Y'all Come Sit a Spell

Good morning from the Grove, where the coffee is hot and the birds are starting to wake in the woods. October is here, and for that we are grateful. It brings with it the beauty and flavor of autumn.
I don’t know. The question makes me a little sad.
Not because I don’t love the things I’m doing. I love writing. I love making books and coloring pages. I love collecting glass, learning its stories, and sharing what I find. These projects let me follow my curiosity and spend time with the parts of myself that don’t fit neatly into a job description. I’m grateful for that.
But we’ve normalized the side hustle as if it’s just another charming feature of modern life. Work your regular job, then find something else to sell, teach, make, drive, or post. Keep looking for another little stream of income. Somehow, a full workweek still isn’t always enough to cover one person’s life.
A generation ago, one income could often support a whole household. Now, plenty of people are stitching together multiple jobs just to support themselves. We talk about that as ambition, ingenuity, or being a “go-getter.” Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s also necessity dressed up in a more inspiring outfit.
I can be thrilled to build something that fulfills me and still wish our lives weren’t arranged so that everybody has to monetize every spare hour. I don’t want to turn every interest into a product or every quiet moment into a chance to make a little more money. Some things deserve to be loved without needing to pay rent.
So, favorite side-hustle ideas? I have some. I’m living a few of them. But I wish fewer people needed one just to make ends meet.
I want the work I love to be a choice I can enjoy, not another job the world quietly expects me to take on.
Join us in the evenings throughout October as we explore the myth and mystery of cryptids, the stories people have carried from the woods, the water, and the edges of the map. One more thing we are grateful for is that some things get to stay mysterious, unmonetized, and happily out of sight

Good morning from the Grove, where the coffee is hot and the birds are starting to wake in the woods. October is here, and for that we are grateful. It brings with it the beauty and flavor of autumn. This morning’s prompt asks: What are your favorite side-hustle ideas?
I don’t know. The question makes me a little sad.
Not because I don’t love the things I’m doing. I love writing. I love making books and coloring pages. I love collecting glass, learning its stories, and sharing what I find. These projects let me follow my curiosity and spend time with the parts of myself that don’t fit neatly into a job description. I’m grateful for that.
But we’ve normalized the side hustle as if it’s just another charming feature of modern life. Work your regular job, then find something else to sell, teach, make, drive, or post. Keep looking for another little stream of income. Somehow, a full workweek still isn’t always enough to cover one person’s life.
A generation ago, one income could often support a whole household. Now, plenty of people are stitching together multiple jobs just to support themselves. We talk about that as ambition, ingenuity, or being a “go-getter.” Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’s also necessity dressed up in a more inspiring outfit.
I can be thrilled to build something that fulfills me and still wish our lives weren’t arranged so that everybody has to monetize every spare hour. I don’t want to turn every interest into a product or every quiet moment into a chance to make a little more money. Some things deserve to be loved without needing to pay rent.
So, favorite side-hustle ideas? I have some. I’m living a few of them. But I wish fewer people needed one just to make ends meet.
I want the work I love to be a choice I can enjoy, not another job the world quietly expects me to take on.
Join us in the evenings throughout October as we explore the myth and mystery of cryptids, the stories people have carried from the woods, the water, and the edges of the map. One more thing we are grateful for is that some things get to stay mysterious, unmonetized, and happily out of sight