Time to say Goodbye

Recently, writers of several television programs have announced the end of the series. When asked why, they replied that "it was time".

That is how I feel about Reduce Footprints ... it's time for me to end the series.

It's been a terrific run. Since 2008, generous readers have shared their knowledge and experiences with me. In turn, I've tried to research various issues and open them up for discussion. Together we've done our best to live a green life and encourage others to do the same.

We have much to be proud of.

While there is, and will always be, more to say about the environment and green living, I've chosen to step back.

So what's next for me and Reduce Footprints?

The Reduce Footprints blog will stay right here. There are reviews, recipes, guest posts, and many other articles which will always be available. I won't, however, be publishing any new content. In the future, should I find that I want to start a new blog or start writing again, I'll announce it here. But in all honesty, I don't see that happening.

For my part, I'm going to get away from the computer and head outdoors. Becoming a home owner and having over one hectare of land has breathed new enthusiasm into my life. I want to garden and forage for edible foods. I want to be close to the land and discover nature in all it's glory. And that takes time ... time which, until today, has generally been spent on research, words, and maintaining an online presence.

I'll occasionally be online, visiting your sites, and will always be open to emails from you should you have a question or just want to say "hi".

So this is goodbye!

Thank you all for a fabulous seven years!

I wish you happiness, joy, and wonderful "green" surprises around every corner!

Affectionately yours,

Cyndi

Reduce Footprints is back with some changesfor 2015

Welcome back to Reduce Footprints! I hope you enjoyed the holidays and are eager to embrace a new year!

While on hiatus, I thought about how to make Reduce Footprints a better blog. Here's what we'll be doing this year:

WHAT'S NEW

Owning Property & Building a House

In April of 2014, "Art" and I bought some property and began building a home. This year I'd like to share some of my thoughts with you. I'll talk about the choices we've made (and will continue to make), how we've learned to work with nature, building practices and materials, and everything concerning property ownership.

WHAT'S CHANGED

Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)

New this year will be monthly themes. Each month, I'll reveal a green theme and we'll spend the month on challenges which support that topic.

Meet & Greet

The old link-up party just wasn't working. Since the goal is to meet others of like mind and grow our green community, I decided to switch things up a bit. This year, Meet & Greet will feature a blog which I've discovered via Internet travels or one which you, dear readers, recommend. Each feature will be followed by a widget where you can recommend your own blog or sites which you'd like to share with the world. Look for this series on the 2nd Monday of each month.

Vegan Recipes

Last year it became difficult to find "guest chefs". While I understand that many food bloggers prefer that people visit their sites for recipes, I'm not comfortable giving my readers a "tease" and them forcing them to visit a different site for the recipe. I'll continue to post recipes when I can ... when generous bloggers allow us to publish a recipe in it's entirety or when I create culinary magic myself. If any of you have original, vegan creations and would like to be featured, I'd LOVE to share your recipe.

WHAT'S CONTINUING

Surveys

Last year's survey responses were interesting and offered us a look into the realities of living green. So we'll continue with them this year. If you have a question you'd like answered, send it to me HERE.

Holistic Living

Last year I touched on a few holistic living ideas. This year, I'll try to kick it up a notch.

My Vegan Life

A plant-based life has it's own unique challenges and joys. I'll continue to share how things work in my life. If you're curious about a particular aspect of a vegan diet, please ask.

Special Offers

While NOT shopping is always the greenest choice, there are times that we need stuff. When we do, wouldn't it be great to get a discount? Yes indeedy! So, we'll continue to host the special offers page and an occasional feature post. As with everything on this blog, please do your own due diligence. While I make every attempt to ensure that products and services on this page are truly Eco-friendly, I'm just one person doing my own research.

Reviews & Giveaways

I'll continue to offer reviews on Eco-friendly products and host fun giveaways this year. I already have a number of interesting products to share with you so ... stay tuned!

Guest Posts

I will continue to accept guest posts on Reduce Footprints. My goal is to offer readers value-added content so each submission will be reviewed and only accepted if, in my opinion, the information is interesting and aligns with the philosophy and goals of this blog. That's not to say that I will always agree with my guests. After all, we all benefit from differing thoughts and opinions.

2015 promises to be an exciting year.

I look forward to experiencing it all with you!

Images courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Reduce Footprints Is Back!

Happy 2014 and welcome back to Reduce Footprints. I hope that you enjoyed the holidays, kept them green, and are ready for an exciting new year!

Before leaving for my hiatus, I asked you to give me your Reduce Footprints "Wish List": suggestions, ideas, and a general critique of the blog. Many of you obliged me with wonderful comments, which I have taken to heart. Here are the ideas which we are implementing this year:

Meet and Greet

The purpose of the Meet & Greet link-up is to grow our community, get acquainted with each other, and support green blogs and sites. It's also an opportunity to get a bit of blog visibility, both via visits from other participants and the possibility of a feature on Reduce Footprints. A weekly "party", however, doesn't seem to meet our goals. So, we're going to make this link-up a monthly event. On the second Monday of each month, we'll publish the link-up tool which will stay open for the entire month.

Recipes

I love food! I love vegan food! Rather than offer you a recipe once a month, we're going to search out yummy dishes and publish recipes more often. Some will be my own creation and some will come from "guest chefs". If you have a vegan recipe which you'd like to share, please drop me a line (reducefootprints@gmail.com). And, as always, you'll find all of the recipes which we've published on the Recipes Page.

Images

Awhile back, I joined a photography club. Participating in discussions on how to improve our skills taught me a lot and encouraged me to see the world differently. Spending a day in nature with a camera and capturing the details which I notice is, for me, pure pleasure. Unfortunately, that pleasure doesn't seem to translate into images for this blog. Go figure! That said, I will make an effort to offer you interesting images with posts.

Holistic Nutrition and Wellness

This year we're going to discuss holistic nutrition and wellness, and how it ties in with green living. Stay tuned ... it should be fun!

Reviews and Special Offers

Some of you enjoy these pages ... others don't. Since some people find them helpful, and because I believe that supporting Eco-friendly products, services, and companies is an important element of living green, I'm going to keep these pages going. It should be mentioned, however, that the greenest option is always NOT buying. But when purchases are necessary, they should be as Eco-friendly as possible. My goal is to give you additional information about products which you might be thinking about ... and to offer you discounts, freebies, etc. Click on the tabs above to visit both the Reviews and Special Offers pages.

Change The World Wednesday (#CTWW)

We'll continue with our weekly challenges, hopefully finding new and unusual tasks to perfect our green-living efforts. If you have a challenge which you'd like us to take on, please let me know. The CTWW page contains the current challenge as well as previous activities and also offers tips and ideas.

Guest Posts

I will continue to accept guest posts this year. Green living is a vast, complex topic. Listening to people "speak" on their area of expertise broadens our understanding of the issues. At the very least, it gives us something to think about.

On Being Vegan

Many of you have expressed an interest in my vegan life. So this year I'll share more about how I became vegan, why I chose to do so, and how it works in my day to day activities. I'll talk about eating out, traveling, food choices, etc.

As always, I thank you for your ideas and suggestions. This should be a fun year.

Okay, let's get things started with a poll. I'm curious about how green your holidays were. Did you avoid waste or was your bin a little too full? Did you burn fuel traveling or did you conserve by staying close to home? Did you give Eco-friendly gifts ... or perhaps, avoid gift giving? Did you eat local foods or indulge in delicacies from across the globe? We want to know.

Please answer the poll and then, using the comments section below, elaborate on your answer.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Sneak Peek: Children are our best environmental hope. Our next post discusses a charming way to encourage them to live a green life.

Images courtesy of Sura Nualpradid & Vlado / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We interrupt this break ...

Hi Everyone ... I had to interrupt this break to introduce you to the 800th follower of Reduce Footprints. Yep ... we've grown!  WhooHoo!

Introducing ...

Scott Wischmeyer

of

Our Tiny Earth

If you're not familiar with Our Tiny Earth, you're really missing out.  It's a terrific blog about the journey to sustainability.  Recently Scott invited readers to weigh in on how they are promoting the local economy and the environment.  It promises to be a great discussion and I encourage each of you to head over and leave your comments ... because ... Reduce Footprints' readers have a lot of valuable information to share.

Thanks Everyone!

We now return to our regularly scheduled break!