Shows / Side Note...
Side Note...
After growing up on cattle ranches in Wyoming and Colorado, Melissa Broughton spent much of her adult life in Santa Barbara, California, before eventually settling in the Texas Hill Country. Today she runs a lavender business that still takes her back to California each summer for harvest, while spending the rest of the year writing, creating, and collecting stories.
This podcast is a place for those stories. From lavender farming and writing to family, dating, getting older, career changes…
Episodes
Side Note...Divine Intervention, Recovery & the Gift of Aging with Robin Norwood
Melissa sits down with Robin Norwood, author of the bestseller Women Who Love Too Much. They talk about how the two of them met, which Melissa calls "divine…
Side Note...The Lavender Man: From 23 Years of Pro Basketball to 25,000 Lavender Plants
Most people who say they hate lavender in food have simply eaten the wrong lavender. Joseph Downs, "the Lavender Man," explains why culinary lavender can taste…
Side Note...Why Coincidences Aren't Random in This Wyoming Story
A lost cat in a Wyoming blizzard. A devastating cancer diagnosis. A father she hadn’t fully reconnected with. Melissa’s final Season 1 story ties these moments…
Side Note...Writing and Self-Publishing Cowboy Dad
Melissa answers your questions about how she wrote and self-published her memoir, Cowboy Dad. She shares how she found her editor, why she avoided vanity…
Side Note...This Is Not Right: Learning to Advocate for Yourself
In episode 10 of Side Note, Melissa explores self-advocacy; why it’s so hard for most people (especially women) and how she developed it through her upbringing…
Side Note...The Porch Swing Test: 3 Jobs, 100 Rejections, and Getting Sober Before 40
Almost 40, working three jobs, and 100 rejection letters deep, Melissa shares how the fear of regret pushed her to self-publish Cowboy Dad, reinvent her…
Side Note...Cowboy Dad and the Decade of Grief
Grief can break you open, or it can become your fiercest teacher. Melissa shares the decade that changed everything, tracing how loss, trauma, addiction, and…
Side Note...Firsts, Failures and First Starts
After losing her job post 9/11, Melissa takes another leap, grad school,. From founding a Women's Resource Center to bankruptcy, a repossessed car, and a…
Side Note...Headed West
Leap of faith to California, working with a cult, working for 2 authors, writing and self-publishing my first book, 9/11, Santa Barbara living and rent, Girls…
Side Note...From Cowboy Roots to College Dreams: A First-Gen Journey
Peeing in a Folgers can. Purple irises outside a trailer home window. Chocolate for dinner. The smell of Apple Jolly Ranchers on the morning commute. And…
Side Note...How Losing My Job Led to Skin Cancer and an Unexpected Life Transformation
Melissa continues her esthetician story: reviewing spas on Italy’s Amalfi Coast, teaching skin physiology in Santa Barbara, and leading spa-writing retreats in…
Side Note...What do you want to be when you grow up? Dreamy Gigs in Dreamy Places: Creating my own dream job
What if losing your job led to the best decision of your life? Melissa Broughton shares how a spontaneous trip to Italy, a leap into aesthetician training, and…
Side Note...Why I Don't Grow Lavender in Texas...
Why I don't grow lavender in Texas: California (climate and soil) spoiled me, I don't have the skills to farm lavender in Texas, Every good woman has a back-up…
Side Note...From CA to TX: Elephant in the Room, Family and God
Having a love affair with California and breaking up, Secret trips to Texas, Talking like a Californian, Elephants in the room, Hallmark movies, Group therapy…
Side Note...How I "Became" Lavender Farmer
How I "Became" a Lavender Farmer No, this is not a gardening tutorial. A rambling tale involving unexpected connections, a few wrong turns, chance encounters…