The Secret Project :: The Big Reveal

It has not been my intention to stir up hype over this reveal; I know the sneaky peeks over the last few months have made some of you quite impatient with me, and for that I am truly sorry. I think there is a fine line between letting people know there is something in the works and driving them mad. But for so long I just couldn't really talk about it in any great depth. Everything was up in the air, hard work, hoping, fingers crossing, more hard work and as the months rolled by a firming up of hope, dreams, ideas and work into something tangible - something definitive.

So where to start?

I suppose the natural beginning of this story began way back in 2010 as an idea, before a false start in 2011 as a rather badly constructed effort which soon had to be shelved for a myriad of reasons. It is one thing to have an idea, a dream, and quite another to be fit for the job! I am talking about the first (and last) edition of the ezine Seasonal Living & Learning born of a desire to write the magazine that I myself wanted to buy. It was far from ideal and yet so many people emailed and told me how much they'd enjoyed it - how much it had spoken to them and was just what they were looking for - some even volunteered to help me on the project if I wanted their professional input! I honestly was blown away with how much support I received and how positive people were with it.

Having to shelve the ezine was the most disappointing time for me, but the desire to make it bigger and better never once left me. After a year of trying to forget it, trying to be happy homeschooling my babes (I am!) and living life (I do!) I could stand it no longer. I made a plan - I first contacted those amazing offers of help to see if they were still open - they were. Instead of trying to do everything myself I was going to take a year to do it right, learn the ropes, set my ducks up and come back bigger and better with the magazine that I wanted to see all along.

This is what I have been working on this year - a quarterly magazine.

Friends, this past year has been one solid push to get this baby ready for fledging. With a team of amazing volunteers - truly, amazing people who, when approached for help offered a resounding YES! and worked their tails off with me pulling together to make something we can all be proud of - we now have a new name, new website, new content, fresh vision and hope, and a huge desire to make this thing work. I just know you are going to love it as much as I do, and I just know the contributors and editors we've got working on the team are seriously going to knock your socks off. I am honoured to be working with some truly amazing, creative, and talented people.

Here is a VERY small preview of the secret project, a few pages of the 200 of issue 1:

"TEND magazine aims to be at the forefront of mindful living, focusing on environmental, sustainable concerns, providing information and aspiration, driving real environmental change through change at the individual level.

This magazine hopes to nourish the head, the hands and the heart – by providing articles for our intellect, projects to keep our hands busy, and moreover beautiful, aspirational visual images to inspire our hearts.

TEND magazine aims to nurture the bond between a parent and their child, between families and the earth, and between individual families to form community. It aims to strengthen the bonds and connections we have to each other and the earth, recognising and nourishing our natural dispositions to care for and educate our families in the ways that seem right to us. We aim to stir an awakening for the need to slow down, consume less and walk gently on the earth. We aim to be aspirational and utterly beautiful and design-lead. We like to grow some of our own food, support local farmers, eat as much healthy organic produce as we realistically can, gather with friends to enjoy home-cooked meals and to enjoy the bond of community. We encourage the need to consume less and make more, to envisage homesteading and sustainable living as realistic aspirations.

We seek to encourage everyone to walk gently on the earth, in tune with the seasons both within and without of ourselves, and to support, nurture and nourish an authentically mindful life full of mindful choices."

So what's inside the pages? Well, hopefully a little bit of everything to inspire and aid us all in the task of slowing down and doing more and making home the centre of our lives. There is craft, ideas for the home, tips for growing your own food, and talking of food, wholefood recipes and health (oh the food! you just wait and see!), preschool crafts, knitting patterns, sewing patterns, inspirational (we hope!) art, and in every issue an educational section - a topic for children (and their parents!) to work through. This magazine will appeal to all of you who would like to be more self-sufficient, self-reliant and who want to implement more homesteading ideas into your life too.

And in issue 1 there's even a giveaway! I know! Lucky you!

I know there will be bumps as we all try to figure out this process of going live; I also know that we are going to need every ounce of support you can muster for us, and I'm not usually one for a hard sell - advertising and mugging people who come here to spend time with us is not my idea of blogging etiquette, but oh! I'm asking now: PLEASE support us in any way you can: buy the magazine RIGHT NOW (click here and buy (use code SOCALLED20 for 20% off!)), TELL PEOPLE ABOUT US, please spread the word, and join us and help us form a community of like-minded people.

People say that the internet is not the place to go to find friends and community, but they are so wrong. I know people seek a community, a tribe, a village that they can call their own, and we can all come together on common ground - the ground of common good and the desire to walk gently on this earth however that is manifested. Together we can change this world, of that I have absolutely no doubt at all, and it is my humble desire to be a small island of refuge in that task.

So join us? Walk with us as we be the change we wish to see in this world. We certainly can't do this without you. It will take every single one of us to make this work.

I am beyond thrilled to announce the launch of TEND magazine with issue one on sale right now.

More details can be found over on Tend magazine website.

Thank you for your patience, friends. And your support.

{P.S. Just so you know I will be talking about this for the next few days. I'm sorry but this is kinda a big deal for me, and for so long I couldn't talk about it - I think I'm going to make up for lost time! Tomorrow I am going to be introducing some of the contributors for this issue and some sneak peeks of what's in the pages. Stay tuned!}

{P.P.S. Issue 1 is on sale CLICK HERE to buy at the reduced price by using the code SOCALLED20 for 20% off}