Every week we buy eggs from a farm family who sells them to our local food co-op. Tucked into each box is a short jewel that sets the eggs apart from other products: a four or five-line update about their farm or its practices. The story is photocopied, cut into strips and put into the egg cartons.
Last week instead of a narrative about the arrival of new chicks or the antics of a turkey was a statement about the movement to pay a farmer the worth of what a farmer raises. “Thank you for no longer seeing food as a cost, but as the treasure it is,” the last line of the message read.
The weekly writing from the Bauman family is marvelous marketing. It’s a blog as well, though one written without the Internet. The Baumans are Old German Baptist Brethren. They reject some forms of technology, including television and computers. They also raise their chickens the old fashioned way – on pasture instead of in a windowless chicken shed with giant fans.
Can a blog be a blog if it isn’t on the Internet?
March 24, 2010 at 1:31 pm
First of all, I, too am a fan of the Bauman’s eggs and the little slip of paper in the carton. And second, I had never thought of it… but I would be willing to call their weekly message a blog. I don’t have a concrete definition that I’m basing this on; the content and the length and the tone just feel blog-y. Maybe it’s like porn — you know it when you see it?
March 25, 2010 at 10:04 am
Becca, that’s a funny way to look at it! Defining blog beyond web+log — as Stephen Johnson referred to — is something I’ve been interested in throughout this project. It’s a fluid form bound, in theory, by where it appears (online) and the size of the box in which you write. But even that doesn’t restrict what is called a blog, because people have started calling Twitter posts microblogging.
March 24, 2010 at 4:21 pm
“Can a blog be a blog if it isn’t on the Internet?”
Since “blog” is a contraction of “web log”, wouldn’t it just be a “log”? Strictly, what you are describing is a circular letter, which of course has a much longer history.
I suppose a blog is a kind of circular letter but with a hugely expanded audience.
March 25, 2010 at 10:15 am
I’ve never heard the term “circular letter,” Stephen, but I looked it up. After I waded through examples in business, credit/banking, insurance and the Revolutionary War, I understood the reference. Perhaps the blog takes advantage of technology to make the circular letter more feasible.
March 24, 2010 at 8:23 pm
I once talked to Rosanna Bauman about publishing her “egg slips” in book form–and she was already thinking about doing so on her own. Last time I saw her she had moved ahead with it, but I don’t know if she published it or not. She wanted to expand on the notes, to provide a little of the story behind the story. By the way, I don’t believe they reject computers, but they may say no to the Internet.
March 25, 2010 at 10:19 am
Thanks, Janet. I’ve thought before that those would make a good book, accompanied by photos from their farm. I hope she follows through. As for the computers reference, that was based on an old newspaper article, but I know that some use computers, especially for presentations at conferences. Jess and I attended a couple of Powerpoint presentations led by Rosanna, for example.
March 25, 2010 at 4:13 am
I think that must be an egglog not a weblog!
March 25, 2010 at 10:19 am
Thanks, Susan:)
March 25, 2010 at 7:38 pm
And actually, according to the “weblog” = “blog” rule, it should be a “glog.” You can’t believe how much time I’ve devoted to thinking about this, Jen!
March 28, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Is this an egglog or gorge-ic?