There’s no user’s manual, you have to find out what works for you and just make it up as you go along.
I like the idea of keeping the blog and continuing to track your journey, with all of its side streets- why discard any of the journey? That being said, you have to be the one to decide what resources are available, and where you want to devote them. Unless you come across an anonymous “benefactor” who will take care of all those pesky little details for you- in which case, let me know if he has a brother. Lordy, girlfriend, I can’t keep up with one blog, bless you if you can keep up with three…