Must-Have Supplies for Self Reliance by Amanda Hartvigsen

          

Must-Have Supplies for Self Reliance.

Guest Post By Amanda Hartvigsen

Freelance Writer

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The goal of every homestead is to be self-reliant. Meaning, the ability to take care of our own needs without depending on anyone else. Even without the acres of land one usually associates with a homestead, this mindset is something we can all learn from and work on!


When Covid-19 hit the USA no one could have prepared us for the mayhem that followed. Going to the store and seeing empty shelves, no meat, no eggs... it was unsettling, to say the least. Like most of you, I'm sure, I went into survival mode. I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed to take care of my little ones!


Unfortunately, I don't think those days of uncertainty are behind us. In fact, I think our fall and winter months could be pretty scary, but I am determined to be even more prepared this time around and I want to help you do the same!


Worst-case scenario... nothing happens and we're all extra self-reliant... WIN

Let's not forget to mention how great it feels to have a bunch of your own canned foods from your garden to use! You do what works best for you! If you don't have a lot of room to store food, adapt the best you can.


Related Reading: Start Pressure Canning Now!

Food Inventory

I can't stress this enough! There is NO point in going to the store and buying a bunch of stuff you don't use or you already have a ton of. It may seem daunting but write it all down! If you're more tech-savvy, make a spreadsheet. Whatever will keep you the most organized, just write it all down.


Make sure to include quantity so that as you are figuring out meals, you know how many of each you have. (ex. I have 20 quarts of spaghetti sauce so I make sure I have enough noodles and then I'll know I can make spaghetti 20 times).

Plan Out Meals

Now that you know the contents of what you have, take some time to sit down and think about what you can make with it all. Try to think of things that you already know how to make (What if the power is out and you can't look up a recipe online)


Some of my most loved dishes are ones that I just threw what I had together with no recipe and my family loved it! You have 3 boxes of pancake mix? Ok! Breakfast for dinner! Don't be afraid to think outside the box!

Complement What You Have

Over the years our parents have given us food storage for Christmas (yay for being an adult) and we have LOVED it! So needless to say... I have a LOT of potato flakes in my storage room! They are in big #10 cans that can last for 30 years! It's great knowing we have those potatoes! I try to cook with them so I know how to use them and because of that, I know that if we need to use up those potatoes...


I'm gonna need to make some extras to make them more palatable like gravy, ingredients for Shepherds Pie, soups, casseroles, etc. If you have an abundance of canned beans that's awesome, just make sure you have other things you can add to them too so you can make something everyone will eat.

Soup

There's not much that can't be eaten if put into a soup. Make sure you have a good soup base! For a couple months I couldn't even buy chicken base or bouillon cubes at the store! Now, I grab some every time I go to keep on hand so I can whip up a quick soup!

Flour and Wheat

Luckily flour is super cheap and so versatile. If you know what to do with it you can go use a lot of flour! We go through so much at our house. I bake a lot, and I know how to use it so for us it's a really good staple to have on hand.


Wheat, however, is another story! Yes, I could buy huge quantities of wheat, but at this point in my life I don't have a wheat grinder (I want to get one and learn though!) so it doesn't really make sense for me to stock up on it. If you do though, GO FOR IT!

Short-term Storage

Short term storage is the foods that you eat every day that don't have a huge shelf life. Building up a supply of those items is just as important ( I'd say much more) than the long term items.


An easy way I have found to build this up is to buy in bulk as much as I can. Utilize Sams Club and Costco. I usually shop once a week for all the meals I have planned for that week.


Let's say I'm making my taco soup recipe, instead of buying the 1 can of olives the recipe calls for, I'll try to buy a case of olives to use in the future. This builds up a supply of what you normally use anyway and helps with the short term storage goals.

Long-term Storage

Long term is those awesome 25-30 year shelf life items. Your #10 canned and freeze-dried foods. There are so many options to choose from here.


As a precaution, I think it’s important to have some of these items because they do last so long, but we don't eat these types of food regularly so I don't purchase much of this type of food.


We do buy a lot from our church's local cannery where we can get #10 cans of rice, pasta, potato flakes, etc., by the case so that we can use them in the long term as well as the short. I personally wouldn't spend a ton of money on long term storage, I focus more on the short because I use it every day.

Water

It is ESSENTIAL to have a storage of water! It is something that everyone will have to approach differently depending on their space/storage situation.


For some, a few cases under the bed may be all you have room for, while others can store big water drums.


Another idea is to install a rain barrel in your yard. The most commonly-found types hold 50 gallons of water. Although you wouldn't be able to use that water for drinking unless you purify it, that water can be used for cleaning and bathing so you could keep your stored water for drinking.




Related Reading: Why You Need a Rain Barrell Now!


One thing that I will say about water is that if a situation occurred where you knew there was a possibility that you may lose your water source (i.e. earthquake, big storms, other natural disasters) fill up your bathtubs! That way you have at least something! We also like to keep purification tablets and Lifestraws in our storage as well.

Pets

Don't forget your pets! If food is scarce you're not going to want to have to feed your dog or cat from your pantry. Make sure to remember them in your preparations also. We try to buy things like hay, oats, other feeds for our animals in bulk too just to make sure everyone/critter is taken care of.

Household Items

As we learned back in March, things like toilet paper, paper towels, sanitizing wipes, will fly off the shelves. Don't forget to stock up on feminine products, medication, and vitamins (kids and adults), laundry detergent, dishwasher tablets, etc. Think about a day in your life and make sure you have well-built storage of all the things you use daily.


My Dad always told me to never let my gas tank go below half full. I use that wisdom when it comes to my toilet paper as well!

I know this list looks like a lot and especially like a lot of $! I know we can't all afford to go spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars. But I will say that if you are smart about it, and buying things that you TRULY use every day, it's money well spent and money saved when you can shop from yourself instead of hitting the store again.

There has never been a more important time than RIGHT NOW to start getting yourself prepared. Once things go bad, it's too late. 

Think of skills you want to learn, how to maximize what you have, and what items you need to purchase, to make sure that you and your families are safe, secure, and self-reliant!

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Guest Author Spotlight: Amanda Hartvigsen
www.thehartshomestead.com

Amanda lives on her 1-acre farm in a small farming community in Utah. She loves raising her 3 little boys and a variety of animals on their small modern homestead. Amanda is all about finding joy in a simple life and inspiring others to do the same.

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See Our  Lists of Other Great Articles:

Homesteading Articles
Hosta Articles
Gardening Articles
Growing and Preserving Food Articles

This post may contain Amazon affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases without costing you anything extra.

All About Those Beautiful Blue Hostas!

All About Beautiful Blue Hostas

When it comes to the colors of perennial plants in the garden, blue is by far the rarest and is also one of the many reasons that blue hostas are so popular, and the bigger the better.  But how do blue-leafed hostas develop and keep that beautiful blue tint? 

Fragrant Hostas

All About Fragrant Hostas!

Although the blooms of hosta plants are commonly considered secondary to their beautiful leaves, there is a type of hosta, Hosta Plantaginea, that produces beautiful fragrant blooms that have been described as a strong honeysuckle-like fragrance. They are perfect for planting next to walkways, patios, decks, borders or near a garden bench.

Homestead Giving You Static Clutter by Brandi Goodnight

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Homestead Giving You Static Clutter?

Guest Post By  Brandi Goodnight

goodnighttobadhabits.com

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Have you ever felt a connection between the clutter in your house and your anxiety levels? When sitting in your space, you should be able to feel relaxed and safe. However, when your place is cluttered, it can feel overwhelmed, uncomfortable, uneasy, and all-around depressed.

If we consistently live like that, we retreat into our heads. Living like this can heighten our anxiety because we have nowhere else to go. When we relax, we give our minds a break and allow it to shut off. If we can't relax in our house, our minds can't take a break.

Static Clutter

I call this static clutter. I call it that because that was the only way I could describe how my house made me feel. That white noise static you get on your TV when it has no connection? That is what went through my head when I was home. My brain never got a break, my anxiety rose, and I started to shut down.

I struggled to make simple decisions, couldn't focus on the things I enjoyed, and my family suffered. I didn't transform my house overnight. It took me many years to get where I am today. I started with simple moves so I wouldn't get overwhelmed. I worked in one corner, on one table, or even one drawer. Sometimes I got the motivation to do entire rooms.

Listen to your Mind and Body

I tried to listen to my mind and body to tell me when to stop. There were times I didn't listen and got burnt out. I ended up taking a step back during those moments because I would have quit if I hadn't. I'll let you in on a little secret; my house was borderline hoarder status. I was too embarrassed to take pictures of my kids or let anyone visit. The turning point for me was my clothes. I found project 333 from Courtney Carver of Be More with Less. (Project 333)

Project 333

Project 333 is 33 items of clothing for three months. It includes purses, jewelry, shoes, and accessories. When I read about this, I found the motivation to go through my closet. I wanted to see if this was something I could do. I needed something extreme! I donated six trash bags of clothes! (jaw dropped to the floor) I didn't even realize I had that much stuff.

I have since modified it to 44 items for the year because I don't change my wardrobe for the seasons. Years later and I have stuck with it. At this point, I learned my mind craved minimalism. I think that is because I was in that never-ending cycle for so long.

Minimalism might not be what helps you with your static clutter. Just work on little steps to bring yourself to a point where you can breathe. 

Try Amazon Home Services

How to Start Out

Start with a drawer or a corner. Maybe pick a table or a shelf. Go as slow as you need. Through this process, you will learn how or why it got to this point. If you take it too fast, you may find yourself in a never-ending cycle. 

The most important part of this process is to figure out why. Why did it get to this point? Why does it affect me in this way? Figure these out and, you will get to your breathing point in no time.

So where you are in this process? Do you have static clutter? Are you a minimalist? Have you already made it through the process and made it to your breathing point? You can contact me at:   LiveLaughLoveHonestly@gmail.com.

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Brandi Goodnight, Freelance Writer

 

Guest Author Spotlight
My name is Brandi Goodnight, I am a mother to 3 teens and a wife of 16 years. When I had my oldest I became a SAHM, I went back to work 5 years ago. I have worked and continue to work on improving who I am as a person. I want to share my journey and help others on theirs.!

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See Our  Lists of Other Great Articles:

Homesteading Articles
Hosta Articles
Gardening Articles
Growing and Preserving Food Articles

This post may contain Amazon affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases without costing you anything extra.

Attracting Birds to your Garden by Brett Lewis

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Tips On How To Attract Birds To Your Garden

Guest Post By Brett Lewis

Contributor for:  BirdInformer.com

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Attracting Birds to your garden is a fairly simple task. It takes a considerable amount of work to get started, but the payoff of a garden buzzing with birds is sublime. To make birds regularly visit, this article will show you tips on how to attract birds to your garden.

Entice them with Flowers

Planting flowers, shrubs, and bushes around your garden that produces food are one of the most effective ways of attracting birds. Flowers that produce seeds that birds find delectable are:

Sunflowers - Their bright yellow color and the seeds that they produce are enticing to birds. Even if sunflower seeds are not part of a particular bird's diet, they are still quite attracted to its dazzling color.

Daisies - Similar to sunflowers, their bright yellow center and ability to produce seeds that birds can eat makes this a great choice. An advantage of this flower to the common sunflower is that it is not an annual flower meaning it doesn't bloom once then perishes.

Coneflowers - This type of flower is easy to grow and maintain, which makes it a wonderful option for those who do not have that much time to tend to their garden.

You don't necessarily have to replace all of your flowers to attract birds. Birds are also attracted to bright natural colors, so flowers that make non-edible seeds are also an option; they're just less effective.

Entice them with Shrubs, Bushes and Vines

Shrubs, Bushes, and Vines that produce fleshy fruits not only provide bird's food it also provides them with shelter or a place to perch. Here are some examples of Shrubs, Bushes, and Vines that you can plant in your garden.

Elderberry - Even if their raw berries and other parts are considered toxic, they have little to no effect on birds and other animals. A large number of bird species love elderberries!

Winter Honeysuckle - Usually grown as hedges and used as ornamental plants, their red fruits persist throughout the winter giving your garden visitors during those cold months.

Highbush Blueberry - A variant of the wild blueberry. They are taller and have larger berries compared to their wild cousins that birds widely prefer.

Winterberry - Known more as Holly. The vibrant colors it displays, as well as the fruits they produce, make this very enticing for various species of birds. True to its name, it lasts throughout the winter months.

Use Bird Feeders As An Enticement

Bird Feeders are another option to take if you want to draw in birds. This can be a quick way to attract birds in your garden while your plants grow. Avoid filling your bird feeders with cheap bird feed. Most birds do not eat the filler found in cheap bird feed. The best things to fill your bird feeders with are shelled nuts (peeled), suet or, black-oil sunflower seeds.

Further reading: Choosing the Right Bird Feeder

Provide Plenty Of Water

Placing birdbaths in your garden gives birds a place to drink water and clean themselves. Every bird needs a clean source of water, and adding birdbaths will definitely make them flock to your garden making your bird watching experience all the better.

Further Reading:  Choosing the Best Birdbath

Bird Watching Binoculars

Other Birdbath Tips

• Make your birdbath look as natural as possible. A bird would feel more comfortable if it was drinking somewhere familiar. To make your birdbath look natural, place it near the ground, and getting its water to move is a more alluring sight compared to a static birdbath.

• Some birds steer clear from crowded birdbaths. To circumvent this problem, place multiple birdhouses around your garden. It's good to give your birdbaths considerable distance between each other. Placing a birdbath in a shaded and secluded area makes it so that your garden can attract shy birds like woodpeckers.

• Be sure to regularly maintain your birdbaths for dirty birdbaths that will deter birds from using them.
  
  

Give Birds a Nesting Spot

Leaving your gardens plant debris, twigs, fluff, and dead leaves encourage birds to nest near your garden. Grass trimmings are also a popular building material birds use for their nests. Having grass in your garden is a huge plus to incite nesting.

Birdhouses provide a fast solution for birds who are looking for somewhere to settle or rest. Place your birdhouse between 5 to 20 feet. Take note that different height placements of birdhouses attract different species of birds. Lastly, place your birdhouses near foliage or trees to give additional protection and security against predators.

Further Reading:  Great Gifts for Bird Lovers

Conclusion

Having a nice looking garden is great but complimenting it with beautiful birds can be the difference between great and phenomenal! With a little bit of patience, these tips will definitely help you attract birds into your garden.

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Guest Author Spotlight

Brett Lewis is the founder and a content contributor for BirdInformer.com. He is an avid bird watcher and has built a bird sanctuary in his backyard following guidelines provided by the National Wildlife Federation. Additionally, Brett loves to travel and when he does, Brett is always looking for unique and interesting birdlife to write about.

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See Our  Lists of Other Great Articles:

Homesteading Articles
Hosta Articles
Gardening Articles
Growing and Preserving Food Articles

This post may contain Amazon affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases without costing you anything extra.

Grow Crisphead (Iceberg) Lettuce

 

Growing Crisphead Lettuce

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Growing Leaf Lettuce

 

Growing Loose-Leaf Lettuce

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Growing Butterhead Lettuce

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 Battling Slugs in the Garden

 

Besides being darn ugly and slimy, slugs look like snails without the shells. They love to chew on plant leaves, and if they're not battled early, they can ruin the look of your plants for an entire season.

Slug damage can appear as multiple holes chewed through the leaves of the garden plants as shown above. The most damage will be done to plant varieties with thinner leaves that are easier for the slugs to chew, like hostas.

Misconceptions about Hostas

  

Common Misconceptions About Hostas

Hostas continue to be one of the most popular perennial plants for a number of reasons, including the variety of sizes, shapes, and colors that they come in. In addition, their ability to grow in less than perfect gardening conditions is unmatched. 

Are Hostas Drought Tolerant?

Reducing our dependence on water is one way gardeners love to be eco-friendly, so it comes as no surprise that drought-tolerant plants continue to be in high demand.

But are all hostas really drought tolerant? The answer is yes, and no.

Hostas of the Year

  

 

Hostas Named Hostas of the Year

Every year since 1996, the American Hosta Growers Association has chosen the winner from an increasing number of hostas.

These hostas are usually the cornerstones of most hosta collector’s gardens making these selections a great choice for beginning collectors as well as avid hosta collectors alike. 

When and How to Divide Hostas

When and How to Divide your Hosta

Whether you want to divide your hostas for the healthy of the plants or to increase the hosta love around your garden, dividing a hosta is easy to do once you're familiar with the timing and some basic steps.

  

  

Cutting Back Hosta Blooms

Although hostas are basically grown for those beautiful leaves, there are some hosta varieties that have quite beautiful flowers. Removing these are not necessary for the health of the plant, so whether you choose to cut the flower spikes off or allow them to grow and flower is a matter of personal choice.

Best NEW Books for Vegetable Garden Growers

Best NEW Books for Veggie Garden Growers

In this current time of food uncertainty, there is no better time to learn how to grow your own food. By learning how to plant a vegetable garden, you can bring fresh, nutritious veggies to your family's table and even have enough surplus to preserve for the future!

Summer Care for Hostas

  

Summer Care for Hosta Plants

Summer, especially late summer, can be tough on hostas.  Their fresh spring appearance starts to fade under the hotter sun.  There are some things you can do, though, to keep your hostas looking beautiful and fresh longer into the summer season.

How I grew my blog to over 850,000 pageviews!

 

First, here's the proof as promised.  Here's the link to my Blogger.com homepage which shows the current amount of page views.  

I have now over 850,000 page views and I am currently getting between the low of 600 and the high of 3,000 page views per day.  My numbers fluctuate because of my seasonal niche of gardening.

I chose Blogger.com as my blog publishing service because I found its features easy to use.   Blogger.com  was bought by Google in 2003. The blogs are hosted by Google and generally accessed from a subdomain of blogspot.com.  With the Google name attached to it, I trust Blogger.com will be around for some time.

Getting a continual number of page views to your blog, of course, takes time and dedication.  I'm sure there are other ways to get the results you want from your blog, but after some trial and error, I found that the following strategy was what worked for me, and I think it can work for you. So let's get to the marketing strategy.

How I got to 850,000 page views

I use Blogger.com., Pinterest, Canva, Pixabay and Tailwind

In a nutshell, the process I use is to create my Pinterest pins on Canva using images from Pixabay, upload them onto Pinterest and link to my blog articles/posts, and then schedule them out to post to Pinterest with Tailwind.

If you haven't yet set up a blogging publishing service like Blogger.com, you need to get that now as the setup for the following platforms will take some initial time to set up and become familiar with.

Let's get started.  This article presumes that you already have a blogging site set up, you have some content you've created and you're ready to get page views. 

If you need some help in organizing your growing list of blog posts, here is a helpful planner.

Let's go through the platforms listed above one at a time to learn how they work together.

                                         

Pinterest is a visual search engine. It's not technically considered a social media platform like Instagram or Facebook. Pinterest is actually more on the level of Google, a search engine, only Pinterest is a visual search engine using "pins."  The goal is to catch a user's eye and draw attention to the content you've uploaded enticing them to click or pin.

Pinterest is where 75% of my blog page views come from.

Users go to Pinterest to find ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more. The Pinterest site contains billions of pins and more are uploaded each day. When Pinterest users see a pin they like for a product or for information they are searching for, they can click on the pin to go to the site.

Many pinners will "save" those pins to a board that they've made on Pinterest so they can find it later. The beauty of that for the blogger is that when the searcher saves your pin to their Pinterest board, the pin gets renewed life. Your pin can now be seen by that pinner's followers, and if one of their followers saves it, it will then be seen by their followers and on and on. And that pin always leads to the content on your site.

More Advantages to Using Pinterest for Bloggers

Visitors from Pinterest are more likely to convert into leads or sales faster than from other social media sources. It is estimated that 93% of pinners use Pinterest to plan their purchases.

Connectivity.  Pinterest syncs up with many social media apps you probably already use for marketing like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Pinterest gives you analytical information including platform overview, trends, and audience preferences so you can tailor your pin images and even your content to suit your targeted audience.

So with Pinterest having more than 320 million monthly active users, you may wonder how you, as a new blogger, can compete in that arena?

Well, luckily for bloggers, most users of Pinterest aren't content creators like you who are looking for blog page views. They are just surfing and searching Pinterest for ideas and products they're interested in. Those users won't take the necessary steps you will take to tailor your profile, your boards, and your pins to reach your target audience.  More on that later.

Let's start with tailoring your Pinterest account to your target audience.

First, completely fill out your Pinterest profile.  Let people know who you are, what you're interested in, what you blog about. Add as many niche keywords as you can think of that your target audience will use to find your content.

If you are new to the world of keywords and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) here's a great book I found helpful.

 

After you initially upload your new pin, Pinterest will allow you to pin that same pin to relevant boards.  That's why you will need to create several different boards that you can pin your content to.

To create more niche boards, go to your Pinterest profile.  You will see the buttons for "created" "saved" and "tried." Hitting the saved buttons will show you all of your current boards.

To the very right side, you will see a plus sign "t" which gives you the option of creating a board or a pin.

First, you will want to create a "main" board if you don't already have one.   The name of your blog is a good title for it.  You will use this board for the initial upload of all of your new pins. This way you can always find your blog pins when you want to repin them later. You can choose to make this board secret if you choose. This board is just for you.

Now create 10 to 15 boards with board names related to your niche. The board names should be general enough that many of your blog posts/articles can be pinned to them, yet different from other board names.

For example, if you're in the gardening niche like I am, you can add separate boards titled Gardening 101, Gardening for Beginners, Best Gardening Blogs, The Well Kept Garden, etc. You get the idea.

As you create each new board, carefully write your board description with as many keywords as you can think of. You want people who are searching for boards related to gardening information or products to find you.

This is important because Pinterest is mainly a visual search engine.  More people will find your pinned content by searching for keywords than they will from being included on the feed that your followers will see.





                           

Canva is a free design platform with tools that make it possible for you to design anything and publish anywhere. It has a user-friendly drag-and-drop tool and thousands of customizable templates for you to use.  I can't emphasize enough the value of creating beautiful pins with engaging text.

If you don't want to hire a graphics designer, (and who can afford that) Canva is a great free way to create stunning designs in minutes by yourself without graphic designing skills.

With Pinterest, Pin is King so take time to learn Canva's features and how to use them. To get ideas for designing your pins, just peruse the pins that catch your eye on Pinterest and use them as a format and put your own twist on them.

Canva has several images already there for you to use, but realistically they are being used over and over and you want images that are fresh. I would recommend uploading your own images if you have them.

Another great option is to upload images from free sites like Pixabay for use in creating pins.

                           

I use Pixabay images constantly. Pixabay is a large collection of free images and videos. All contents are released under the Pixabay License, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist - even for commercial purposes.

You can download the images to your computer for free, and it's easy to do. Click on the image you want, click download, then choose a size. If you choose the smallest size (which I have found is perfect for later use) you can download the image without going through the steps to prove that you're not a robot, which I find to be too time-consuming.

Once your chosen image is download, you can then easily upload it to Canva to use in your pin designs.

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A little about the text on images

 Including text on your pin is very important. You need to let the viewer know what they're going to get by clicking or saving your pin. A pin, no matter how beautiful, without text explaining what it's linked to will be ignored.

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Okay.  So now you've got your blog post ready, you've created a visually-attractive pin with a text overlay that lets the pinner know why they should save or click on your pin. It's time to upload it to Pinterest and get some views!

Uploading your pin to Pinterest is pretty straightforward. Here are the steps:

You will see a "Create" button toward the top left of your profile page. Choose the "Create Pin". Upload your pin in the big block on the left.  Copy and paste the link to your blog post.  Add your title to the top.  

The description you give your pin is very important, so take the time to create a description with as many keywords as naturally flow.  

Lastly, select your main board and pin it.  You have the option of seeing your pin to make sure everything is as you wanted it.

Now that your new pin is officially on Pinterest, you will be able to pin it to each of your niche boards as long as you wait two days between each pinning. You could pin the same pin to several of your boards sooner than that but you risk being introduced to the spam police, and you don't want that. 

Now your pin is available for your followers to see.

But you're not going to stop there! You want that pin to be seen by as many people as possible. 

In addition to having your followers see your pins and being
seen by people who search the keywords you've used, you can join boards belonging to other users who have made their board a "group board."

Pinterest Group Boards (also known as collaborative boards) are shared Pinterest boards that multiple Pinterest users pin to. The board is owned by one Pinterest user who has given other Pinterest users permission to add pins.  When you contribute a pin to their group board, their followers will also see your pins.  You want to join as many group boards in your niche as you can.

To find group boards in your niche that accept contributors, go to the Pinterest search and search for "group garden boards" for example.

 

The first person you see on the list of pinners is the board owner. You'll need to contact that person and ask to be added as a contributor to that group board.  Most group board owners will require that you follow their profile before requesting to be added.

Finding board owners who are willing to add you to their group boards will take some time and patience, so try not to get discouraged. Many of these board owners are too busy to answer right away so it can take some time to get a response. 

Joining group boards gives you many more boards to pin to in order to get your pin seen.  It's a numbers game.  The more boards you can pin your pins to, the better the chance someone interested will see them.

                                 


When you get to the point where you have a good deal of content to share, maybe 20 to 30 blog posts with corresponding pins uploaded to Pinterest, it's time to invest some money in a scheduler like Tailwind. 

Tailwind is a social media scheduler used to plan and schedule out your pins weeks in advance. This is a great time-saver which will leave you plenty of time to do what we love -- creating great content.


While there are a lot of different social media scheduling tools out there including Hootsuite, Buffer, Viralwoot, and Viraltag, I have found Tailwind to be the easiest to use.

Like any other new platform, you will need to spend some time understanding and learning to use the Tailwind scheduler, but after you are familiar with how it works, it will save you much time and energy, and aggravation.  I use it almost daily.

Other Advantages to Using Tailwind

You can join "tribes" where bloggers like yourself share each other's pins onto their Pinterest boards. This opens up your pins to a much wider audience.

Tailwind also has an analytics section where you can learn about your profile, board, and pin performance.

One of my favorite parts of Tailwind is the "board lists." This is where those 15-20 niche boards you created on Pinterest and the group boards you joined comes into play. You can schedule one specific pin to the niche boards you created using a time interval of your choice. I have my interval set at two days. So every two days that specific pin will be scheduled to pin to one of my boards on the Tailwind board list.

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If your head is swimming now, I understand. There is so much to learn about each of these platforms that it would literally take a book to go into detail about all of the platforms and their features.

The best way to learn them is to sign up for them and begin to get familiar with all the features.  Soon all of what you've read in this article will start to make more sense.

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I hope you've found this article helpful to start your journey into marketing your content.

I love to hear from fellow bloggers, especially new ones because, well, we've all been new at one time! 

Feel free to email me with questions or comments at thelearningplace.shf@gmail.com.

And if you want to learn about how you can have a guest post published on our blog, use this link: writer'sguidelines

Bio
Susan Coyle Minshall is a freelance writer, garden enthusiast and owner/operator of Sunset Hosta Farm and Senior Dog Retreat. Her work has appeared in magazines including Practical Gardener, Double Talk Magazine, Good Old Days Magazine, Twins Magazine, GreenPrints Magazine, the Journal of Court Reporting as well as several online magazines.

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