🍂 Ask A Neighbor, Not the Internet
Edition 10 - Originally sent Sunday, October 11, 2026
Dates, events, and offers below were current that week.
REST UP, SHOW UP
A first week without dental work in a month, a long-overdue sleep-in, and a neighborhood party just down the street.
Turns out a good rest makes room for a very full Sunday.
🍂 Live From The Cozy Woodsy Retreat (Again?!)
Not live from The General again, but this time I have no complaints. I slept in past their breakfast hours, so I snoozed and lost my usual iced coffee and Dante breakfast sandwich. I feel a lot better for it, though. I haven't been sleeping well lately, so this was a gift I can't even be mad at.
Small win to start: this was the first week in a month with no dental work. Cheers to that.
I skipped Saturday's South Bend Farmer's Market + Counterspell Cafe routine again to sleep in, oops, and today I'm craving Sunchoke Farms Bakery's granola, agh. I selfishly wish they had a pop-up inside Portage Place for the weeks my Saturdays go off the rails.
While I was working at Root + River Refillery inside Alchemy Healing Arts on Saturday, The Herbal Bitch Societystopped by to drop off her new bath soaks (more on those below).
After closing up, I walked across the street to my Plot of Possibilities, the empty city lot I'm slowly rewilding, and my dad and I pulled the ivy off the neighbor's garage. It was a light "changing of the seasons" tidy-up, but I wanted it done by today for a very good reason, which you'll also find below.
Then came groceries and navigating the Notre Dame football traffic, so the extra sleep was well spent. (That Sunchoke granola, though.)
👀 What's Happening Around Town?
So, about that rush: the Near Northwest Neighborhood's Arts Café is happening today, Sunday, October 11th, and my lot sits right along the route. With over a thousand neighbors possibly wandering past, "intentionally wild" needed to look a little more... intentional.
Speaking of the NNN: Counterspell Cafe is opening a bakery directly next door to the cafe, so a delicious new bakery is coming soon to the Portage Place building. It's not Sunchoke, aw, but I'm not about to complain about more fresh baked goods just across the atrium of my Saturday work. Of course, I don't know the name of the bakery yet. I'm not even sure I asked, oops. But the opening date should be within the next month or so, fingers crossed. I'll keep everyone here posted.
In other NNN news, The Herbal Bitch Society's Epsom salt soaks just landed on her shelf at Alchemy, and they're a perfect fit for the season. They're Epsom salt soaks made with essential oils and botanicals, in a 15-ounce biodegradable container that's enough for several baths. Add a big pinch to your tub or foot bath and relax. 👌 Shop the soaks on her website, or stop by her shelf at Alchemy Healing Arts so you can smell the goodness in person.
Also on the calendar this week: Vinyasa Vibes with Anna Cenova, CYT on Tuesday, October 13th at 7:00 AM ($20, 1 hour). An energizing, strength-building yoga flow: move to a good playlist, connect with your breath, and enjoy some movement on your mat. I'll be there, bleary-eyed and fueled by good intentions, so come join me.
🤠 Wrangling in the Wild
On Thursday, I rode along with a local produce manager to one of the largest pawpaw farms in the nation. Meeting the people who grow the food gives me better stories to tell about it, the same way the ass-kicking retail shifts show me what customers pick up, what they ask about, and what makes them pause.
The ride home with a carload of pawpaws was heavenly, and if I could turn that smell into a perfume, I would in a heartbeat. So, this week, I'm going to ask Kelly of The Herbal Bitch Society whether pawpaw puree could actually become one. I could just "Hit the Goog" or ask AI and get an instant (and often questionable) answer, but it's more fun to ask a real person. I'll report back next week with my findings. 🤓
On the client side, I posted and scheduled two rounds of social media for Root + River Refillery: a cozy "slow weekend, steamy showers" feature on shower steamers, and a case for swapping plastic kitchenware for bamboo. Both work because they help you picture the product in your own life, whether that's a Sunday-night shower or your kitchen drawer. You can find both at the Refillery or online.
📝 The Un-Sexy Stuff That Actually Works
This week's theme is groundwork. Nobody posts a photo of ivy coming off a garage, and a tidied-up lot isn't a headline, but it's the step that has to happen before anything else can.
Marketing works the same way. A road trip to a pawpaw farm gave me a carload of fruit and a perfume idea no spreadsheet would have, and the best answers usually come from asking the person who grows it, makes it, or buys itrather than from a quick but soulless internet search. You can't talk well about something you haven't stood next to, whether that's a farm, a shelf, or an empty lot.
The slow, in-person prep is what makes the finished thing look easy.
🐴 Ride With Us
This week's question: who's one person in your community you could ask instead of Googling? A neighbor, a supplier, a customer, the person who actually grows or makes the thing. I'm asking Kelly about pawpaw perfume, and today the Arts Café is about to fill the neighborhood with people who make things and love talking about them. Go ask one of them something. Then send me a note at Carrington@thewileyhaase.com and tell me who you asked and what you learned. I might share my favorite answers next week. ;)
👋 Until Next Sunday
That's Edition 10 in the books, and the pawpaw perfume question is officially out there. Human connection beats a search bar every time, so I'll report back next week on what Kelly says.
If you're this invested in a pawpaw perfume cliffhanger, feel free to send this to your friends and family so they can stay tuned too. Good news travels fast, and pawpaw news travels even faster.
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Around town, the weather is feeling like a late summer tease, so enjoy it while it lasts. Congrats to the Chicago White Sox on making it so far in the postseason this year, and to Notre Dame Football, which kicked Stanford's ass last night. Keep fighting, Irish.
See you next Sunday.
