A Day in the Life: Running a Digital Magazine, A Recipe Website & a Farm
We’re kicking off a new series called “Coffee and Conversation,” where we answer the questions we receive from our readers! If one person asks, we figure others might be wondering the same thing. This time, we’re answering a question from a longtime follower who’s been with us since our mama was sharing her recipes. What does a typical day look like for us now? From running The Southern Lady Cooks to publishing Front Porch Life, we’re giving you a behind-the-scenes look at our daily routine!
So, here is the question
“I’ve been a follower for many years. I was here when your mama was posting on facebook and sharing her recipes. Now that you ladies are doing most of it, can you share a what a day looks like for you?”-Cindy M.
OK! Let’s get into it!
First, no two days are the same for us. We are all over the place, but we do have certain things that we do every single day.
It’s 6:00, and I start my day by feeding Huxley (I make his food from scratch every week; let me know if you want me to do a post on the recipe) and having one cup of coffee. Huxley goes crazy for his food every morning. He runs through the house and bounces off the furniture. I love seeing him so excited about his food. We adopted him several years ago, and he came from a horrible situation. He was left starving for over a week, so seeing him so happy about getting fed is so fun. Of course, he landed in a home entirely focused on food…how lucky is he?
I then have a cup of coffee, and Philip and I review our day’s schedule. He is a farrier and a farmer and is never at one place, he’s driving between different horse farms or at his farms…farming. I can barely keep up! Today is at a horse farm this morning and then filling up the grain truck this afternoon. He has a busy day. Then, I do what I call “checking my stuff.” I first email Anne and let her know I am up and at it. We do this EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. You’ll find that Anne and I are very routine and attached. It’s a twin thing. Anywho, I take a quick peek at my work emails to see if anything is urgent, and if not, I open my news app on my iPad, read the news, and drink my coffee.
Next, it’s time for Huxley to go for his walk. So I change clothes, put on my tennis shoes, and we head out for a 30-minute walk around the farm. Our horses are over at Anne’s place (TwinBay Farm), so as I walk out the door, I call Anne, put her on speaker phone, and we talk while I walk the farm, and she feeds the horses. Then it’s back in the house, where I get my planner out to double-check anything I have on the agenda for today and write in my gratitude journal. While I do this, Anne visits Mom’s apartment (we built an apartment years ago on TwinBay Farm for Mom) and chats with her.
When Anne returns from Mom’s, she calls, and we both get on the treadmill. She at her house, me at mine. While we do a 40-minute walk, we have our morning business meeting. This is where we go over all the things that need to be done today, the week, etc. Today, we discussed the recipes that Mom is making, what we are adding to each website, and that we need to meet with our contractor a little later this morning. 40 minutes fly by today, and then we hang up, and each of us does a 25-minute full-body lift routine. I do this 4 times a week. Then it’s 10-15 minutes of stretching and off to make breakfast!
My breakfast is pretty much the same thing every day (creature of habit!)…four slices of turkey bacon, a cup of shredded potatoes, and two fried eggs with a handful of blueberries. After breakfast, it’s 2 hours of computer time. I’m writing an email to YOU for The Southern Lady Cooks, and then I’ll add a new recipe to Front Porch Life (carrot cake loaf!), and then I get on my phone and work on social media.
The contractor just called; it’s time to meet with him! We went over what shower and sink we wanted for the cooking cottage. I have Anne on speakerphone so we can all make the decision. Our contractor thoroughly knows our vision for this project, so thankfully, it’s not a ton of decisions. I don’t like having to make every single decision; I want people to get what we are looking for and run with it.
My husband called and asked if I would make him a quick lunch, as he is running home for two seconds. Off to make him a chicken salad sandwich. My husband has alpha-gal and can’t eat red meat. We recently took him to have the SAAT treatment. He has to keep the needle in for two more weeks. Fingers crossed it works.
Ok…now I’m off to TwinBay Farm (Anne’s place) to help Anne load the horses in the trailer and haul them over to my house, Evening Shade. It’s a beautiful day, and we definitely want to get them exercised.
The horses did great; now it’s time to give them each a full liniment rub down and put on their ceramic blankets to help with any soreness. These two horses are retired from competition, but we want to keep them moving to give them a long, full life and keep them healthy. Now, we load them back up (with the doggies, too) and drive them back to TwinBay to feed them. It’s just a 10-minute drive.
Mom has her recipes done, so it’s time to photograph them. After we get the photographs, I go down to Mom’s apartment and visit with her. She fills me in on what recipes she is making tomorrow (she is a cooking machine!), and we catch up. Then, I head back to Evening Shade. It’s time to feed Huxley, so he has his dinner, and then we go for another long walk. Philip gets home, and we catch up on our day, and then I get back on the computer to work on a post for Front Porch Life. I get my planner out and start scheduling tomorrow.
I make Philip and me a salad for dinner (when it’s warm out, we eat a ton of salads), and then we turn on Fraiser. We watch it almost every night. I love watching old sitcoms. Ha! By this time, it’s almost 7:00, and I’m pretty much done for today. Tomorrow, I’m going to ride first thing, and then I have three recipes to make, along with two Zoom calls! It’s gonna be a busy day! Well, that’s a day in the life for me. Like I said, every day is different. If you have any questions, comment below, and we’ll do another post for this series!
💬 Let’s keep the conversation going!
Do you have a question you’d like us to answer in the next Coffee and Conversation?
Leave it in the comments below — or send us a quick message. We might feature your question in an upcoming post!
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You gals sure stay busy. I enjoyed reading about your day. My husband too has alpha gal
but we hadn’t heard of that procedure and we find it hard to get much information on alpha gal…other than not to eat red meat, pork or lamb. I would be interested in any info you could share.
We live in Bardstown, KY
Grace Cambron
Hi Grace! I’m sorry to hear that your husband has alph-gal, too. My husband did the SAAT treatment and unfortunately, it didn’t work for him. However, it is common to not work with the first treatment and to have a second one done. He opted to wait till this winter to have the second treatment because you can’t get the needle wet and my husband works outside all summer sweating so we’ll hold off for cooler weather. The SAAT technician that we used is in Louisville, so not far from you (just google it and it will come up). My husband lives in the woods (he’s a hunter) and ticks flock to him. It’s a constant, no matter what he does, they are always on him. The key is to not get bit, but I just don’t see that happening with him. Your husband may have luck with his particular treatment, it’s definitley worth haveing a consultation. Good luck!
Thank you for responding Leigh. And for the info. I have followed for a long time…when your Mom was doing the recipes and would write about you and your sister when you were growing up. We lived much like you when you were little…except there were 7 of us. Both of our kids went to college at UK in Lexington and lived there for awhile. Beautiful place.
Love the recipes you all share and hope your Mom is doing well.
Grace
Hi Grace, I love that you have followed us for so long! Mom is doing great, she still makes a ton of the recipes and works the Pinterest and twitter page. We built her an apartment in Anne’s house during Covid so now we are all together and see each other all the time. Thank you for being here with us. Have a great week!
Wow! Thank you. What a wonderful life you have. I love hearing how kind and loving you are with your animals and your family. It was good to hear how involved your mom is in Front Porch life and the recipes.
Was Huxley abandoned when someone moved? Does your husband know when he got the tick bite that led to the condition? Thank you again. That was fun, interesting, and enjoyable.
Hi Wendy!
Thank you so much! Huxley was basically born into a puppy mill. The owner died of an overdose and no one knew for a week. It was a bad situation and some of the dogs didn’t make it. He is a great dog but very territorial and can be aggressive to strangers (which is understandable), we’re working with him. Regardless he has a home here with us and we love him to pieces. As for Philip and his tick bite, he has an idea but the biggest issue is that he gets bit all the time. We’ve done everything we know to keep them off him (spray, taping his cuffs and bottom of his pants) and he still gets bit. He is an avid outdoorsman so he is not going to stay out of the woods. Thank so much of reading this entry, we’re thrilled you enjoyed it.