Latest / SAY GRACE | Weight Loss + Health for Overwhelmed Women- Stress, Busy, Consistency, Realistic, Motivation, Starting Over, No Restrictions / Gardening 101 with Emily Grohovsky

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Gardening 101 with Emily Grohovsky · SAY GRACE | Weight Loss + Health for Overwhelmed Women- Stress, Busy, Consistency, Realistic, Motivation, Starting Over, No Restrictions

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Music.
0:40
If you follow me on social, you see me talking about my garden.
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For me, gardening has not only brought more delicious and fresh foods,
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but it was an interruption of peace and slowness that I did not even realize
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how much I needed in my demanding life.
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I have been trying to be a gardener all my married life, but it wasn't until
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I found someone relatable to show me the way that my garden is finally thriving.
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We are all lucky to have that someone on the podcast today to share her knowledge
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and tips for becoming a great gardener, even if you have failed many times before, like I have.
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I want to welcome Emily Grahovski from Cedar Hill Gardening.
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Welcome, Emily. We are so glad to have you on the Say Grace podcast.
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Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited. All right. Okay,
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so before we get started, in the intro, I've kind of explained how you have
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helped me learn how to be a gardener after all my years of wanting to be a gardener.
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But I want you to kind of tell our listeners who you are.
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Give us the rundown. How did Cedar Hill come about? What made you decide to
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garden? All the things. Sure.
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So my name is Emily Grahovski. I live in Madison, Mississippi with my family,
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my husband, Brad, who works with me. He's a big part of Cedar Hill and my two little boys.
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And I joke with people that I'm kind of known as like pre-gardener and post-gardener
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because I grew up in Mississippi and I was like the musical kid.
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I did all the theater and shows and piano and all of that.
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And so like people before college knew me as that Emily, and now I'm like garden lady Emily.
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So there's a lot that happened like in between to get me to that point.
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But I certainly did not expect to be doing what I'm doing now,
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which is running a, honestly, it's like a garden construction business with learning built in.
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So we build custom raised bed vegetable gardens, and then we teach people to grow food in them.
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And that came out of a story that a lot of people can relate to which is trying
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to find out what in the world you're going to do during COVID and so that was
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kind of when my gardening journey began.
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Okay I did not notice yeah you didn't know about that I didn't I didn't know
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that COVID was the beginning right like I tried to grow a garden during COVID
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and it was a bust okay so okay so Keep going.
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Yeah, so when we moved back to Mississippi, I had an eight-month-old,
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and then shortly after that, Louie came along, and so we had just moved into
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a new house that had a little bit of acreage, and we closed on our house January 1st, 2020.
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Dun-dun-dun. Yeah. So here we are out in the country, which is what we wanted,
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but I'm super extroverted, and all of my neighbors were like acres away,
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and I was like, hello out there. two children under two.
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We're all like wiping our groceries down with, you know, full rock swipes and
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nobody knows what's going on when COVID hits.
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And to be perfectly honest, and I'm very open about my story,
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I had really bad postpartum depression and anxiety with my second son.
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And I didn't have that after my first and it was really bad for a while.
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And so I just, I was, I was opposite.
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I had it really bad with my first and not so bad with my second.
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It was awful. I don't wish it on anybody.
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You were probably really anxious about it the second time and like so relieved
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that that didn't happen. Yes, I was. I prayed about it every day of my pregnancy.
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Lord, please don't let me feel this way again.
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I mean, it was awful. And so I had glory in December and then COVID hit in March.
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So, okay, I'm tracking with you. Keep going.
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Yeah, so you get it. I didn't realize our babies are that close at eight.
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So basically, all I knew was I didn't know what to do. Medication helped a little bit for a while.
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Yeah. I don't discount that at all. But I just knew I needed to have something
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for myself to get more vitamin D and be in the sun and try to eat healthy.
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And so we had all this land and I said, all right, let's just till it up and see what happens.
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I had grandparents who were like big master gardeners in their retirement.
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They were very well known in Mississippi.
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They built a lot of gardens that you would know of, like the Ag Museum gardens
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and things like that. But I truthfully didn't learn anything from them.
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I saw what was possible when they were doing their vegetable gardens.
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But when you're a teenager, like you don't care.
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You don't want to lay out the pool, you know, at their house.
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They had a pool and like that's all I cared about.
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But so I started gardening during COVID and I just became obsessed because one,
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it made me move my body and it made me feel really good on those days.
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I was pulling weeds because it was in ground.
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And I was just outside, and my kids would try things that they would never normally
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try, like on their plate at the dinner table.
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And I became obsessed. But then July rolled around, and I was like, this is for the bird.
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Mississippi soil is terrible. The weeds are terrible. Why does anybody garden?
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This is horrific. And then I learned about raised bed gardening.
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And then the rest of my life began, literally.
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Insane. So we started building raised beds. or I say we, my husband did.
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And so it was incredible the difference in the output of my garden when I had
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good soil and raised beds.
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And so that was when I really started enjoying it.
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I think, so I think that was probably my biggest like struggle.
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It was, we were always trying to do a garden, you know, like,
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so I, prior to Perfect Fit, I worked for a nonprofit and it was like a nonprofit focused on health.
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And so we were in the schools all the time and we got grant funding to build gardens,
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you know, schools that couldn't build their own, you know, like we were really
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involved in the garden realm, but I don't know what, I mean,
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I don't know what my disconnect was,
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but I just thought at my house, there's not a lot of information out there if
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you don't know exactly what to look for, I think, specific to Mississippi.
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Like, I stayed on the Extension website 10 years ago, and it was really hard
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to find anything that made sense to me. You know what I mean?
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And so, I was super involved in the gardening world and providing money for
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schools to build gardens, but then at my own house, we were always trying to build them,
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put them, put the garden in the ground, like directly in the soil.
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And so I think I feel like probably the biggest like game changer for me was
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when you came to my house and you're like, we had raised beds at that point,
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but you were like, where'd you get this soil?
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I'm like, just, just dug it up from the back, from the backyard, you know?
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And you're like, that's the problem. You know what I mean?
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So yeah, I'm fascinated by the fact that you like started and were so interested
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that you, I mean, you must have been all in, like, did you buy books?
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Did you like, where did you get all the knowledge so quick?
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YouTube. YouTube. Okay. I learned on YouTube and I learned on Instagram following
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gardeners and I didn't learn it all at once. I would just learn one thing at a time.
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So if I was growing squash and I was having an issue with certain bugs on my
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squash, I would go watch a video on, you know, how to get rid of these bugs on my squash.
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And when I first started gardening, I had no interest in organic gardening,
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like I used all the chemicals and all the things.
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But when I started noticing my children just walking in and like grabbing willy
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nilly stuff that I wouldn't expect them to eat.
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And I was like, Oh, no, don't eat that because it has, you know,
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seven dust on it or something. Then I was like, Wait a minute.
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That was when my journey with organic gardening began.
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And I love what you said about and I'm glad that you can laugh at yourself.
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I think it's a good thing to laugh at yourself, especially when you're learning
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a new skill, because we make I've made all the mistakes that might be made.
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And that's why I can so quickly identify the piece of the puzzle that's missing when I go on a consult.
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I can very quickly look at the color of your plants or the shape of your plants
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and tell you what's wrong.
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And that's what we do during our consults. And that's why our company's motto
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is green thumbs are not natural, they are learned.
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And if I had a dollar for every time I met somebody and they say,
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oh, you're the garden lady, I have a black thumb. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
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I'm like, I know. I've heard it all. Like, you have to start somewhere.
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And so that was the biggest thing for me was realizing, like,
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how little I knew, but how quickly.
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I could learn what I needed to grow, like, a really productive garden in an
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organic way that was safe for my family.
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Yes. And I will say, I mean, literally, the year Jess and I got married,
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which was 2011, and we bought a house.
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Was like, I have to have a garden here. Like, you know, like I was just,
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I just, I have to have a garden.
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And I have been trying to have a garden here every single year with give or
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take, like when my kids were born or whatever,
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like I didn't, but, but the year of COVID we did and we tried to plant it in
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a new spot and it still was just the worst ever for how, how, what is it?
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14 years almost, you know, I have tried to have a garden and like,
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well, you've been a little preoccupied running a successful business too.
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True, but also I am home all the time.
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You know, like I don't have the excuse of like, I'm never home and I forgot
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to water it, you know, like,
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but I will say it was so bad and we have wasted so much money on a garden that
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when I finally kind of caught up with like you and I kind of started to try
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again, you know, Jess was so hesitant.
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He was like, Constance, we cannot just keep throwing money into the fire.
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You know, like you cannot just keep starting a garden to watch it die.
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And so I've had to over the past probably year and a half, I've had to prove
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to him, you know, that I'm really, I really am committed this time and I'm learning
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things, you know. You're eating your garden now.
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I'm expanding. I know, I know. I've got to get with Maddie soon.
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I kind of, I've got her email in the inbox.
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And just once I get through this challenge, sign up, you know,
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we will, we will get started on the garden. But okay.
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So transitioning. I know why I wanted a garden, but I would love to hear you
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talk about some of the benefits.
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I want to hear like your postpartum. How did it go after that?
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You know, like all the benefits of having a garden from your perspective.
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Sure. So the first one as a mom of little ones who can be kind of picky around
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that age was I was absolutely floored by the things that they would eat in the
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garden when they had control over it.
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So I really encourage my clients to be like, hey, you know, when you garden
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with kids, you got to go in with open hands and be really patient because they're
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going to pick that watermelon like 30 days too soon.
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And they're going to bring it to you with those sweet little eyes and say,
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Mommy, I picked this for you.
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And you're going to say, thank you. And you're going to die inside a little
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bit because you know you're not going to be able to eat it.
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But that was the kind of thing, like initially, it was just like I got my joy back a little bit.
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I've been so clouded. I was like, oh, just these little moments of joy with
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my kids in the garden and knowing they were eating sugar snap peas and,
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you know, dinosaur kale and things like that.
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It's really crazy. I talk, my clients, I mean, I deal mainly with women,
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right? But they are always asking, like, how do I make sure my kids have a better
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relationship with food than I did?
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How do I make sure my kids want to eat better?
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And I'm like, take them to the grocery store. Like, let them pick what fruit, vegetable, whatever.
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And I have noticed this with my kids in the garden as well. Like,
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my oldest says she hates tomatoes. Like, doesn't even eat ketchup.
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But Emily, if they're, like, in the summer, if there is the,
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it has to be the cherry tomatoes on the counter.
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She's like, Mom, are these from the garden? and we'll eat them like they are candy.
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Same with broccoli. You know, like our broccoli from the garden is somehow it
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tastes good when the broccoli from the grocery store does not. You know what I mean?
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It's been really that alone. That's not really why I started gardening,
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but that alone has been incredible to experience as a mom who wants to see my
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kids eat cherry tomatoes like they're candy. You know what I mean?
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And I think we just have to let go. Like if you're a little bit type A and you
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want straight rows and you want, you know, it to look a certain way,
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just know that like there's a season of life when it will look that way.
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But if you really want your kids,
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to enjoy gardening. You can't reprimand them when they're in the garden because
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then they're going to start associating like, I mess up in the garden or mommy
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gets upset when I'm in the garden because I picked something too early or I threw these seeds out.
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But if they plant it and they watch something sprout from a seed,
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then they have ownership over it and then they're all in.
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So that's really exciting. So that was one reason. And then another reason was
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just for like the physical activity.
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So I keep telling my team, I'm going to have some t-shirts made that say working
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on my cardio because I hate cardio.
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I want that. I want that.
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But it really truly is like when you're out there and this is a testament to it.
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So when I was, when I finally decided last year, I joined a local fitness club
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that we're all familiar with. If I said the name, you would know it.
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And I thought I was going to go in there and like die.
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We did so many squats. And the next day I was not sore.
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And I was like, what the hell? How is this possible? And Brad,
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my husband, who's a former PT, he was like, babe, you do squats all day in the
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garden. And I was like, you're right.
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Like, I didn't realize how fit I was. I still have one way to go.
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But there is just so much activity that you don't realize and twisting and pulling and bending.
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And it's something you can take until you're 97 years old.
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It ebbs and flows with your season of life. So that was the second benefit.
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And then the third, which is just the most practical, was having really good
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tasting produce in my kitchen.
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And don't get it twisted. I still go to the grocery store.
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Oh, I bet you eat a hundred percent of your dinner and I'm like or you had chips and salsa tonight,
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you know so like it's it's supplemented but you can't tell a big difference
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and my kids will not eat store-bought carrots and they will not eat store-bought
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sugar snap peas because of that reason because they know the difference in the
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taste that is hilarious that is awesome So.
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Okay, and two, I do just want to, like, touch in on the mental health aspect
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because I know that that is one of my reasons for it.
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Like, I feel like when I am out in the garden, especially now that I'm comfortable,
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more comfortable, I wouldn't say.
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I am still up in y'all membership. Credit. You have great intuition. You do.
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Well, I'm getting comfortable. How about that?
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I love being out there. Like there is something so powerful about,
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I don't know, snipping things, pulling things like that you grew, you know what I mean?
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But more than that, I think we're in such a go, go, go, go, go busy world,
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you know, that oftentimes we are talking to someone with our phone in our hand
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or we are multitasking 29 different ways, right?
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And it is extremely hard to do that in the garden. And so for me,
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it is such like breath of fresh air to be able to go out there and be like,
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oh, this is the only thing I'm focusing on.
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In fact, this year I share all my stories, you know, my garden progress because
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and people love it because I'm like not a master gardener.
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You know what I mean? My neighbors will text me randomly and they're like,
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your garden looks so lush from the road.
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And what are you doing? And I'm like, go to this girl's Instagram page.
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That's all I can tell you, you know, but, but a lot of times,
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so I like to share my garden, but a lot of times, especially in this past summer,
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I forgot to bring my phone out to, to record and share because I was just so
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focused on like doing one thing and finding that mental break and that peace out there.
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And two, I've noticed it with my kids. Like if, if they're fussing at each other,
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I'll grab one of them to come out with me.
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And I'm like, let's just go get like a break, you know, and they love to just be out there digging.
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I was at the chiropractor the other day and he said his wife is a gardener and
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he said, I told her she's her best self when when her hands are dirty,
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you know, when she's in the garden.
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And I'm like, that is that there is so much truth to that in this world of we
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can do anything from our phone, from our couch, honestly, if we wanted to.
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And so the fact forcing yourself to get up and kind of it feels vintage, right?
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Like it feels, it feels, you know, like old, old school, but,
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but it's also kind of how we were designed from, from the beginning.
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If you think about it, you know, is to work for our food.
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And so that part for me has just been, I can't, I can't explain it,
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you know, how, how impactful it's been for my mental health going out there every day.
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Yeah. Yeah. Well, you're right. And it's so interesting.
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I wish I had the quote in front of me, but I use it all the time when I do speaking
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engagements And it's something to the effect of like a hundred years ago,
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there used to be a garden in 97% of homes.
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Today, there are gardens in 0.7% of homes. And that's just in a hundred years.
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And, you know, it's like you say, you know, you feel empowered because you have
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everything at your fingertips in your phone. But really, when all of that is
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stripped away, we've lost so many of those skills that truly empower us.
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And I think that's why so many people, you know, created COVID gardens,
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because they realize all of a sudden, like, oh, my gosh, what if something happened?
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And like, could I feed my family? And I try not to do like…
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scare tactics. Like, I never scare people into gardening. I'm not into that.
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It's temporary. It won't stick if you do something because, you know, out of fear.
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But it is interesting how many people made it more of a priority after that.
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And that was why my business blew up.
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You know, I didn't intend to start this business at all. I just was posting
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pictures of my kids in the garden. And my friends would be like,
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oh my gosh, how do you do that?
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Like, I have a black thumb. I could kill a cactus?
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You know, how do you have the time? And I was telling my best friend,
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I was like, so many people want to know how to do this, and they just want someone
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to kind of show them to give them the confidence to keep going.
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And she said, Emily, you have to do this. And at the time, I was a NICU nurse,
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and I was like, I don't know anything about running a business.
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Like, how would I do this?
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And so I agreed to help one friend, and her husband had a tractor,
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and he was going to do everything. I was just going to tell them,
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like, how to set it up. and with drip irrigation and all of this will help our
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gardens really be so much more successful.
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And so I helped them build this beautiful garden.
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And then her mom wanted one, but they weren't going to build it for her.
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And so I went home and her mom asked me if I would build the garden.
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And she said she would pay me. And I told Brad, I was like, this lady is going to pay me.
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I was like, sweet, let's do it and have some like fun money.
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So we built her garden and then her friend wanted a garden.
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And then her mom wanted it. And it just kept going. And before I knew it,
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Constance, we had built 22 gardens in 2022.
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And Brad was still a full-time physical therapist. I was still working as a NICU nurse.
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And I was like, oh, my gosh, this is like becoming like a little business.
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And then it just grew and grew from there. And now Brad and I do this full-time.
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And so it's just been like the blessing that I never saw coming in my life.
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And it keeps, it's just like a pay-it-forward thing. when people send me pictures
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of their kids in the garden, like munching on pink carrots or whatever we planted for them.
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It's just really neat. Isn't it crazy how like God will work things like you
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didn't even, you know, I planned it myself at all. Yeah.
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That's, I mean, that's how Perfect Fit started. I was working for that nonprofit.
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Sarah Mason had a food allergy.
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Her allergist told me to stay home and trial foods with her.
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I'm like, I work eight to five.
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What do you mean? You know? And he was like, you need to trial foods between
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eight and five so you can come here if she has a reaction. And my gosh, yeah, and it was wild.
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There's a whole podcast on it. But so I quit my job. You know what I mean?
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We prayed over it. I was going to go part time.
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They weren't going to give me the hours that I wanted. And so I just quit.
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And then this like a friend of mine was like, hey, you know what you should do?
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You should offer these weight loss challenges on Facebook. And I'm like,
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I don't even know how to hardly work Facebook.
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You know what I mean? And then I never set out to have a business,
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you know, and then look. So I think it's crazy, like...
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You know, I know your postpartum was probably a huge struggle, right?
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I know the move in itself was probably every, any move, you know,
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even if you're moving down the road, is overwhelming and stressful.
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But like, if you had not gone through that season, this season would not be born.
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No, it was the greatest silver lining of my life is what I tell people.
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I mean, it's just, gosh, it's so good to look back on God's goodness like that, you know?
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Okay, so we are, this episode will air at the beginning of February.
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And so people will be thinking forward about what most people, what I always heard.
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Now I follow your calendar, right? But I always heard around Easter is when
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you plant for your summer garden.
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And so I don't know. I want you to talk about if listeners are motivated and
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they want to do a garden specifically, what do you think?
23:01
The summer or the spring for this plant?
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Honestly, anytime. I am planting every month of the year, except for December
23:11
and January, I can plant something.
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But a really, you know, natural time to plant, especially if you're a new gardener,
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would be in April for summer. So you don't have to feel rushed,
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especially if this podcast is airing like February, beginning of it.
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But yeah, we have a lot of ways that we can help you do that.
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Okay. So give us just some tips for starting planting.
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As a brand new gardener? Sure. Your greatest investment is your soil.
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Amen. Foundation, foundation.
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If you have good soil, it will feed your plants and your plants will feed you.
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So you're, well, and what goes with that, it means a raised bed.
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So it is possible to plant in the ground in Mississippi and people do it all the time,
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but it's a lot more work and you're more likely if you're a really busy person
24:03
and you're not home and gardening is not your like 100% of the time focus,
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it's going to be hard to maintain it over time.
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So, you know, investing in some raised beds, if you don't have time to build
24:15
them yourselves or the budget to have someone like us build them for you,
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there are some really great options like modular metal beds.
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There's a company that I love called Vego, V-E-G-O.
24:27
And they make these really cute metal beds. And they're like a little bit more
24:32
than a hundred bucks a piece and literally can put them together.
24:36
Like when they were three and five, they put them together with no tools,
24:39
very easy, fun, like family weekend things.
24:42
So figure out a way you, if you live on like in an apartment and all you have is a patio,
24:48
use grow bags or pots like there's a way to do it in your season of life but
24:53
really good soil is important and I would say where I live I get my soil from
24:59
a place called Hutto's Home and Garden Center and they make their own compost-based planting mix.
25:04
Yeah for our ladies that are in the Jackson area we do have ladies all over but,
25:09
Our girls in Mississippi that are near the Jackson area, that is where Hotos
25:13
is. That's where I also got the good, good soil that changed my life.
25:17
Yeah, and you can get it by the bag or they'll load it into the back of your
25:21
truck in bulk, which is much more cost effective. But that would be the first way to do it.
25:26
But if you don't live here and you just are going to the nearest store,
25:30
just make sure that you add in some compost or black cow or something like that
25:37
so that it's not just like garden soil that's kind of cheap and will only last you like a season.
25:42
Yeah, I think you said with the soil, with my soil, it looked like more light brown, right?
25:49
It should look more like rich and dark, like almost black or yeah.
25:55
And sometimes that can be just from not having your soil covered.
25:58
The sun just kind of dries it out, just like our skin. Like if you don't cover
26:02
it, it just gets dried out and ashy to be.
26:06
I told my mom yesterday, I was like, my skin feels like an alligator right now. Yes, like right now.
26:12
In summer, if it's not covered by some type of mulch, it'll get really dry and
26:16
your plants will struggle.
26:18
And then speaking of sun, you really, especially for a summer garden,
26:22
when there's so many things that are fruiting, they need more than six hours
26:26
of full sun. I mean, full, full sun.
26:28
You can grow a garden with less. But I tell people, like, it don't matter how
26:33
much you pray over your tomatoes. thing unless they have six hours of sun.
26:37
If you have less than that, try a smaller variety like try a cherry tomato or
26:43
try a snacking pepper or like a smaller variety that they can do better with
26:48
less sun. And then you have to water your garden, right?
26:50
So 99% of the clients that we build gardens for, we give them automatic watering
26:56
so that in the morning when your coffee pot turns on, your water turns on to your garden.
27:01
And we do that through something called drip irrigation. And it's just a game changer.
27:07
So, sun, put the water flowers. Yeah. Pray over us. We're going to try to install
27:12
our own. I mean, Jess is so handy.
27:14
Like, it's going to be fun. But I just know it's, you know, it's going to be an undertaking.
27:20
I'm going to be bothering y'all. I learned on YouTube everything.
27:25
You can learn it on YouTube.
27:26
And then we always add in flowers, right? So, you know, you do some flowers,
27:30
some zinnias in your garden.
27:32
And other than the fact that it's just aesthetically pleasing and it just makes
27:36
you happy when you go out and see flowers or pick them for your kitchen counter,
27:40
it does bring in really good bugs like bees and butterflies and things that
27:44
pollinate your squash and your, you know, your peppers and your beans and things
27:50
like that in the summertime.
27:51
So, yeah, that was a, that was a big one for us. And even, you know what I loved? Okay.
27:58
Plant names are not my thing, but you had told me to go out and get some flowers this summer around.
28:08
I bet it was salvia. Okay, whatever. They come in like pink and orange and all colors.
28:14
Probably either zinnias, cosmos, or salvia are usually like the three or marigolds.
28:22
Okay, it was marigolds. I got marigolds, but then we planted zinnia and then
28:28
the morning glories that never bloomed.
28:30
But it was so nice when it was July and everything was hot.
28:38
Everybody was dying. But my marigolds were still just like looking real good.
28:43
You know what I mean? Like that, it made me feel like, oh, my garden is still
28:47
doing things. You know what I mean?
28:49
And too, yeah, the bees, they loved it. Everybody loved the flowers this year.
28:54
And that was our first year to put flowers around the garden at all.
28:57
And flowers actually are, if you want to get real nerdy about it,
29:02
flowers, especially like marigolds, they act as a form of organic pest control
29:06
by emitting, you know, a strong fragrance that kind of confuses the bugs.
29:11
And so, you know, flowers really are crucial.
29:14
They're, they're multi-purpose. And that was a big aha moment for me because
29:18
the first garden that I put in, I didn't, I didn't put flowers.
29:21
I just did vegetables because it was a vegetable garden. And then I noticed
29:24
that I wasn't getting much out of it. And then the next year when I added flowers,
29:29
I had like three times as much produce coming out.
29:32
And I'm like, oh, this is how it works in nature.
29:36
Let me get out of the way and simulate nature a little more.
29:40
And then look what happened.
29:41
Yes. That's hilarious. That's what I love watching with my clients is those
29:45
aha moments where I go and we do a consult. And they're scared out of their
29:49
minds. And they're like, I'm going to kill it all.
29:51
My husband doesn't want me to do it because I'm wasting money,
29:54
just like you said. And then...
29:56
We plant the first garden, and we use mostly transplants because that's easier
30:02
and more beginner, but we'll plant a few things from seed.
30:05
And everybody's always freaked out because they're like, I don't know how to
30:07
plant from seed. I don't know how to breed a seed packet.
30:10
And then fast forward a year, I'll show up to a planting day,
30:13
and I'll have a client, and she'll be like, okay, look at all my seeds that
30:17
I bought. We're going to plant this, this, this, this, this from seed.
30:20
And I'm just like, can I stop you for a second? Do you remember last year when
30:24
you were freaked out because you didn't know how to read the back of a seed packet?
30:28
Now you're ordering your own seeds online, like so proud, you know?
30:32
Yes, that is. I don't know. And it feels so, yeah, it's something to be really proud about.
30:37
It's your clients when all of a sudden they're like, I don't even have to think
30:40
about my macros anymore. That's right.
30:42
And like, you know, it just becomes, it just becomes a rhythm.
30:47
Yeah, for the good, right? that, you know, it's improvement,
30:52
which is so wonderful to be able to see for both of us, to be able to sit back
30:55
and just see these people thrive, you know.
30:59
I'm glad that you brought up the thing about the calendar that you have, our calendar.
31:04
And the reason that we made that, if people don't know what it is,
31:07
you can go on our website and we have a calendar.
31:10
It's like, I call it my third child because it was such a labor of love.
31:13
But I basically created what I wished I would have had as a new gardener.
31:18
And what that was, was a day-by-day, like, simple, not confusing plan for what to plant and how.
31:27
And because that is the biggest mistake I see people make is they plant the
31:31
right thing, but at the wrong time. Yes, that was me.
31:35
Yes. And then what happens? Then they say, oh, it's my fault.
31:39
I have a black thumb. I'm not meant to be a gardener. And I'm like,
31:43
no, no, no, that's not it at all. You just, you don't know until you know.
31:46
And so we created that calendar and it's been like the best feedback we've gotten probably.
31:52
I will say...
31:55
I will say if you, okay, so I got the first one last year or whatever.
31:59
If you had gone up on the price by like quadruple, I would have still paid it.
32:05
I mean, Emily. I'm just kidding. I know.
32:09
Next year, double, everybody get your calendars while you can because next year.
32:15
But because I truly think that that, I told you, I spent so much time on the
32:20
extension website, like trying to navigate, trying to figure it out.
32:22
We had like even a food
32:25
core which is a branch of AmeriCorps garden guy
32:29
that was like an intern at my at my company when I was with the non-profit and
32:34
like he struggled so much to figure out like gardening in Mississippi and so
32:40
I had I had the resources I felt like you know what I mean and then they would
32:44
say like reach out to a master gardener and I'm like they don't call me back
32:47
Like, you know what I mean?
32:49
And so even, so all that, like all that trying, and then all I needed was just this calendar.
32:59
Can I wrap that up into a review and put it on the website?
33:03
A hundred percent. I'll export the transcripts of this.
33:07
I mean, because it truly, that was when I got the calendar, I'm like, oh, I can do this.
33:12
And even, oh, it's so precious though, because my kids love it.
33:16
Sarah Mason pulled it out.
33:18
Last week. And she's like, Mom, when do we when do we start planting?
33:20
I'm like, look at the calendar, you know, and so she's like,
33:23
can we plant, you know, like, it's so fun to you should I know it's a labor
33:27
of love. But thank you. You know what I mean?
33:29
Never stop making it. Because it serves as I was just talking about this.
33:33
I recorded podcast episodes yesterday to about a plan.
33:37
We all need a plan for everything in our lives if we want to be successful, right.
33:41
And so this calendar served as such a good plan for me, you know, to, to resort back to.
33:47
So yeah, a hundred percent. Okay. So the calendar, you can find that on your
33:50
website. Tell everybody, let's just do a rundown before we finish up.
33:55
What else do you offer and where can you find it?
33:58
Okay. So my website is called cedarhillgardens.com.
34:04
And that is where you can go to see pictures of gardens that we've built before.
34:10
It is where you can go to book a consult.
34:12
Everybody that wants to work with us one-on-one in some capacity,
34:17
we do also offer virtual consults. If you're like, we have clients in Atlanta
34:23
and Tennessee and California and different places.
34:26
So you can go on, you can book a consult.
34:28
If you're in person within 20 miles of Madison, we'll come to you and we'll
34:33
just sit with you for 60 to 90 minutes, however long it takes.
34:36
And if you want a brand new garden from start to finish and you want us to do
34:40
the whole thing, we will take measurements just like you're getting like landscaping
34:44
done or an interior designer.
34:46
And we suggest like, this is the best spot. That, you know, this is what we
34:51
suggest for how much to grow based on what your family wants to eat or what
34:56
their goals are, you know.
34:58
And then after that, we install it for you, turnkey. Most people just want us to do it.
35:04
Or we can, like, help you as you DIY some of it. So you guys are kind of doing that.
35:09
We didn't consult with you, but Jess is going to build most of your garden.
35:12
And if you get to a point and you're like, I can't figure out the drip irrigation,
35:16
we'll do that part for you.
35:18
Beyond that we have i
35:21
do post a lot of videos on instagram cedar hill
35:25
garden consulting is my instagram handle and i'm
35:28
just get on there and act silly and use my musical theater background to entertain
35:32
everyone yeah but we try to you know post a lot on there reminding you hey the
35:38
frost is coming put your frost cloth up hey have you fertilized in the last
35:42
month like just little tasks that you might, you know, let fall by the wayside.
35:46
So we do online teaching. And then like next week, I'm doing an in-person class in my greenhouse.
35:52
It is sold out right now, but it's our third year to do it.
35:56
And we teach people how to start seeds indoors and grow things under lights.
36:00
And so we have in-person classes that,
36:03
And then the last piece of that is I do a ton of speaking engagements myself all over the country.
36:09
I'm going to Dallas next month to do a big one. But I do enjoy teaching garden
36:14
clubs and, you know, employee wellness programs and whoever wants to bring the garden lady in.
36:21
So that's kind of like the four branches of my business.
36:24
Then we, just so people know, we don't ever build these beautiful gardens and
36:30
then say like, good luck to you. So here's your nice garden.
36:34
Good luck. We actually have a program where we come back and our consultants
36:38
come to your garden twice a month.
36:40
And if you choose to enroll in that and we teach you and we talk to you in between,
36:46
you can text us and say, what is this bug?
36:49
How do I treat it organically? Things like that. We also have a membership program,
36:54
which you're in, that you encouraged me to start, actually.
36:59
We enrollment will open back up mid-April for
37:02
the summer group and we've really enjoyed that it's very similar
37:05
to what you do but we also do like monthly field trips
37:08
in person for local people so a lot
37:11
of ways to get involved yes so I will say that when I found Emily again I've
37:17
explained it I was clueless and overwhelmed about it but knew I really wanted
37:21
a garden so I had Emily come out and look at what I had because I did have some
37:26
stuff started. It just wasn't looking lovely.
37:29
You know what I mean? And so she offered her advice and tips and tricks and all the things.
37:35
And so that gave me enough confidence to kind of get going and commit to this task.
37:42
And then we did the membership. She started the membership and I have been a
37:46
member ever since. I mean, you've been doing it for almost a year, right?
37:49
I know it'll be a year in April. And so the membership has been really fun to,
37:53
again, there's something about a community around what you're doing,
37:56
right? To just know there are these other women.
37:58
Gosh, like during the summer when everybody's squash was getting eat up, you know what I mean?
38:02
Like it was so comforting to know I was not alone. And like you said, it wasn't a me problem.
38:07
It was just, we had a lot of, what is it? Squash vine borers or whatever that year.
38:13
And so, yeah, the community is really great. And then the field trips,
38:17
I have not been able to make very many. And I really wanted to make that seed
38:20
starting class, but I'm going to be out of town. I'm going to be in Austin for a work thing.
38:23
So it's been really nice to be a part of the membership. But then even still,
38:29
I have had them come out again to...
38:32
And help me as we want to now evolve our garden a little bit.
38:38
So they are truly there in any and every capacity that you would need.
38:43
I think my dream one day would be to have y'all like come build me one,
38:47
you know, like on HGTV, you know, just like build it out.
38:52
But that will not be anytime soon.
38:56
Okay, baby steps. And I'm glad that you said that because I forgot to mention,
39:00
it's not always people that we're working with that just know nothing about
39:06
gardening and want us to build a garden.
39:07
We do very frequently meet with people like yourself, and many of them started a COVID garden.
39:12
And I like to ask that question, was this a COVID garden?
39:15
But that is kind of almost more fun for me as far as like, okay,
39:20
this garden is here and it's not working and let's figure out why.
39:24
And as I said, we can usually pretty quickly tell why. And it's usually either
39:28
the soil, not enough sun, or not enough water.
39:31
And so that's kind of fun for me to tease out. It gets my brain working in a
39:36
different way. But we love what we do. I have a growing team.
39:39
I have like the most knowledgeable people in the area that I'm aware of.
39:44
And I've convinced all of them to come work for me.
39:47
And they all have been gardening for a long time and bring different things to the table.
39:51
But we just have a really fun team and are genuinely passionate about just teaching people to garden.
39:58
There's one girl that works for me right now.
40:01
And I literally had to convince her to let me pay her as an employee because
40:06
she just wanted to do it because she loves teaching people garden.
40:09
I'm like, no, I'm paying you. Like, you're my employee.
40:12
But she would have done it for free. And I was like, no, we're not doing that.
40:15
But yeah, we love what we do.
40:18
Well, I love what you do, too. And again, I am so, so thankful that I found you.
40:23
And I hope, you know, some of my listeners and my clients will find you.
40:27
And if you are a client, y'all, and you listen to this, I would love,
40:32
I would love to get like some perfect fit girls together to let you come teach a class.
40:36
I know, I know your schedule's busy, you know, but if y'all want that,
40:40
y'all just let you let me know. And we will set that up real quick.
40:45
Okay. Anything before we hop off of here.
40:48
Gosh, I think we covered it all. I could probably continue to talk for an hour
40:53
and find stuff to talk about.
40:55
But no, I just, you know, all I would say is, you know, you're going to,
41:00
it's just like anything in life.
41:01
Like you're going to kill some plants, but a lot of them are going to grow.
41:05
And every season it's going to get better and better.
41:07
And your thumb is going to get greener and greener each season.
41:11
And so just go into it with those expectations. It's the garden is not a pass
41:16
fail. It's always learning.
41:17
So if you have that mindset, you're going to be able to enjoy the process a lot more.
41:22
Isn't that... If you're still frustrated, call us. Right, right.
41:26
But isn't that the case for every single thing? I feel like that's the motto
41:29
in our weight loss group.
41:30
Like you're never going to eat perfectly clean. You're never going to lose a pound every week.
41:34
Like it's about learning that patience and learning from the mistake and then
41:41
just being consistent and committed to keep going, right?
41:43
And so with that, as always, especially in your gardens on today's episode,
41:51
y'all remember to say grace. Thanks, Emily. Thank you.
41:56
Thank you for listening to today's episode of Say Grace podcast.
41:56
Music.
42:01
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42:06
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42:10
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