Pull Up a Chair

Sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves is take a deep breath. Lane and I are headed to Puerto Rico this week for a little rest and recharge, and it’s reminding me how much travel is part of the life we’ve designed together. For us, designing a life we love doesn’t just mean the work we do on the farm or at home. It means carving out space for adventure, for pausing, and for letting new places shift our perspective.

Maybe for you, it isn’t a plane ride or a passport. Maybe it’s a quiet afternoon with a good book, or an hour in the garden where the world slows down. However it looks, building in time to recharge is part of what keeps us steady and grateful.

Let’s dream it, design it, and live it—together.

With love,
Lane + Jules

The Recharge Map: Designing Rhythms That Restore and Recharge

We talk a lot about designing a life we love—but what about designing the pauses that keep us grounded? Rest doesn’t always happen by accident. It’s something we can build in, with intention, just like any other part of life.

That’s where the Recharge Map comes in. It’s a simple tool that helps you uncover the activities that truly restore you—and it provides a framework for making them part of your daily rhythm.

From the Farm Kitchen

Tropical Escape-Inspired Black Bean Salsa

While we’re in Puerto Rico, I thought it would be fun to bring a taste of the tropics to your own kitchen. This bright black bean salad is easy, refreshing, and makes you feel like you’ve snuck a little vacation onto your plate.

Combine black beans, diced pineapple, red bell pepper, red onion, and fresh cilantro. Toss with lime juice, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Serve it chilled as a side, spoon it over grilled chicken, or pile it onto tortilla chips.

It’s colorful, zesty, and just the kind of dish that lifts your mood—proof that you don’t need to travel far to savor something special.

Out in the Garden

Resting the Soil, Resting Ourselves: Why Cover Crops Matter​
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At the end of a growing season, the soil can feel just as worn out as we do. All summer long, it’s been working hard—feeding tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and flowers. Fall is the perfect time to give something back. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is through the use of cover crops.

Think of them as a blanket for your soil. They protect, replenish, and prepare the ground for next year’s planting. And just like a good night’s rest recharges us, cover crops restore balance to the soil, allowing it to continue thriving.

The Curated Corner

There’s a little corner in our home where travel begins. The makings of a trip begin to accumulate as the anticipation builds—a straw hat that always makes me feel like sunshine is close by. My favorite embroidered travel jacket—soft, broken in, ready for airports or chilly evenings. A good magazine to read (who doesn’t love the inspiration of Garden & Gun?), a little Patricia Nash Granada zippered bag for important papers, my favorite vintage MZ Wallace purple travel carry on purse bag with all the right pockets and a suitcase packed and ready to explore a new culture.

Plenty of other goodies find their way into this corner, too. But together, they signal something simple and special: that I’m headed to spend focused time recharging and reconnecting with my main squeeze.

Because sometimes, designing a life you love means making room for both the work and the wander.

Tuck it in your pocket

There’s a Puerto Rican proverb that says:

(The shrimp that falls asleep is carried away by the current.)

It’s a playful saying, but it also carries a valuable reminder: if we’re not careful to stay awake to what matters—whether that’s our health, our joy, or our purpose—we risk being swept along by everything else. Sometimes slowing down is the very thing that keeps us from drifting.

Have a question you'd love me to answer? A project you're proud of? Something inspiring you've seen? I’d love to hear it—and it might just show up in a future newsletter.

We’re building something beautiful here, together. Now that's BombDiggity!

Here’s to simple joys and big dreams,

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360 Bethlehem Lane, La Follette, TN 37766
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