Though I hope it’s not obvious, this blog is now back with Wordpress.com after almost a year of working and learning the ins and outs of self hosting a website, FTP, SQL, DNS, CSS, SEO, CMS’s, frameworks, caches, plugins, and so much more with Wordpress.org. It was a journey of steep learning curves, with a horizon that kept receding further into the distance. It was an exiting, but consuming, creative adventure. I will no doubt continue creating websites in the cloud, in the future, but for now, this blog will stay in the safe, predictable and fully managed embrace of mama WP.com.
WordPress.com
The thing I missed the most about Wordpress.com, where millions of us took our first steps as bloggers, was the community integrally woven in to it. I have developed a deeper appreciation for the interconnectedness of us all, here in the free and fully hosted blogosphere, and after losing touch with it for a year, I am happy to be back in the community again. Happy to call it my community.
My Etsy Shop
Wordpress.com does an amazing job taking care of millions of free websites/blogs, with no great thought or investment needed from us. I came to Wordpress.com with a vision of a different approach to commerce, community and creativity. A different model. I needed a place to share my creativity and the physical products that I felt called to create. There was no telling where I would be drawn as I followed the path that spoke to me, but, I had no doubt, the individuals who needed my work would be out there, waiting, looking and asking for exactly the things I was creating. I believe there is a law of nature that commands this kind of balance and counterbalance from our choices.
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I needed to reach a community of like minded spirits, wherever they might be, who needed the specific products that were exclusively a result of my path, my creativity and experiences. I needed a place I could not only connect with them, but easily exchange the products of my life, with the products of their lives, so we could help fulfil each others needs. This could mean a simple exchange of money, or an exchange of other physical or intangible products as needed. It was a different paradigm of commerce and community. Wordpress.com made it difficult to do this type of exchange at the time. So I left and sought alternatives that would suit me better.
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Now, after much exploration and experimentation, I find WP.com will dovetail perfectly with an online Etsy store, using links in the navigation menus, photos and posts. Whether these configurations were as easily created a year and a half ago with earlier versions of WP.com, or whether I needed to leave and gain my”Internet legs”, return with new eyes and skills, I can’t say. But, here I am, again, and I have found what I need from an online presence at this time. So I am going to let Wordpress.com, do what she does so well. Connect people, and take care of business.
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A new beginning is at hand, the past is rich with art, fine craft, and design with natures materials, plant alchemy, medicine and magic. All unfolding to a hidden rhythm. Even I do not know what this new year will bring. There are many new recipes, Astrodynamic products, and gifts from Nature waiting to be shared here for healers, perfumers, moustache groomers, wildcrafters, parents, gardeners, homesteaders and everyone in between. You are invited to share in my journey, here as before, and enjoy the labours of love I create along the way. The Apothecary Shop is a beginning, but growing and evolving quickly. You never know, perhaps it holds exactly what you need and the reason you are reading these words.
Peace
Dan