This cryptic question appeared on one of the responses to this blog. I receive hundreds of post in my spam file a week about this blog, over 33,000 thus far, which mostly say nothing about the content of my work but most often are very laudatory in the apparent hope that I will post their contact info for everything from sex ads to do-dads.

 Some small percentage of these people have actually read my blog posts, or at least one of them, but are obviously sending a generic general-content message that could be sent to anyone and very likely is being sent to hundreds of others. Not uncommonly, they even steal from each other,  and I receive exactly the same comment from four or five different addresses.  I do not think such comments offer anything to my readers and do not post them.

  To answer the question, “Where do you get that?”

  I invent, write, photograph or otherwise make it. I provide very nearly all of the content of my blogs except for the occasional photo or short piece of info that might be from a manufacturer. The experiences that I write about are my own, my own invention or those that I have heard from others who I know very well. I do not use other people’s materials on my blog and only rarely does anyone compose or have input into what I say.  

  This might change a little when I have live-in interns who come here to Whitehall and work with me for three months while I teach them something of the arts of writing, videography and broadcasting. They help me. I help them, and we learn from each other. This is damn tough work. It is like living with a very demanding grandfather five days a week. Not only do they do the creative stuff, but also help me keep this place together by doing some of the physical work to keep a rural lifestyle going. 

  At the end of their stay they will leave with a portfolio of work that they can call their own, an outline of their prospective business and the knowledge of how to make money from it. Some of my interns’ work may ultimately appear on my blogs, but very soon they will have the confidence to start their own. So if you really want to know how I do stuff, come and intern with me for a few months and start to learn the craft.

  If you have basic computer skills, some web savvy already, and can get some seed money; I can start you on your own outdoor business that might ultimately be worth millions – provided that you have the personal drive to make it happen.  That I cannot supply.