The Story of This Blog

This blog was started in October 2006 soon after a small number of individuals gathered at Fern Ave Community Garden to see if they were interested in forming a seedsavers group. Most of us had never met before and none of us had a plan! We put our names and email addresses on a piece of paper and said yes, we would like to meet again and talk about our gardens, our histories, our ideas and get to know others who enjoy growing food in some way.

Diana said: "What shall we do with the piece of paper.... who is going to look after it and do whatever needs to be done? I am really a bit out of touch with technology to do email lists?"

Viv said "I don't think I want to do that.... is there anyone who would like to?"

Ever the sucker, I said I would do it.... I would be the communicator between us all. And so I took home the piece of paper and wondered what to do now! Every day I would say to one or another of my family members... "I have a great idea for the seedsavers group".... or "hey I mustn't forget to tell them all about this insect / compost / funny story / great vegetable harvest " etc etc. But I still didn't know what to do to keep us all in touch with one another.

One day in October son Alex said "Mum you should start a blog for all these people and all this stuff you want to tell them." I knew nothing about computers and had never heard of a blog. Alex is a wonderful lad who always makes you feel good, no matter how little you know. He turned on the computer and took me to blogland..... and I thought "Wow! Why didn't I know about all this before? Where have I been all my life?" And so the Hills and Plains Seedsavers blog was formed, there and then, by an ordinary mother and extraordinary son, in a very messy study in a very messy house with a very messy garden.

And the rest, as they say, is history. These days it is even easier to get started with a blog as Google has made things much simpler and more user-friendly over the years. Now you can do amazing things with feeds and ads and links and videos and maps and you can even blog from your phone. Moreover its all free.

It has introduced us all to each other and I have even been and stayed with some of you in 6 different countries.... something I would very much like to do again, and include some of you who I could not get to last time. Times change and membership grows but I hope this blog will stand the test of time and that we will all grow old together in blogland, so happy that each of us has found this wonderful use for technology.... ironically, the same root technology that we often complain is ruining the earth, unless we run our computers or homes on alternative energy.

Three cheers for blogs!