Welcoming Our New Website & CommunityFOLK—A Note from the Publisher

Dear FOLKLIFERS,

How odd that the summer fees like it is almost over. So much hype, and then *poof* it’s mid August and we’re thinking back-to-school and winding down from all the ways we planned to fill these hotter months. The silver lining to a quick summer is that Autumn is the dessert. Autumn—such a FOLKLIFE season. Sweaters, fires, layers, shedding summer habits to turn inward. Reading, of course. Thick soup, and an orange crust on the world. Torpor. It’s my own new year. A time when I get myself back on track, and I love it. Don’t get me started on west coast winter though . . .

And we now have something beautiful for you to enjoy this Fall.

When we started FOLKLIFE, we wanted to eventually be a quarterly magazine. But being published only twice a year means we have so much time and energy and slowness to offer each print volume. So much intention in every single bit. For example, we’ve been working on the upcoming Death Volume for a very long time. It goes to print in one month and I am still working on little ways to improve it—‘what did we miss?’ I think. And I am finding those bits to lovingly insert so you feel you read a well-rounded take on a difficult theme. We can’t wait to share it with you. This goal of being quarterly has diminished, especially as we see quarterly magazines turning to semi-annual these days any way—print costs, shipping costs, now tariffs—nothing romantic about those. 

But we've found another way to bring you your soulful and slow quintessentially west coast stories between volumes and throughout the year. We’ve heard you—you wait six months for it, read it in one go, and have to wait another six months. And now you don’t have to.

One year ago I applied for a grant to do a big project through the Government of Canada, and that big project was a comprehensive new website that would offer you an online place to regularly read and watch new stories, old stories, behind-the-scenes magazine publishing things, and an insider’s look into visiting. It’s an ode and a hub for slow west coast living. We received the grant in February and I chose to go a bit of a different route with it, hiring someone who focused not just on a new website build, but brand and business strategy as well. Strategy: something I haven’t really done—as I always just focus on bringing you beautiful stories of the beautiful people around you. And surprisingly, FOLKLIFE is still here. Many thanks to the Government of Canada and Southern Gulf Islands Tourism for their past sponsorship that has helped to keep us alive.

I won’t say this website project has been an easy road. It was actually very very hard, and what was meant to be two months took six. In a world where websites are every day, what a surprise that was. But we made it, and it’s been worth every amount of energy that was put into it. Chantal Ireland is the person behind the brand/business strategy, design, and build, working endlessly on every little piece, using the Shopify platform to make a content-heavy site—not an easy feat. Kudos to Chantal.

I also formed a lovely relationship with an amazing writer/farmer/mother/swamp witch, who started churning out her beautiful words for us, which we will slowly release, and which I know you will love. My favourite part!

We worked with Saman Rezapour to put together a host of videos to have our print stories come to life. See them on our website, from the video on who we are on our about page, to the video on quintessential FOLKLIFE Yarrow Aiko Koontz. We know you'll love watching them.

What is on the site now is just the beginning. Guides, recipes, stories—so much more to come, regularly released. And we have one more exciting website offering that I want to share here, called: CommunityFOLK. I am so passionate about small business—passionate about local folks doing their passions. Honestly, it is so hard to be an entrepreneur, and we’re in the weeds with all of them—even FOLKLIFE is still 90% a passion project. FOLKLIFE is your guide to west coast slow living, and CommunityFOLK is your place to showcase your business at a low regular rate. It’s a fabulous guide to the people in this area doing fabulous work.

Speaking of community, we want this website to be a community. We hope that when you read a piece, you comment your thoughts on the bottom. Let’s bring our slow life lovers together—it’s only the beginning of an even greater community.

And I just want to say a big thank you to Mhairi Petrovic of out-smarts.com, who mentored me throughout this project—an offer from WeBC. It’s so good to have someone to bounce everything off of, especially when you dwell in not believing in your thoughts and ideas.

So, my dear friends, if you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading. I chose to write this this morning, instead of working on my publisher letter for the death volume. I know the publisher letter is a favourite in every volume, and honestly, this one has been a very hard one to write. How much do I share about my recent experience with death? How deep into the trauma of it all do I go? How surface do I swim? I go back and forth on answers to these questions, writing a new letter every few days. Feel free to let me know your preference.

And before I go, I have three offerings for you.

1.) Here is Rachel Boult’s own story—about meditation on a dance between art and grief.

2.) Here is a lovely video featuring Yarrow Aiko Koontz—a follow-up to her piece called Mottaini in the Waste Volume.

3.) And finally, here is a song I love right now, because music is what brings me closer to my mom, and what brings e closer to my emotions—something I find hard to do in my dissociated world. Give Me Love by Applewood Road/Amy Speace/Amber Rubarth/Emily Barker.

Much love to all you people. I hope you’re thriving, and we thank you for your support in this next journey.

Alina Cerminara
Founder & Publisher