Hello! We are back and while it’s been longer than usual between episodes, hopefully this one will make up for lost time…because…we think at least…that it’s a cracker.
Skye has a lovely long chat with writer, illustrator and creative coach Naomi Bulger, plus we share our favourite tools, tricks, apps and people – all the things that will hopefully inspire and equip us all to use social media to tell our stories and connect with our people in the best, most rewarding way. Oh and Sophie slides in a reminder that enrolments are open for the next My Open Kitchen ecourse kicking off on July 23!
Skye’s Top 5
- So in the last week I have had a massive clean up of my email inbox and deleted many useless and spammy emails in the hope that all I will now see is this wonderful raft of new newsletters. I’m a bit to restless for scrolling on Instagram right now and equally so I can’t seem to get my head into any books, so newsletters it is! Here are three I am liking right now; The newsletter by Nura Australia is put together by my beautiful friend Penny Gorman, she has baby clothing range in the most beautifully and ethically produced Australiana type prints. Reading a newsletter put together by someone I know and admire is a really lovely thing! I know that we might seem as though we are going a bit overkill on the Dispatch to a Friend love but frankly there is a lot to love. I’m inspired by how they have lifted the bar in the whole package. It’s a podcast and it’s a beautiful blog and there is a newsletter including essay like posts from other wonderfully passionate people. I so appreciate the extra effort – thankyou Annabelle Hickson and Gillian Bell! ve mentioned the newsletter from Extraordinary Routines here before but she’s really giving it a bit more throttle in recent times she put me onto the Creative Mornings an outfit that creates get together and talks with creative all over the world.
- HASHTAG #podclub is my collaboration born of the #myopenkitchengathering. It’s a book club on Instagram but for podcasts. Emily Ellis, Naomi Bulger, Lindsay Cameron Wilson of The Food Podcast, Anneka Manning of BakeClub Australia, Georgie from HomeGrown Me and Cherie from the @backroomworkshop in Forbes are our weekly contributors, so if you, like me, are hungry for new podcasts to try this is where you can find our suggestions.
- On that note I’ve been on a major podcast discovery spree and have come across Be Your Own Hero, an Australian podcast, by Flow Athletic, who from what I can gauge are a gym or yoga studio in Sydney. All of their guests so far have been down to earth and amazing at the same time! I also love the concept that a fitness studio is tapping into the life stories of their clients is awesome.
- Thankyou to @lucyknight for this fun app Waterlouge which turns your photos into watercolour paintings. Great for any pretty landscape shots from Farmers!
- Another hashtag, one that I am waiting for with baited breath; thankyou Pip at @jumbledonline for the discovery of #binbouquet, a hashtag created by @mrcooktheflorist where a public rubbish bin was essentially flower bombed with a beautiful cascade of flowers as a show of public art.
Sophie’s Top 5 (actually there’s only four but number three is a biggie and definitely worth two!)
- WordSwag is a really fun app – I use it to put fancy text on my IG stories – when I have time – and my daughter Alice uses it to make fun covers for i-movies and cute infographics to send to her friends. Very easy to use and has templates that are sized for every possible social media platform or standard design size.
- Lady jo Adams on IG – every time I see one of Jo’s posts pop up on my feed I really stop, look and read. She and her family live on a small coastal farm surrounded by oyster beds and forrest and she is a fabulous advocate and advertisement for Tassie. Her photos always spark my imagination and her honest, often very funny captions always tell a good story. To me, this is an example of organic growth, Instagram and community building done right.
- All the clever podcasts out there; I’m seeing a real trend to take the classic podcast and create more of an interactive, dramatic radio show. For example; cooking by ear; An audio cooking show where you cook along in real time and by the end of the episode, you’ve made a meal side by side with some pretty famous people. Episode one Oscar winner Frances McDormand makes risotto and talks about creativity, acting and feasting. The idea being you have all your ingredients ready and make the meal as you listen. How cool is that! I’ve already mentioned my love of radio drama The Archers. And I’m so excited to be discovering a whole raft of radio dramas created specifically for kids ; Six Minutes, the Mayan Crystal, Mars Patel, Fierce Girls and Eleanor Amplified are our current favourites. We usually listen in the car but my Tom whose 8, also likes to listen in bed, eyes closed, before he nods off. I do feel bad that it’s kind of like outsourcing reading time but also such a great way to really get the imagination into another gear and the quality of these shows is so high that the kids become completely absorbed in the story.
- Another IG follow – Laura Jane Williams, and an article she wrote about IG for UK mag Red; In this piece she writes; ’Most of us use Instagram as a way to find the art in our everyday lives’ – and this is just how I view this platform. Not as a place to show off a new outfit or fancy cake, but rather, to quote Laura Jane again, ‘train our eyes to see the story wherever you go’. Before I started my little journey on social media, I might not have stopped and really looked at the wildflowers on the side of the road, I would have just taken them for granted because they are always there. Thinking that I might do a post before dinner definitely encourages me to make more of an effort when setting the table or put a little vase of flowers on a tray of tea and cake for visitors. And I’m now so much more aware of the beautiful golden light at dusk on the farm. Is all of this a bad thing? I know we shouldn’t need to share something to appreciate it but if instagram can help us appreciate the beauty in our every day lives, rather than just taking it for granted – that’s got to be a positive thing hey! Anyway, her IG posts are always so well written (as discussed in an interview she did with Sara Tasker’s Hashtag Authentic podcast – one of my favourites) and she, like Jo Adams, is another example of steady, organic growth on this platform – all around the community she is building.