Looking back and looking ahead

With all the busyness, December 31, 2011 snuck up on me and I just realized that I should be looking back on the past year. Social media was a big part of my life this past year. I started this blog in April and I look forward to writing each post (all 87, so far). Over the past eight months, this blog has been a place where I can share about life on my family farm, some of favourite recipes, my take on various ag issues, exciting news in my life or other random ramblings. I’m happy to report that this blog has reached 10,000 views all-time with the number of views climbing each month. With that said, I always stress quality over quantity and always say that I would maintain this blog even if only one person read it. And that one person would probably be my mom!

I also personally joined the Twitter world in May. I have grown to love Twitter and prefer it to Facebook. Through Twitter and blogging I was able to build many new relationships this past year with Canadians and Americans that share a love of agriculture and/or communications with me.

And a highlight of my year was attending the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) conference in Ontario in September where I met many of these new social media friends. I also enjoyed meeting fellow ag journalists and communicators from around the world and learning more about agriculture in my own country.

Besides travelling to Ontario in the fall, I also visited Canada’s beautiful east coast this summer with my good friend Ruth from Alberta. I documented this trip on my travel blog so if you missed it, check it out here. As most of you probably know, I’ve been bitten by the travel bug and enjoy seeing other parts of this big world.

I also took my freelance writing to a whole new level this past year writing a record number of stories for various ag publications. To read some of these stories click here. Of course the extra cash comes in handy when you’re supporting yourself, but more importantly I did it for the love of writing and agriculture. I will be putting my freelance writing on hold this coming year as I pursue my new job with AdFarm.

Speaking of new jobs, this is also a good time to look ahead at the coming year. I’m beginning the year with a new job and not just one, but two new cities, so I have no doubt that 2012 will be full of many new opportunities and challenges. (If you missed my last post on my new adventure click here).

Thank you for reading Rural Route Ramblings in 2011! And I hope you’ll stick around in 2012 to read all about my new adventures! Happy New Year!