My Website's New Look + Introducing the Not Your Garden Variety Club!
Hello Everyone and Happy August,
I guess this is my official “launch.” What was once emilywayland.com, became The Wayland Company, and now is emilywayland.com again. I explained this in my last post, but basically since 2020 is mostly canceled and we weren’t really using this website, I figured I’d combine my artistic work with my citizen science projects under one roof, and that’s what you see here.
2020 is also causing many of us to pivot, it’s truly a chrysalis, a time of change. While I am mostly unemployed waiting for business to pick up at what was my full-time job, I saw that my love for plants and pollinators was present in my work and a brand was right there all along, so here we are.
While my online followership is nowhere near noteworthy, I decided to go ahead and set up what this post is really about: The Not Your Garden Variety Club. Through the platform Patreon I’ve created a membership program that, in short, gives members monthly exclusives that support my creative and citizen science projects. For just $4 a month, members receive the following:
Free downloads: photos and art!
Access to a members-only discord community.
Your name listed at the end of all videos and miscellaneous media.
Members-only online events such as giveaways, plant swaps, and Google Hangouts.
Behind-the-scenes extras and sneak peeks!
Adopt-a-Monarch: Name a tagged migrator and receive photos and updates about your butterfly!
Over time, I’m sure many different benefits will be added. For example, I’d like for the Monarch Adoptions to be from egg to butterfly once I am able to have the resources in order to keep track of individual caterpillars and provide daily update photographs.
What do monthly contributions support?
Donate to environmental organizations such as Monarch Watch, Xerces Society, and more with every goal reached.
Upgrade equipment to improve my artwork and content.
Fund supplies for butterfly raising and other citizen science projects.
Do more pollinator experiments such as testing out butterfly kits and working with other insects
I might have more ideas down the line and will add them here! Open to your input as well!
Any additional GOALS that may arise!
As it is with the membership benefits, this list is not absolute. I hope to do an Illustrated Raising Guide free for download to members, and expand products of my art that I can have available such as pins, patches, and stickers on Etsy. And of course, my ideas don’t end there. There are always goals I am looking to accomplish, but most of all I am looking to continue to spread awareness about the Monarch Butterfly and other pollinators to others through my projects—and I thought at least setting this program up now while I continue to do what I do will hopefully put me in a good place in order to reach my goals and share my message in a stronger way.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. Below is an image of many that is ready for you to download for free upon sign up. If you decide to join—I am extremely grateful and your support means the world.
Thank you,
emily
