🍖 Ribs, Records, and Ribbon-Cutting Quiet Work
Edition 05 - Originally sent Sunday, September 6, 2026
Dates, events, and offers below were current that week.
STEADY WINS THE WEEK
A record turnout, a family holding down the farm, and proof it all adds up.
Sometimes the quiet work is the whole story.
☕️ Live From The General
Same Dante breakfast sandwich, same iced coffee that's ready for me by the time I approach the counter, same Sunday ritual.
Before I get into the week, a quick note worth sending love toward: Sweet Susan over at Sunchoke Farms is stepping back for a bit, and her son Christopher and farmhand Hannah have been holding down both the bakery and the farm without missing a beat. If you see them at the South Bend Farmer's market, tell them they're doing an amazing job, because they are making it look easy over there.
Speaking of the market: Saturday's Sunchoke haul was a rosemary garlic boule, cranberry walnut granola, and, because some things are non-negotiable, a brown butter chocolate chunk cookie.
Counterspell was back to business as usual. The bomb-ass breakfast sandwich made its return to the grab-and-go case, and the iced surprise was just as good as ever. No disruptions this week. Sometimes the story is just that everything worked.
Saturday's shift at Alchemy Healing Arts was mostly heads-down: tidying up Root + River's backend and scheduling a handful of social posts for the week. Root + River's email subscribers also had a discount code running through Saturday, September 12th, one more reason to be on their list.
Worth saying out loud: a good discount code isn't just a nice gesture, it's a real lever. It gives people a concrete reason to act this week instead of "eventually," and it gives us a clean way to see whether an email is actually driving traffic or just sitting in an inbox looking pretty. Small tool, real impact.
👀 What's Happening Around Town?
Big news to report: last week's Porch-a-Palooza was the co-op's biggest event to date.
And speaking of good news, Wednesday's farmers market at Purple Porch brought Smokey Road BBQ back, and this time I tried the ribs. Somehow, even better than the pork belly from last week, and that pork belly was already a season-long obsession finally satisfied. Award-winning is right; one bite and you understand exactly why. (And that cornbread?! 🤤) Great news: Smokey Road is planning to make Purple Porch's Wednesday markets a regular stop, and I could not be more thrilled about that.
A few things worth putting on your calendar at Alchemy Healing Arts this week:
Acupressure for Headaches & Migraines on Wednesday, September 9th at 4:00 PM ($20, 1 hour). Gentle, equipment-free touch techniques, often called "grandmother's medicine," that you can use on yourself anywhere a headache starts creeping in.
The Lilith Rite: A Sky Apothecary Sound & Tarot Workshop on Saturday, September 12th at 1:00 PM ($45, 1 hour). An intimate ritual honoring Lilith through tarot journaling (you keep the custom journal) and a sound bath with flutes, handpans, drums, and crystal bowls.
And a quick plug ahead of the curve: Mightier Kids Group: Building Emotional Regulation Skills (Ages 6–11) kicks off September 14th. It's six sessions using a play-based biofeedback tool that helps kids recognize stress and build calming skills in real time, at home and school. Insurance accepted. Space is limited to keep the group intimate. Questions go to Paul@alchemysb.co.
🤠 Wrangling in the Wild
Relatively light load this week, and I'm not mad about it. Easing into fall means easing into a new rhythm, and I'm still slowly finding my footing in it. Spent some of that extra breathing room finishing up more un-glamorous backend work on my own site: the kind of stuff nobody sees, but that keeps everything running clean underneath.
📝 The Un-Sexy Stuff That Actually Works
Here's the pattern hiding in plain sight this week: none of the wins came from anything flashy. A discount code with a clear end date gives people a reason to act this week instead of "eventually." A handful of social posts scheduled ahead keeps showing up while you're busy doing something else.
Same story with the website work I've been chipping away at in the background. Nobody claps for backend cleanup, but it's the reason things run smoother later. Slow, steady, unglamorous effort compounds.
A discount code that's easy to find. Messaging that's actually clear. The boring stuff, done right.
🐴 Ride With Us
Curious what a little backend cleanup or a well-timed discount code could do for your own business? You don't need a flashy campaign to move the needle. Sometimes it's the boring, unglamorous stuff done consistently that actually gets results. Send me a note at Carrington@thewileyhaase.com with what's on your "someday" list, and I'll tell you where I'd start.
👋 Until Next Sunday
That's Edition 05 in the books. Send Sweet Susan some love, grab a rosemary garlic boule while Christopher and Hannah are holding it down, catch Smokey Road at one of the Porch's upcoming Wednesday markets before word spreads even further, and pencil in whichever Alchemy Healing Arts class speaks to you this week.
See you next Sunday.
