Gail Gardner

I know dozens of freelance writers and all of us do ghost writing at times. Staff writers are also ghost writers if the content is published as the publication rather than in their bios. I also have a collaborator whose company ghost writes books, primarily printed books, but also some ebooks.

Many get started using platforms like WriterAccess; however, they are at the low end of the pay scale. Only those who can write quickly can make a living doing that. Writers who are subject matter experts make more per piece. Some of the worst pay is SEO writing, but also some better pay.

Ghost writers, bloggers, and journalists do not typically have agents and most of them don't write books which is what some are thinking of when they ask about ghost writing.

raven ranson wrote:What's the difference between a copywriter and a ghostwriter?

A ghost writer produces content that is published in someone else's name. That content could be blog posts, articles on major sites, white papers, ebooks, or print books.

The correct definition of a copywriter is a high-paid specialty that requires the ability to convert readers into buyers. Many people call SEO writing copywriting, but most of it is not and many who claim to be copywriters aren't. The very best copywriters can get many $1000s to tens of $1000s per piece.

Two of the better places to find writing gigs are https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?keywords=writing and https://problogger.com/jobs/. The main downside of both sites is that many jobs do not reveal what the rate of pay is. They range from "you've got to be kidding cheap" to "decent" to "well-paid". Some you can only find out if you jump through their hoops.

The better writers don't use the writing platforms, relying instead on referrals and their portfolios usually posted publicly on a site like Contently. Here is an example portfolio there:  https://gailgardner.contently.com/.

I'd be happy to connect on Purple Moosages or Skype or some other chat (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) to answer questions. I have to guess that this post must be ranking highly for residual income streams as the OP seems to have found Permies because of this post rather than because of permaculture.

It is harder to find work as a ghost writer outside of wherever your native language is written. In the U.S., American writers are preferred, followed by Canadian, British, Australian, and Kiwis (New Zealanders). But there is a significant difference between American English and British / Australian / Kiwi spelling and vocabulary.

Writers from other countries that speak and write English are typically avoided because the writing is quite different. India and Pakistan are good examples of countries where English is used, but it is quite different. It is best to write in your native language for people in your own country unless you are a subject matter expert and you hire an editor or the person you write for is willing to have your work edited.

The original link Jennifer posted was on the social sharing site StumbleUpon which has been shut down and/or migrated to Mix.com. We'll have to use the one Nicole shared or others.

Dan Boone wrote:The most famous pear in Oklahoma is a somewhat fibrous cooking pear (it never really bletts or gets soft, and is a serious mouthful to chew, though the flavor is sweet and good) called the Kieffer. It’s a old cross between Bartlett and an Asian pear. It’s often called a “Homesteader” pear because it was popular with homesteaders 100 or more years ago and it often survives at abandoned homesites where nothing else has. It’s a big solid pear that’s resistant to fire blight (the tree is attacked but survives) and can survive drought.

My point being, trying new crosses of this sort seems ENTIRELY worthwhile to me.

On the place I recently moved off of there was an ancient pear tree probably 40+ feet tall. It was the only one left when someone cleared what used to be apple and pear orchards. Maybe it was allowed to survive because it was near the road. It is still producing. The pears were big and fairly hard. I ate them and canned them and the horses loved them.

If I had known how delicious canned pears were just for eating and also in that old recipe from the Bisquick box for coffee cake, I would have canned a lot more of them. I'm going to miss those pears - none to can this year. The owner doesn't even bother to pick them.

I once had over 100 acres that had about 15 acres of mesquite so I could have found out whether different trees were sweet versus others. I also had a place leased once that had massive mesquite trees on it because it got really wet when it rained - too wet to farm or turn into pasture. That would have been an even better test. 

Trees down there produced a ton of beans. I wish I had known about making flour and syrup back then. The horses sure love those beans, but you have to fence them off and then keep them in dry lot until they poop them out so you don't end up spreading them to other parts of your pasture.

I wonder if the flour is best from one variety and syrup is better from another? Mesquite doesn't grow this far north, so I guess I can't find out myself.

As for persimmons, I found that the wild persimmons that grew on another place I lived in Oklahoma were only sweet once they looked like they were well-past their "best-by" date. When they got all crinkled up, then they tasted delicious - but not before that.

r ranson wrote:I have a weebly site, which has a blog. I want to make it so that people can sign up to receive email notifications when a new blog entry goes up. Any idea where I can learn how to do this?  Or even useful word string I can give google to help me learn this.  I've tried all sorts of combinations and am now frustrated.

Try these:

Weebly instructions for how to build an email list

Newsletter sign-up form: how to add to Weebly

Powr.io Mailing List plugin for Weebly

Video: Creating a Mailing list and opt-in form on your Weebly site using Mailchimp (free up to 1000 subscribers, so the most commonly used by new bloggers):

Dan Boone wrote:Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old. 

I thought I was the only one who remembered that old rhyme. Which made me think our ancestors were a lot healthier than us with our fear of food going bad in a refrigerator. I have to believe that meant they just kept reheating that peas porridge and even eating it cold for over a week to no ill effects. I bet it sat in the pot over the fire that had gone out that whole time.

But I suspect most people today wouldn't be able to do that for the same reason native Mexicans can drink their water, but tourists can't. 

Spices are much less expensive purchased in bulk for canning projects. I buy 1 lb. bags of organic Italian seasoning, black pepper, cumin, etc. to use in cooking and canning. There are multiple sources for organic products. Vitacost has the largest selection.

Bulk seasoning

My only connection to any brands I mention or that appear on that page is as a buyer. The other seasonings I use regularly that make all the difference are: Braggs liquid Aminos (soy-sauce substitute), balsamic and other flavored vinegars, Gold label coconut oil, and REAL olive oil (beware of fakes).

As with everything else I consume, I only use organic and non-gmo. Beware suspect pseudo-organic brands. Stick with those that can still be trusted.

My plan is to wait until this fall and plant all the peach, apricot, and other seeds I've collected during the year at just at and beyond the drip line of the existing trees and see what happens. The reasons I believe this will work:

1) There are little black walnut and oak trees in those areas all over the place.
2) That soil will be more fertile than any in open areas.

I also hope that I may hit upon some micro-climates that will shelter the peach blossoms from the late freezes we tend to have around here. The clearings tend to be circular with trees on three sides and not all the clearings face the same direction. So I will end up with pits planted with tree cover in various directions and at differing heights of the rolling hills.

Then if I run out of places to plant them (unlikely for me, but others might), we could consider testing out some peach pit jelly recipes.

Peach Pit Jelly Recipe

Marco Banks wrote:Utilizing gravity should be considered in your well site.  It will take energy to pull that water up from the ground (a windmill or pump), but once you've brought it to the surface, you can store it in a tank and then use gravity to pressurize the system.  It will sit there in the tank, just waiting for you to turn a valve and let it flow.  Thus, it would make sense to site your well at the top of your property.

True, but depending on how steep your property is, that can significantly add to the cost of drilling a well.