Prepping for this weekend & beyond
While Helene edges closer
It is currently Thursday evening and the rain is coming down in huge swathes. The front garden pathway is already flooded and a quick trip out back to preemptively knock over our hammock found me squidging through puddles of water-logged violets. It’s a visceral experience seeing this hurricane unfold in real time. It’s brought up a lot of memories from August 2005 when my mother, brother and I evacuated Louisiana from Hurricane Katrina. I find myself checking the news constantly, wondering what is happening in Florida, has everyone found safety, wasn’t this only a tropical storm on Tuesday, why am I not better prepared for such an event?
I’m feeling neither good nor bad about these questions or my reactions to them, simply playing the observer all the while hoping we have done everything we can to prepare for the deluge of rain and wind expected.
Prior to Helene, I spent this past week preparing for my upcoming class with
. And by prepare I mean I binged the first three episodes of her How Much Money is Enough? series, and it. was. amazing. Seriously, you should check it out whenever you have the chance!
Each talk resonated with me deeply and left me with lots of feelings, questions, and possible future goals. The interview with Carrot Quinn struck the biggest chord primarily because Nic and Carrot talk openly and honestly about collapse and how that relates to their views on money. As someone who thinks about the end of times pretty regularly, their candid conversation was really refreshing and actually left me feeling more hopeful than I had anticipated as well as less fearful of certain things that have honestly been holding me back from living life fully.
And I cannot express just how excited I am about this class! I want to shout it from the rooftops (is that odd?). The part that excites me the most has got to be that . . . this is first time I have found someone (or a group of someones) asking the same questions I have been asking myself. Examining things through a similar lens of “Why?” and “How can we make business better/ more sustainable for ourselves and the planet/ the right fit?” and “How much money is enough for me?”
I’m already brimming with ideas around how I want to show up in my own business as well as how I want my business to better align with my values through this lens of working within capitalism against capitalism. Here are some of my own candid, off-the-cuff thoughts on the subject that I plan to hold while taking this class:
I’ve always wanted to donate whatever excess I have, past what it is I actually need. This extends to both money and my garden. My goal in the garden has always been to grow enough food for my little family + close friends, but then gift the rest away to anyone who is in need. I’ve not yet figured out how to achieve this goal as I am still very much a baby farmer and when it comes to finances, I’ve no clue what my “enough” number might be.
But I do want this to extend to my business. Once I hit my “enough” number, I’d like to give at least 50% of my profits beyond my number to people/ organizations doing work that aligns with my own values.
In my “enough” number, I want to factor in charitable donations as well as taking care of those that I most love. Whether it be setting aside money for gifts or experiences we can have together, I want this to be important as I foster my close relationships and community.
I also want to find a way to incorporate book access to those who struggle to get reading materials. I’ve been noodling with extending the “Pay what you can” I have for my digital patterns into the book part of my business or creating a lending library of sorts, but I am still trying to figure this part out as website logistics are constraining.
Aside from getting ready for class, I’ve started (and stopped) watching UnReal on Netflix. The show totally sucked me in in its entirety. Just as I have a soft spot for books about books, I really enjoy TV and movies about the making of TV and movies.
I watched all of season one and part of season two in two days before I realized I couldn’t continue. I have so many thoughts and feelings on this show, but in short, it was simply too much for me. Too addicting, too fascinating, too chaotic. It literally disrupted my sleep. Arlen’s theory is that the chaos of reality television combined with the chaos of the character’s lives was what sent me over the top, and I have to agree.
But, I think the creators and writers and actors all did a fantastic job. The acting was *chef’s kiss* in my humble opinion. And really, watching these characters make decisions that were really selfish and horrible towards other characters BUT STILL FIND A WAY to justify it to themselves as completely normal or even good and necessary was just . . . fascinating. And 100% believable.
The main character Rachel had me tethered to the screen the entire time as the perfect anti-hero. She’d do something totally fucked up to one of the contestants on the show but then in the next scene, a piece of her backstory would unravel and I’d feel sympathetic towards her and her fraying mental health and then cut to her doing something awful to someone else to the point that my stomach would turn and back again. Round and round we go.
I won’t watch the final seasons, but my true hope is that Rachel burns it all to the ground, that she is playing the super long con, ready to show the outside world all the awfulness happening off-screen. That’d be spectacular.
Come say hi!
The holidays are right around the corner, and I have been deep in preparation for a handful of events. Currently, I am officially confirmed for three, quite possibly four markets & author events to round out 2024. If you happen to be in the area of any of these, I’d love to say hello!
Indie South Fair Abnormal Bazaar, Saturday, October 19th in Athens, GA
Local Author Day, Saturday, November 2nd at Gwinnett County Public Library, Lilburn Branch
Indie South Fair Holiday Hooray, Saturday and Sunday, December 14th & 15th in Athens, GA
Johns Creek Books, Date TBD in Johns Creek, GA
Currently Baking
This week, I made our fav simple almond cake. This has been a staple in our house for several years and even made an appearance in A Daisy in Lily’s Valley (an entire chapter was dedicated to this cake alone), it’s just that good. It’s simple, comprised of only a handful of ingredients, AND totally, naturally, gluten free.
The original recipe comes from the book Baking Chez Moi that I received as a gift a few years ago. I’ve made countless recipes from this book and every single one of them has been divine, but none so much so as this almond cake. I made it for our wedding, that is how much we truly love this particular recipe!
Over the years, we have tweaked and adjusted the recipe to limit the amount of sugar and turn up the almond-y flavor. It pairs really well with a strong and bitter coffee in the morning or even a decaf at night. Typically, it will only last about two days in our house, maybe three depending on how much self-control we exercise.
Currently Working On
I believe I have mentioned before that I’m like 99% certain I have undiagnosed ADHD which seems to show up most for me when it comes to tackling projects. From not being able to stay focused on one task at a time to having an uncontrollable urge to paint one corner of the room and then randomly jump to another corner, I just have a really difficult time knowing exactly where my priorities should be directed. I either take on way too much all at once, resulting in overwhelm, or way too little, resulting in boredom and piling more onto my list until I remember . . . hey, there were actually 20 things you wanted to do but forgot about until you added so much that you became paralyzed by indecision and overwhelm. Again.
Because of this, I’ve begun to enlist Arlen’s help in helping me to determine which BIG tasks I should turn my attention and energy towards. The first time we tried this, I managed to complete our bedroom quilt, something that had been sitting, gathering dust for upwards of 6 months. He helped me to focus on completing the quilt project, even when I began to wander, and I managed to knock it out in only a few week’s time.
Now, I have enlisted his help once again. Together, we decided I should turn my attention towards our poor, neglected garden. I love going outside but often fail to prioritize actually spending anytime in dirt and sun. Something else always calls me away.
Since making our garden my number one, ultimate priority, however, I have found myself outside every single morning. Or at least every morning this week (prior to Hurricane Helene).
I’ve started my task by clearing out the weeds smothering our walkway as well as cleaning up some of the garden beds whose plants are spent for the season. It’s been raining for the past two days, so I’m unable to work outside, but that hasn’t stopped me from dreaming and planning. We have hopes to transform our front garden into more of a floral garden and reserve our back garden (which I’ve shared a bit about here, here, here, here, and here. Lots of garden stuff to peruse) for growing fruit trees, seasonal produce, and herbs.
There are a lot of reasons for this particular decision, but the biggest ones include:
A) I’m not sure how I feel about harvesting plants so close to the road where car exhaust and our neighbor’s pesticide use has more of an opportunity to settle on plants we are eating, especially as we live downhill from those around us and
B) I tend to let our veg patch get a little wild each year and that seems better suited to the backyard where I won’t have to care as much about what everyone else thinks because it is safely tucked away.
So, while it rains, I’ve got my head super deep into the book Native Plants of the Southeast and am bookmarking flower varieties I hope to add to our new floral garden throughout the fall and spring. I plan to also mix in some non-native favorites including a bed of tulips and possibly peonies, but then the rest will fully be handed over to native florals so that the local birds, bugs, and small mammals have a plethora of beautiful, delicious goodness to thrive within.
Stay safe 💛,
xoxo B.A. Franc
I'm truly so delighted that you're excited about our workshop!! I am too, and I love what you said here: "working within capitalism against capitalism" - yes!
Also that cake? Looks incredible. I was just thinking about making almond cake!