Pull Up a Chair It's hot, y'all. The kind of hot where you water in the morning and by 2 pm everything's drooping like it gave up on the day. We spent this week doing what you do in a heat wave like this — extra water, shade cloth, mulch piled high, checking on things twice a day instead of once. And somewhere around the third trip out to the garden, it hit me: the plants that make it through weeks like this aren't the ones that never struggle. They're the ones with roots already established...
13 days ago • 1 min read
Pull Up a Chair I walked into the greenhouse yesterday and just stood there. The strawflower's cracking open, the gomphrena's showing off in magenta and white, a whole bed of lisianthus is coming in this gorgeous neutral I didn't know I wanted until I saw it, and the dahlias are so tightly budded they look ready to burst. We're right on the cusp of all of it happening at once. This spring, I was at my friend, Mark Schaeffer's marketing retreat called Uprising — this is one of my never-miss...
27 days ago • 1 min read
Pull Up a Chair Pull up a chair — we’re writing this one with sand between our toes. This week, our whole family descended on St. Augustine, Florida. Kids, grandkids, all of us under one roof with the Atlantic out the back door. It’s loud and full and a little chaotic and we wouldn’t trade a single minute of it. There’s something about stepping away from the ordinary that makes you see it differently. The farm will be there when we get home. The garden will keep doing what gardens do. But...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Pull Up a Chair There is something deeply satisfying about choosing the right thing on purpose. Not the prettiest seed packet. Not the one that looked most impressive on the shelf. The one that actually fits your space, your soil, your life. That's what we've been up to in the garden lately. Cucumbers that stay compact instead of taking over everything in a five-foot radius. Carrots are tucked into rows by dropping them into corn starch, so you can actually see where you are planting them!...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Pull Up a Chair Lane and I got our tomatoes in the ground a couple of weeks early this year. Right around Mother’s Day is the “safe” date here in East Tennessee — but we took our chances. The semester is winding down at the university, the rescue animals need their daily love and care, the grass is growing faster than we can keep up with, the weeds have opinions about that too, and gardening season is here in full force. It is a lot all at once. And we wouldn’t trade it. But here’s what’s...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Pull Up a Chair I walked into the greenhouse the other morning, and the tulips had opened. The pink ones all at once, like they couldn’t wait any longer. And now these ruffly, peachy ones are coming on—just stunning. They’re showing off a little… and honestly, they’re about the only thing that is right now. Everything else is still in progress. Trays of seedlings are just getting started. Beds I’ve been filling and working through. A lot of time is spent on things that don’t look like much...
4 months ago • 3 min read
Pull Up a Chair London mornings feel different. The light moves across old book spines, painted ceilings, walls of yarn, and rows of pigments that look like they belong on an artist’s palette. Bread is stacked proudly behind glass. Umbrellas drift overhead. Mosaic tiles tell their stories piece by piece. Even the markets feel thoughtfully arranged. This city doesn’t whisper its creativity. It shows it. We’ve been here teaching a course to UT Knoxville honors students focused on Human Centered...
5 months ago • 3 min read
Pull Up a Chair Next week, we head to London. Rock and Sole Plaice Fish & Chips (London, UK - Established 1871) It’s something we do each year, yet it always feels both familiar and new. There’s the excitement — a city rich with history, long walks, good meals, and conversations that linger. And then there’s the weight of leaving. Our farm. Our animals. Our routines. Our heart. And the people who fill it — our kids, grandbabies, friends, and the everyday closeness that makes stepping away...
5 months ago • 4 min read
Pull Up a Chair Right now at Sweet Bombdiggity Farms, it doesn’t look like much is happening. The beds are mostly bare. The greenhouse feels still. If you didn’t know better, you might think we’re in a pause. But this is one of my favorite parts of the year. This is when the real work is tucked out of sight. Seed packets are opened. Rows are measured. Notes are scribbled in the margins of old notebooks. We’re walking the beds, deciding what goes where, and quietly setting the stage for...
6 months ago • 3 min read
Pull Up a Chair Quieter Resolutions The beginning of a new year can feel loud. Everywhere you look, someone is setting goals, declaring intentions, or mapping out a version of themselves they’re supposed to become overnight. This year, instead of making promises I can’t keep, I’m trying something quieter. I’m paying attention to how I talk to myself. How I frame a hard day. How quickly I label something as behind, late, or not enough. What if the real work isn’t setting better goals, but...
6 months ago • 3 min read