Crunchy and loving it: Longmont woman finds her natural niche in blogosphere

By Linda King, Longmont Ledger

All Amy Gates, mother of two, activist, successful blogger — i.e. she has an audience of thousands and actually makes money — and wannabe backyard chicken farmer wants is to help make a better world. And if that means facing down some of America’s corporate behemoths, well, so be it.

Amy Gates of Longmont, shown here with her children Ava and Julian, has found success with her blog, CrunchyDomesticGoddess.com. Linda King/Longmont Ledger

It started in 2005, when the self-described “granola-earthy-crunchy-living-green” Longmont woman noticed that Target was hawking a T-shirt with a snarky message.

They “were selling these shirts that disparaged natural childbirth,” says Gates. The shirt read, “An epidural is in my near future.”

So she got involved with an online protest campaign that eventually set off alarm bells at corporate. The giant (and savvy) retailer eventually pulled the shirts under pressure from natural-childbirth advocates like Gates. Impressed by the power of a good blog, she decided to launch one of her own in February 2005. But she had modest intentions, at first.
“It was a way to stay in touch with my family and friends,” she says.

Four years later, it’s much more than that. CrunchyDomesticGoddess.com receives some 4,500 unique visits and 6,000 hits per week. Gates has more than 5,600 followers on Twitter, and she’s even making a small income through advertising.

“I think it helps that I started my blog almost five years ago … when there weren’t as many blogs,” she says. “It was definitely a time investment growing my readership in the beginning.”

She decided to focus on the “crunchy” (the online Urban Dictionary says the term describes “persons who have adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons,” though in Gates’ case that’s too narrow a definition) simply out of personal conviction. The blog is a pressure cooker of ideas, prescriptions and practical suggestions about recycling, using organic and local foods and making informed decisions about birth choices and child rearing. For example, Gates promotes, “attachment parenting,” which advocates co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding and carrying babies in slings.

“One of my goals is that I’d love to see my readership continue to grow and reach more people who may be on the fence about attachment parenting, home birth (and) eco-friendly living,” she says.

And if raising a few hens in the backyard isn’t eco-friendly, what is? Gates was deeply involved in the 2008 debate in Longmont, which resulted in the City Council approving a sort of pilot program allowing a limited number of families to raise as many as four hens (no roosters; too noisy) in their back yards.

Permits were hot items and gone just two weeks after the council’s decision. The council later slightly expanding the program and Gates is one of approximately 70 Longmont residents who now hold a permit.

“It was a group effort,” Gates says of friends who believe that backyard chickens can be part of a more sustainable lifestyle. But between blogging and parenting, she hasn’t actually found time to set up for chickens.
Gates has what you might call “protagonist DNA” — she’s a doer. She is unabashed with her opinions on the blog. Among the most popular posts she’s written over the years are piecies focusing on breastfeeding a toddler while pregnant, breastfeeding past age 2, questioning circumcision, boycotting Nestle and dyeing Easter eggs naturally. She also blogs openly about her struggles with anxiety disorder.

“It makes me feel like I’m doing a good job, knowing that another person (is) able to recognize that her anxiety (is) ruling her life and make positive changes as a result of reading about my experiences,” she says.

In short, she doesn’t mince words when addressing topics that, if not exactly taboo, are often avoided in conversation.

“Many people feel they are alone,” she says, “because nobody is talking about … anxiety and depression, marital difficulties, extended breastfeeding.”