I’m a content marketing and copy editor who also dabbles in photography. Also an enthusiastic hiker, avid reader, cook, wine lover, coffee addict, dog mommy, wife, native Ohioan, and diehard Buckeyes fan. Not necessarily in that order.
A lot has been going on around here. We’re preparing to extend the driveway into the backyard to the barn, tear down the old barn, and have a new barn built. This is only in the preliminary stages. No construction has actually been done yet. The new barn will house our travel-trailer, lawn mower, and the truck, among other things.
In order to extend the driveway, some trees needed to come down. The huge silver maple by our driveway needed some branches removed. A precariously leaning pine tree came down. Two apple trees (both sickly anyway). And a crabapple tree. It’s amazing the difference it makes. Once the stumps are grinded (which will happen in the next week or so), we will have a clear path for the new driveway out to the barn. Also, I now have a large pile of wood chips — and I really needed that mulch!
The silver maple used to have several large branches hanging over the driveway. Low clearance — delivery trucks hit the branches before.Yay, mulch!
Then we had a tree decide to come down (somewhat) on its own accord. It’s the Bradford pear in our front yard, so I’m not mad about it. As pretty as Bradford pears are in the spring when they’re in bloom, they are incredibly invasive. Ohio banned stores from selling them just this year. I’ve been wanting this tree gone. A significant part of it came down overnight Saturday-Sunday, and we spent four hours on Sunday cleaning up the mess and cutting firewood. These trees are structurally weak, so I think it just couldn’t hold its own weight anymore.
I think this will be the next tree on our list that’s slated for removal. God, I hate it so much. (And we have three or four more in the backyard in one of our wooded areas.)
OK. Enough about trees. Here are some photos I’ve taken recently from around the farm.
This hydrangea didn’t bloom at all last year. I’m so happy!The black-eyed Susans are new. Probably sprouted from old seeds.I have hardly seen any butterflies this year. Wee toad! I moved it so it wouldn’t get squashed.I was being watched while I picked blackberries.
It’s been some time since my last update, and I have a lot to share. I suppose I’ll start with our vacation. We took our camper up to Thompson, Ohio — located in Geauga County between Cleveland and Erie, Pennsylvania. We stayed at the Thompson/Grand River Valley KOA Holiday. We usually like to stay at state parks, but they book quickly for July 4.
This was a nice campground, though we had some issues when we checked in. Specifically, they gave the site we reserved to someone else and assigned us to a less expensive site. But we ended up working things out with them, getting a pull-through site for our first night and then moving to a back-in site comparable to the one we booked on the following morning.
Getting camp set up that first day was difficult. We were dealing with scattered showers that kept us inside our vehicles for quite some time before we were finally able to get the camper level and hooked up.
Anyway, we stayed there for almost 2 weeks. We arrived Monday, June 26, and stayed until Friday, July 7. We celebrated my husband’s 50th birthday while we were there.
Some highlights:
Our campsiteEnjoying lunch at Eddie’s Grill at Geneva-on-the-LakeDog beach at Geneva State ParkHell Hollow Wilderness AreaHidden Lake ParkHidden Lake ParkApps and sangria at Grand River CellarsCampground fireworksA view of Lake Erie in Madison, OhioBlitz stealing my bed!
We found a relatively empty park on July 4 near our campground — Thompson Ledges. It was a quiet and peaceful retreat from the holiday crowds.
Devil’s Lane10 mph TreeFlat Iron RockFlat Iron Rock
A day later, my aunt (who lives nearby) picked me up at the campground so we could visit Holden Arboretum. This was an Ohio Bucket List item, so I was happy to finally check it off! Loved it there. Amid the gardens were several large Lego sculptures.
The canopy walk – 500 feet above the forest floorLego gardeners!Lotus Pond
On our last full day, Thursday, July 6, we went to Lake Erie Bluffs to take Blitz to the dog beach there. Afterward we stopped at Checkers Drive-In in Perry, a little mom-and-pop burger stand that had picnic tables outside. The burgers especially were really good — they tasted more like burgers off the backyard grill than fast food burgers.
CheckersBlitz being a very good boy while we wait for lunch
We checked out early on Friday, since it was a 3-hour drive back to Columbus. We had an appointment on Friday afternoon to get my military ID renewed, and we were expecting our lawn mower to be delivered — it had been at the shop undergoing repairs while we were gone.
This extended trip was a test to see how well we can do on a camping trip out to Yellowstone (date TBD). Overall, I think we can manage. Though our camper does start to feel a bit tiny after a week or so.
Summer has come in, Loudly sing, cuckoo! The seed grows and the meadow blooms And the wood springs anew, Sing, cuckoo!
Modern English translation of a 13th century song
Of course, summer technically isn’t here yet for a few more days, as far as the calendar is concerned. But it is meteorological summer.
We’ve gotten roughly 2 inches of rain this past week. It was desperately needed, but it also kept me from getting outside to do yardwork. That’s OK, though. I’m grateful for the rain. It was sad to see our creek bed dried up and cracked. And our pond was getting low. I’m always concerned about the frogs and fish that call our pond home. We don’t usually get this dry until late July and August.
I celebrated my 48th birthday on Sunday, June 11. We went camping at Buck Creek State Park that weekend, close to my parents’ house in Springfield, OH. Unfortunately, my mom was under the weather, so we had to change our plans a bit. On that Saturday, we dropped Blitz off at my parents’ house and went to the Yellow Springs Street Fair to look around. We stopped at the store to pick up a few supplies. And Mom did bake a birthday cake, so we sat with my parents on their back porch for a bit and had cake and ice cream. When I was a kid, I asked for a Jello poke cake every year, so she made one for me. Instant nostalgia.
Site 95At the street fairA fiery skipper at our campsiteBlitz in our camper — he actually hates camping but likes being with us more than he likes being in boardingBirthday breakfast – brioche French toast
We checked out of the campground around 9:30 or so on Sunday morning. It’s only an hour from our house. So we got the camper tucked back into its parking space at the storage facility and got home before the rain started.
I took a nap that afternoon (I didn’t sleep well the entire weekend), and we went out to El Cañon Mexican Restaurant for dinner. I had a delicious seafood quesadilla and a really delicious frozen peach margarita. And we shared a fried ice cream with chocolate sauce.
I’ve booked more travel arrangements in the past several days — a resort on Kona (Hawai’i) and rental car for my older brother and sister-in-law. A friend sent me several hotel reservations she already made so I could attempt takeover bookings on them (this is when the travel advisor contacts the hotel and asks to be added as the agent of record in order to get commission). I successfully took over two of her hotel reservations.
I’ve also been busy with freelance work, not just with the actual work but all the administrative stuff that comes along with it. And, of course, searching for more gigs.
Our neighbor got a second donkey, and I love him. It’s so cute watching the two donkeys pal around together. They make me laugh.
I’m trying to find a goat rental service that serves our county. There are at least two in Central Ohio that I know of, but our county is not on their list of service areas. I contacted the Ohio State Extension in our county to ask, but I have yet to receive a response. We want to try goatscaping. It took a long time to convince my husband, but he finally said he’s willing to give it a shot, and now I can’t find a goat rental service that will come to us.
Here are some recent photos from around the farm.
My potato plants are thriving in these grow bags. Though I probably planted them too close together. My aunt gave me some petunias last month. They are currently blooming like crazy.Larkspur, larkspur everywhereThe apple trees are trying again. I don’t have high hopes we’ll get any good apples, though.We encountered this raccoon a couple of days ago in our yard. Injured hind leg. Poor thing.
I started a summer reading challenge on June 1 through The Ohio State University Alumni Association. I’m on my 5th book now. We have a Bingo card and stickers, and we choose books that fulfill up to two categories on the board. My reads so far:
The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston (Categories: book set in a country I’ve never visited, book set in a warm climate)
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Categories: award-winning book, book with a two-word title)
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Categories: main character’s first initial is the same as mine, book adapted into TV series or movie)
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (Categories: book with disabled or neurodiverse main character, book recommended by a Buckeye) — And yes, I am aware of the concerns that this book is ableist, but Lord help me, I cried.
The Giver by Lois Lowry (Categories: science fiction, young adult) — Just started this one this morning.
I’ve been reading more since starting this challenge, and I already read a lot. I’m also reading books in genres I don’t normally read — in fact, I probably would never have read most of these books otherwise. But that’s the point of this reading challenge.
I have to work during our upcoming camping trip, so I ordered a portable monitor. TOTAL GAME CHANGER. This was less than $100 and suits my needs perfectly. And now I really can work from anywhere. Having that extra monitor makes me far more efficient. I really can’t stand working without one.
June. The month of my birth. The month of roses and honeysuckle, pearl and alexandrite and moonstone. The transition from spring into summer.
It’s been busy, as you might imagine. Lots of things going on around the farm — there is no end of work to be done. Enjoying the new blooms on my rose bushes. (They didn’t do well last year.) And I discovered mullein today. It’s a biennial, and it didn’t come up last year.
We have a tree guy coming out on Wednesday. Several trees need to either go or be cut back (free mulch!) — though Wednesday is just the estimate. And we’re getting quotes on a new barn. That’s going to be a massive project, but it’s going to look incredible when it’s done. Our old metal barn has its own particular charm, but it’s not very practical.
I thought I’d be picking cherries today, but I discovered this morning that some thief (squirrel, probably) absconded with them since yesterday. Honestly, the tree wasn’t very productive, so it’s just as well. Hardly worth dragging a ladder halfway across the yard for not enough cherries to bake a pie.
The creek bed is dry. We desperately need rain. There’s a decent chance of rain in the forecast next Sunday — my birthday. Fingers crossed. At least we are done with our heat wave, for now.
In other news, I had an article published last week in Jumble & Flow. And I will likely have more work with them in the near future. Again, fingers crossed.
We went out to our camper yesterday to prep it for our upcoming camping trip. We haven’t used it in nearly two years (September 2021), so the tires needed air, and it needed a good cleaning. A bunch of stink bugs and gnats got in. Dead bugs everywhere. I’m excited to get out and camp again.
Perhaps what surprises me the most about our huge flowerbeds is that no one thought to put paths through it. It’s a dense jungle that is difficult to weed and water in some places. I told L last year that I was going to add stepping stone paths in several spots for easier access.
I started doing that yesterday. L took apart the shoddily constructed firepit that the previous owners built. It was in an odd spot in the yard, to begin with. And the bricks were loose. L removed the bricks and filled the pit with topsoil.
Thankfully, I had an immediate use for the bricks.
This may just be temporary. I’m now out of bricks, so I either need to get more like these or replace these with something else (while creating more paths of the same). The bricks look OK, but I think flat stones would look better.
I had to clear out some evening primrose to make this path. But I have tons of it growing already — too much, really — so no big loss. And now we can access the dryer vent in the back of the house without stepping on any plants. (The dryer vent cover needs replacing.)
I need to mulch. But my God, I have no idea how much we would actually need. The flowerbeds are so massive. I really think it would be in our best interest to make them smaller and easier to manage. The original owners of the house evidently had significantly more time to devote to the care of this property than we do. Our goal is to make it more manageable, but it will take a lot of work just to get it to that point.
Despite the chilly start to the month, May is warming up nicely. And the garden is responding. I’m doing my veggie garden in containers this year since the raised beds are dismantled and we still need to clean up that entire area. But grow bags and 7-gallon pots are working quite well.
I have Yukon Gold potatoes growing in two grow bags. So far, so good. I have three containers of onions, which also look great. Yesterday, I planted a patio tomato — slicers on a small plant that works in containers. (I was overjoyed to find a container plant that produces slicers!) I have the mixed salad greens in one container, and those have grown enough to provide a couple of salads for me already (supplemented with the lemon balm that is taking over my flower beds).
And that’s the extent of my vegetable garden this year. We have to bring in some earth-moving equipment to redo the entire area where the raised beds used to be. Currently, it’s a massive, weedy mess, and it kind of depresses me to look at it.
I still have a lot of flower seeds to sow. We’ve had enough rain recently to keep me out of the garden more than I want to be.
Speaking of rain, Mom and I celebrated Mother’s Day a day early last weekend. She came to my house and I drove an hour down to the Hocking Hills — it rained pretty much the entire way. But it was a pretty drive on the country roads leading to Ash Cave.
I chose Ash Cave because it’s one of the easier hikes. And it’s about a mile round-trip. The rain stopped when we got there, but it started raining again just after we left the cave and started making our way back to the parking lot. We were pretty damp by the time we got back to my car, but no one can say it wasn’t an adventure! (Also, hurrah for quick-dry pants and waterproof hiking shoes!)
I had no GPS signal when we got on the road — not particularly surprising. Thankfully, my sense of direction doesn’t completely suck. Our next destination was Hocking Hills Winery, and I knew the general direction I needed to go to get there. After driving about 20 miles or so, the GPS signal came back, and we got to the winery without any issues. It’s a scenic drive most of the way anyway, so being kind of lost isn’t that big of a deal.
I’ve been to this winery before. Mom had never been. She was impressed immediately, especially with their spacious outdoor seating area. Thankfully, they have a covered porch, so we requested seating there. We ordered a charcuterie board and a bottle of pink Moscato to share, and it was a lovely way to end our little excursion.
June will be here before we know it. We have a couple of camping trips coming up. Since we didn’t camp at all last year, I’m rather excited. But this means I need to do a bit more cleaning and prepping in the Bigfoot before we can take it out on the road.
My mom and I got back yesterday from a mini vacation. We drove up to Northeast Ohio to stay at my aunt and uncle’s house in Lake County, just east of Cleveland. Our main reason for going was to visit the Cleveland Museum of Art to see The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England. Anyone who knows me knows I’m:
A huge Anglophile
A Brit Lit nerd (it was, after all, my major at Ohio State)
Obsessed with Renaissance England and the Tudor dynasty (and Elizabeth I in particular)
I absolutely had to see this exhibit. Fortunately for me, my mom and aunt wanted to see it, too.
More on that in a minute.
We had a cold snap that coincided with this trip. It was hovering around 40 degrees F and raining when we got to their place at dinnertime on Tuesday. My aunt served beef bourguignon with a warm, crusty baguette for dinner that she bought at a tiny French bakery — hearty fare for early May but appropriate for the weather. It hit the spot. And then we had dessert crepes and ice cream and spent the rest of the evening chatting in front of the fire.
Our tickets for the exhibition were at 1:30 on Wednesday. It was about a 45-minute drive to get there. I wish we could have seen more of the art museum, since I haven’t been there in more than 20 years. But I was thrilled to see the Tudor exhibit regardless. It’s pretty incredible.
Cape worn by Henry VIICape worn by Henry VIITapestry from Field of the Cloth of GoldHenry VIII’s armor (possibly)I love illuminated manuscriptsFamous portrait of Henry VIIIElizabeth I, Hampden PortraitElizabeth I, Hardwick PortraitExamples of elaborate furniture and tapestriesAnne BoleynThomas MoreHenry VIII, Henry FitzroyElizabeth I, Sieve PortraitThe Mystical GrapesVestmentsPortrait of an Unknown Woman, on loan from King Charles IIIMy absolute favorite — Elizabeth I, Rainbow Portrait
The exhibit ends on May 14. I’m not sure if it will end up somewhere else or if this is exclusive to the Cleveland Museum of Art. I’m just so glad I got to see it.
Afterward, we stopped at Ferrante Winery so I could pick up a 3-pack of my favorite wines. Then on to Stonegait Winery for a glass of wine while we waited for our to-go pizza order. (The area around my aunt and uncle’s house is home to the majority of Ohio’s wineries.)
Before leaving yesterday morning, we took another walk around the neighborhood. My aunt’s friend has chickens, so she invited us over to look at her hens and their coop. I wouldn’t mind having chickens, but I don’t think I can convince Lance. She also had an incredible garden, so that gives me some inspiration for our own.
This break was just what I needed. As much as I love being at home, I really am here too much. And it’s nice to have a chance of scenery every once in awhile.
Things have really picked up with my travel advisor biz this past week. I made several bookings — all for the same trip — including hotel destinations and tours. I now qualify to level up to advanced status, though I have to take the training and pass the exam first. I’m considering it. Though I’m not in any rush. After all, this is supposed to be my side hustle.
By the way, Project Expedition and Get Your Guide offer some fantastic tours if you’re looking for a day trip or even just a fun excursion for a few hours. They have all sorts of stuff, from wine/beer/food tasting tours, to historic walking tours, to river cruises, etc. Check them out — they offer tours in destinations around the world. (Those are my affiliate links, by the way, so I earn commission if you book something.)
Meanwhile, I continue to work on my content creation business. I got approval on Friday for an article concept I pitched to Jumble & Flow, so I need to write it now.
And now, of course, it’s growing season. The fruit trees are in blossom — even the apple trees that are basically at the end of their lives and didn’t produce any good apples last year. And the strawberries are blossoming, too, in the raised bed that we’re tearing down. LOL. (They’re not great strawberries. Small and squishy and not very productive.)
I feel like I’m far behind — partly because I’ve been so busy with work. And partly because the weather doesn’t want to stay consistently warm.
I’m trying right now to clear the asparagus bed so the asparagus can actually grow. The bed is choked with weeds (at least they’re pollinator friendly), so I have yet to see a single spear. It’s slow going since the soil is clay and we’ve had quite a bit of rain. And the weeds don’t want to make things easy for me.
Believe it or not, this is supposed to be where asparagus grows.Once all the weeds are cleared, I’ll add more soil and mulch it with pine straw.
The flower beds desperately need weeding, too.
I wonder how I’m going to get it all done. But I probably wondered that last year, too. And somehow we made it work.
Last Sunday, we watched a Cooper’s hawk in the massive silver maple next to our driveway. It was eating its kill – a robin. Though it apparently killed two robins because we had two neatly decapitated robin heads in our driveway. Ah, nature.
Hardly a video worthy of a nature documentary. And the hawk helpfully moved further away before I started recording.
Ohio’s mud season is pretty much over, I hope. We’ve had a few dry days, and the temperatures keep rising. Our yard is still squishy in a few places, but in just a few more months, we’ll be complaining about how dry it is.
I got out yesterday to start my spring cleanup. We have a lot of work to do, but it feels good to get out of hibernation. I don’t know about you, but I feel so much better physically and mentally in the spring. I have seasonal affective disorder, so the dark, cold days of winter make me tired and listless. I finally feel a bit more alive.
Speaking of alive, our yard is greening up, the trees are budding, and the first wildflowers of the season are spreading across the lawn and flower beds: purple deadnettle, henbit, wild violets, and Virginia springbeauty (all purple flowers, as it happens).
Virginia springbeauty
And our pond is filled with froglets! We have a decent population of American bullfrogs living in the pond, and now they have increased. Though I realize that’s just a bigger excuse for the heron to keep coming by. More juicy, froggy morsels!
I mentioned about two months ago that I tried winter sowing in milk jugs this year. Well, it was a colossal failure. But this is how we learn, right? I know many people have success with this method, but it didn’t work for me.
That said, I recently bought some large clear plastic tubs with lids to serve as a greenhouse for sowing tomatoes, peppers, groundcherries, parsley, and strawberries. It’s been a little over a week since I sowed and no sprouts as of yet.
This photo was taken the day I planted the seeds. I put the container out on the porch the following day in a spot that gets a lot of sun. And I’ve been watering as needed. Fingers crossed this works. I pop the lid off during the day if it’s warm enough and put the lid back on at night. The condensation builds up nicely when the lid is on!
Since we dismantled the raised beds, I’m not going to have much of a proper garden this year. I will be using a lot of containers. I am hoping we can build new raised beds next year. Right now, we have plenty of other projects to keep ourselves busy — one of the biggest being a cleanout of the barn. We’re going to rent a dumpster and get rid of the junk the previous owners left behind.
I’m a bit overwhelmed by all there is to do, but I also felt this way last year. Our neighbors told us that it took them eight years to get their yard the way they wanted it, so I just need to find some patience and keep doing the work that needs to be done to make this property what we want it to be. It’s not going to happen overnight.
A year ago today, I registered my business name with the state of Ohio. Happy 1st anniversary, Words in Bloom!
I was ill-prepared to start my own business on March 30, 2022. It was a long-term goal that I hadn’t given much practical thought to. But circumstances moved up the timeline before I had a chance to make any plans or develop any strategies for success. I floundered. I flew by the seat of my pants.
A year later, I offer some important things I’ve learned:
– Get comfortable with discomfort. This is one of the scariest things I’ve ever done, and my anxiety is often through the roof. This is normal when you’re growing a business. (Self-care is INCREDIBLY important because of this. As my business coach once told me, self-care should be part of your business plan.)
– It’s OK to say no. The inclination when you’re starting out is to say yes to everything. You need clients. You need money. But if you say yes to everything, you’re not leaving yourself available for the opportunities you actually want to say yes to. Learn to be OK with saying no to prospective clients and projects that don’t make sense for your business. (This is a lesson I’m still learning, by the way.)
– Ignore the “overnight success” stories and all the people out there who insist you’re not successful unless you’re making a six-figure income. YOU get to define what success looks like for you.
– You will need to spend money to make money. Make sure you’re budgeting for the software and other things you need to run your business.
– Make connections with other business owners. They understand all the highs and lows and can be great sources of support and advice.
– Most importantly, STAY THE COURSE. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about giving up. Especially when a recruiter would contact me about some corporate role that was a good fit. Remind yourself why you’re doing this. Lean on your support system. I’m finally at a point where I’m seeing growth and feeling optimistic about the future. But it took many sleepless nights and a lot of tears to get here.
In other news, I attended the ACES conference last week here in Columbus. It was a great way to meet a lot of editors and learn new things about my profession.
Highlights for me: hanging out with Ellen Jovin of Grammar Table and getting to speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and NYT Bestselling author, Connie Schultz. I met her five years ago, but I didn’t get a photo to document that occasion. I made sure to get a photo this time.
