☕ Skipping the Market, the Sandwich, and the Routine
Edition 06 - Originally sent Sunday, September 13, 2026
Dates, events, and offers below were current that week.
THE WEEK I SLOWED DOWN
Under the weather, out of routine, and somehow still right on track.
Sometimes rest is the most productive thing you can do.
☕️ Not Live From The General
Different kind of Sunday this week. I'm feeling pretty under the weather, and it started yesterday with a splitting headache the moment I woke up. So yesterday, the South Bend Farmer's Market got a hard pass, and so did Counterspell's bomb-ass breakfast sandwich and iced surprise, which is how you know it was a real doozy of a day. That's not a sacrifice I make lightly.
Today I'm skipping The General too, since the COVID and flu shots I got over the weekend are making me even more tired than usual. Great timing as always, since those tend to knock me sideways right when I least need it. Instead, I'm writing this from the balcony of my house, otherwise known as The Cozy Woodsy Retreat. It's a beautiful change of scenery that feels like exactly the right call today.
Still finding a way to put dollars into the local economy, though: breakfast at home today is yogurt from Crystal Springs Creamery with local as possible berries, Sunchoke Farms bakery granola, fresh peanut butter, and local honey, all of it sourced from the co-op. Slower Sunday, same values.
👀 What's Happening Around Town?
The whole town spent this week buzzing over Notre Dame's first home game, and I got to be right in the middle of the lead-up on Friday. Purple Porch ran a farmers market event at Notre Dame, smack in the center of campus, and it was a genuinely great time. Relaxed, well-attended, and a great way to put the co-op in front of a whole new crowd.
What stuck with me most, though, was the appetite for local: local food, locally sourced goods, people actively seeking it out rather than settling for whatever's most convenient. That kind of interest doesn't happen by accident, and I love watching it build.
Here are a few upcoming events happening locally at Alchemy Healing Arts this week:
If you heard about Botanical Perfumes 101 a few weeks ago, its deep-dive course has arrived. Botanical Perfumes 102: The Emotion of Scent with The Herbal Bitch Society happens Saturday, September 19th at 1:00 PM ($40, 2 hours), and no 101 is required. You'll work with 2–3 emotion-evoking botanicals, learn why a single scent can pull you straight back to a memory, and leave with your own signature 10ml perfume and a notebook to reflect on the process.
And for the younger crowd: Mightier Kids Group: Building Emotional Regulation Skills (Ages 6–11) officially kicks off September 14th. Six sessions, play-based biofeedback tools, real-time practice recognizing stress and calming down: skills that carry over to home and school. Insurance accepted, space intentionally kept small. Questions go to Paul@alchemysb.co.
🤠 Wrangling in the Wild
Only worked until noon at The Refillery within Alchemy Healing Arts on Saturday, but I have to quickly talk about the newsletter owner Allen sent before stepping away to observe the Jewish High Holidays. Rather than just announcing Root + River Refillery Co. would skip the South Bend Farmers Market this month, he took the time to explain the meaning behind each holiday: reflection, gratitude, forgiveness, starting again. It landed at the perfect time, honestly, with a body asking me to slow down and a season doing the same outside.
The Refillery's still open its normal Tuesday–Saturday hours at Alchemy, by the way, and they're always open online. If you haven't signed up for Root + River's emails, this latest newsletter is exactly the kind of thoughtful writing that makes it worth it. (Oh and the coupons are always a good incentive too, of course. ;))
Also spent some of this quieter week finally cleaning up my own LinkedIn. Full transparency: I don't personally use social media, but LinkedIn gets an exception. I consider it a necessary public resume, so I put up with it accordingly. Built out real job descriptions, deleted the past-life clutter that had been sitting there for who knows how long. Not glamorous. Needed doing anyway.
📝 The Un-Sexy Stuff That Actually Works
This week's theme, in one sentence: nobody's clapping for any of this, and that's exactly the point.
More quiet backend work for Root + River. Tweaks to my own website and SEO that no visitor will ever notice. A LinkedIn overhaul nobody asked about. None of it photographs well, and none of it makes for an exciting update. All of it is the kind of unglamorous groundwork that quietly compounds into real results down the line. Boring work, done consistently, is still the whole strategy.
🐴 Ride With Us
This week's theme practically wrote its own question: when's the last time you actually let yourself slow down instead of pushing through? Not just a sick day, but a real pause, the kind where you notice the season changing outside or actually taste your breakfast. Send me a note at Carrington@thewileyhaase.com and tell me what slowing down looks like for you these days. I'm asking for research purposes. Mostly.
👋 Until Next Sunday
That's Edition 06 in the books, and it was a slower one on purpose. Take the cue this week: ease up where you can, notice the season quietly turning around you, and carve out a little space for gratitude and reflection, Rosh Hashanah–style. Whether or not it's your tradition to observe, there's definitely something to it.
And if you want a reason to feel good while you're resting: Notre Dame opened at home with a 52-0 shutout over Riceyesterday, so at least one part of this week went exactly as planned.
See you next Sunday.
