Good evening, everyone. This is Ray, back on your feeds once again to finally give you the

state of the homestead for 2025. I know it's been a long stretch of radio silence, but I've got a lot of

updates and announcements to make, so let's just get right into it. First of all, life has been

crazy these past six months. A lot of stress and struggle,

but also a lot of joy in the midst of it. If you've been following the newly relaunched

patron podcast, then you've gotten a taste of that, as my partner and I have been working hard

at getting out of our apartment to see shows, watch great movies, get outside, and spend more

time with friends in the new year. This, watch great movies, get outside, and spend more time with friends in the

new year. This, more than anything, has helped finally shake me out of the funk I felt trapped in

for the past year and led me to re-engage with my creative pursuits. And now, the Homestead Podcasts.

On top of that, I've finally been able to find steady, consistent freelance work for the first time since the pandemic started, as I've continued my role as sound producer with feminist fairy tales, started working as an editor for the Legend Lark actual play podcast, and undertaken a few other smaller projects earlier this year.

This, in combination with my day job, has led to a more busy but stable workload.

I'm extremely thankful for both the income from these jobs and the connections I've made,

but it does mean that I've had less time to work on telling my own stories and producing my own

shows. And to be honest, I've really been missing it. The six-year anniversary of Homestead on the Corner and the five-year anniversary of the Sheridan Tapes both arrived at the end of last month.

And at that point, I realized that my soul was longing to come back to this world.

And I could no longer ignore it.

That being said, some things needed to change.

After Virginia left at the end of season four, the full-time production team at Homestead

was reduced back to one.

At first I tried to convince myself that I could keep running productions at the same scale

and speed I did at the beginning of a pandemic.

...