For the Last Day of a Month…

Skip way down for some announcements…

Is there something special we should do on the last day of the month?

Back on November 1, I wrote how people used to say “Rabbit, Rabbit” before hopping out of bed on the first day of the month. (Or maybe they say “rabbit” three times? Regardless, don’t forget to do it tomorrow, because yes, November is nearly over!)

What rituals do people have on the last day of the month? I did an exhaustive 10-second search and those first few links looked a little fringe-y to me so I skipped down to about the fifth link and it had some advice about taking out the trash on the last day of the month and scrubbing yourself clean.

Oh, the jokes present themselves, don’t they? But we won’t go there. Instead, I’ll spend the last day of the month telling you about some garden writing plans I have.

And in case you are wondering, the picture above is of a pothos houseplant I plan to take some cuttings from for my great niece. If you listen to The Gardenangelists, you can hear why. See how I worked that little pitch for the podcast in there? The link will take you to our Substack newsletter with all kinds of details about that episode.

Now back to some announcements.

After I said “rabbit rabbit” to start November, I challenged myself to post something on my blog every single day, and I did it. Every day, I got up, decided what to write about, wrote a post, and hit the publish button. 30 times, including today. 33 times if you go back to October 29th, which is when this current streak started.

Thank you for allowing me to plop into your email inbox at 9:00 EST every single day.

For December, I expect to break my streak at some point. It’s darker in the mornings and the current gardening activities are slowing way down. I can’t write about microgreens every day, can I?

Well, I could, but you would soon move on, if you haven’t already.

But as I’ve been writing, I’ve also been thinking…

I decided that this blog is a great place for those shorter, daily-type posts, though I don’t promise they will be daily at times. Was that a cheer I heard from some of you? Or will some of you miss me every single morning in your inbox?

So back to this blog. I’ll still be posting here frequently with short posts and updates. But I’ve decided to also start a new Substack for the Lost Ladies of Garden Writing.

Some of you will ask, “What is a Substack?” Substack is a writer-focused platform with features that make it both easy to write and publish whatever you want and easy for subscribers to subscribe. I imagine by now, with the growth of Substack as a writing/newsletter platform that most of you probably already subscribe to a Substack or two or a dozen, like The Gardenangelists newsletter, which we use Substack for.

So why move the Lost Ladies of Garden Writing to Substack, you may ask? I feel like that particular topic is enough different from the usual light-hearted writing here (like those garden fairy posts) that it should have its own spot on the Internet. It also appeals to people who like history as well as gardening and may find a broader audience there.

What will happen to the Lost Ladies posts already here? I’m not deleting anything from this blog so those original posts will stay here. Gradually, about once a week, I think, or maybe twice a week in the winter, I’m going to copy them over to my new Substack, update them a bit, and re-publish them. I’ll also be adding in a few more lost ladies of garden writing that I haven’t written about yet, but have done the research for.

Carol, that sounds great. How can I subscribe to your new Lost Ladies Substack? Thanks for asking. The new Substack is called Lost Ladies of Garden Writing and you can subscribe at any time by clicking on that link. It will present an option to pay for a subscription, but that is not necessary or expected. Everything I post will always be free and available.

But what about that other Substack, Digging and Delighted, that some of us subscribed to? I haven’t forgotten about it! Honestly, I was going to do something with it at the end of June but then the power went out for three days, and anyway… Once I get the Lost Ladies launched, I plant to… geez, I cannot write plan without a “t” it seems… use that Substack to provide a periodic summary of what I write on this blog. I think that will be a great option for those who don’t want an email every time I post something here but would like to check in periodically to find out what’s going on here at May Dreams Gardens.

Carol, have the garden fairies thought about having their own Substack? Well, they may have thought about it but they are garden fairies and I in no way will assist them in setting up their own Substack. I’ll be busy enough with this blog (near-daily posts are becoming a habit, a way to start the day), my new Lost Ladies of Garden Writing Substack, the Digging and Delighted Summary Substack, and there is also the podcast.

Final question, please, we all need to get on with our day!

What about your old Mailchimp newsletter? Oh, gosh. That ol’ dusty thing? I think once I get Digging and Delighted going on Substack, I’ll move all those subscribers over there. Many of them may have forgotten all about me (as if!) so I’ll remind them and they can unsubscribe at that time. Then the only reason I’ll keep Mailchimp is because it is how you are getting this email right here, every time I post. Automatically. And it also puts something on Facebook about the post.

Enough. Out to the garden. Wait, it’s cold and frosty out there, so over to the microgreens! I think it’s time to harvest some for today’s lunchtime salad!

Thanks for reading to the end, and I do hope you subscribe to Lost Ladies of Garden Writing over on Substack. You must, just to find out who got chosen to be the first Lost Lady I posted about!