Category Archives: Uncategorized

Over the past couple months, the Coal Burned Spoon has been squished hard to the side of the driver’s seat of my life, to make room for a giant, bossy co-pilot I never really wanted or asked for.   This spring has undoubtedly been one of the most exciting times for the Sanctuary project, asContinue reading “Whoops, I accidentally became a school administrator”

In the 1980’s, Heinz Ketchup issued a series of commercials demonstrating all the good things that come to the smart people who are patient enough to wait for thick, rich, flavorful Heinz to slowly emerge from its glass bottle packaging. Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, it takes time – but the time isContinue reading “The Best Things Come…”

Most people want the first week of their New Year to signal a fresh start – to rethink old habits and patterns, become invigorated by the thought of positive change, and to see the world full of promising signs and new movement. The turning of the calendar page somehow offers us an imagined threshold overContinue reading “Finding Bright Spots in the Gloom”

One of my early entrepreneurial chapters was a landscaping, hardscaping, and property maintenance business. I had just graduated college with a pre-law poli-sci degree, but was simultaneously realizing, quite inconveniently at the point of this life milestone, that I actually couldn’t stand being indoors and working in an office 9-5. I had mowed lawns andContinue reading “The Problem with the Abundance Mindset”

547 days. From the day we first began in earnest the search for funds to make this dream come true, to the day we secured a deal. From slowly building networks of potential investors and presenting our pitch deck to them when we thought we could equity fund (and operate – ha!) the entire 32-unitContinue reading “547 days: Getting Funded”

This summer of 2021, we’ve dedicated 2 days per week to come down off the mountain and make the hour drive to Lewiston. There, we’ve been cleaning, clearing, and organizing John’s general contracting shop to prepare for its sale this September. While there last week making my way through a corner of my old office,Continue reading “The Water Flows Again”

As I pull tacks from birch bark chains and coil cranberry strings, de-Christmasing the cabin to clean up for the New Year, I have time to reflect on the stack of cards we received this season. I notice a theme in much of the messaging. “Thank goodness that’s over!” “Well THAT was crazy!” “Hooray, 2021Continue reading “2021: Our New Boyfriend Who Magically Makes Everything Right?”

Yesterday afternoon, after poring over what we thought was a final total of 10 offers for South Auburn Organic Farm, John and I prepared to call our broker and let him know we’d made our choice. Though many offers were well over our asking price, one offer really had our attention: While “only” full asking,Continue reading “Selling the Farm”

When we first moved to our cabin here in Greenwood Maine, our shelter rescue dog Millie, a docile, submissive, full-blood Redtick Coonhound from Alabama, ran free over the nearly 500 acres of mountains we had just acquired – and she was in her glory. This was just as she had done on our 10 acreContinue reading “Millie, Massachusetts, and the Moose”

Ah, the fresh air! The sunlight! The excitement at the prospect of making real forward progress! We are just now crawling out from under our rock and making baby steps as we come out of this [involuntary] protracted period of total regroup, otherwise known as, the coronavirus global pandemic. We are in the fortunate, andContinue reading “Making Lemonade”