The Earth says hello!

It’s finally that time of year where Chattanooga starts stretchin’ its arms a little wider, and folks like me get way too confident about startin’ new projects.

This week’s issue is all about that springtime energy, and we’ve got a porch full of stories worth sittin’ with, along with a few seeds you might just feel like plantin’ yourself.

So grab somethin’ fresh, sweep that last bit of dust out the backdoor, and let’s see what’s growin’ around town this week!

As always, we’ve added a fresh track to this week’s issue purely for vibes as you read. Click the radio below before ya start reading if you wanna listen!

If your brain’s ever felt like it’s runnin’ 100mph while the rest of you’s still tyin’ your shoes, you ain’t alone pardner.

Inflow is like Duolingo, but for ADHD. Quick, 5-minute daily tools to help with overwhelm, burnout, and actually gettin’ things done.

And here’s the sweet part: just checkin’ out the ad below sends $1.65 to the Chattynooga piggy bank. No sign-ups, no fuss.

Go on, take a peek 👇

Most ADHD apps are just glorified timers. Inflow is different - built by people with ADHD, backed by clinical psychologists, using CBT-inspired strategies. Learn to manage time blindness, burnout, overwhelm, and procrastination in 5-minute daily modules. Real tools, real change.

Take the free quiz

Got somethin’ cookin’ that the Scenic City oughta know about?

Tell us all about it with our new and improved events form, or just reply to this email with your event details and we’ll go from there!

Now this one’s a familiar face that we love to see on our porch! You can tell when it’s really Spring in Chattanooga when the Statemint sale is kicking off!

Statemint’s been rockin’ with us since day one, and this week they’re back with their annual Spring Consignment event that’s bigger than ever! So big, in fact, they’ve officially outgrown downtown and are settin’ up shop over in East Ridge at the GAWRGEOUS Venue 1921.

Here’s the quick scoop:

Main Sale Starts Wednesday, March 25 – Saturday, March 28
Venue 1921 in East Ridge
9AM - 7PM (Saturday hours are 9AM - 4PM)

And to sweeten the pot, they’re kickin’ things off with their charity presale tomorrow, with the proceeds supportin’ the Kidney Foundation of Chattanooga. Talk about a shopportunity that the group chat will remember!

P.S. Ya can’t sign up anymore to sell your clothes at this event, buuuuuttttt their Cleveland sale is a month away if you can make the drive 👀

I knew it was officially spring when Meemaw opened the kitchen windows and started talkin’ to her window sill succulents about her Gunsmoke recap from last night.

“Now don’t y’all embarrass me this year. Yer gonna look gorgeous come Summer,” she said to a row of dirt-filled pots like it could hear her.

It’s probably just me, but there’s somethin’ about this time of year that makes everything feel like it’s wakin’ up a little slower than you’d expect it to. I ain’t got TIME for that, neature. A ten-year-old’s got ten-year-old ambitions, and in 2026 you’d of thunk that we’d be able to just plop seeds into the ground and spray it with somethin’ like a science potion that’d instantly turn those seeds into a vegetable medley overnight.

But noOoOo. Instead, I’m out here crouched over a patch of dirt like a Farmer’s Almanac book cover, pokin’ the ground every ten minutes like, “Y’all doin’ anything yet or can I go grab a snack…?”

Turns out, seeds don’t care about your timeline. How disrespectful is that, y’all?

So I did what my combined successful knowledge of Meemaw’s Farmville plot and my Stardew Valley farm would obviously do… I planted more. And more. And MORE.

Figured if I just covered the whole yard, somethin’s gotta grow, right?

Wrong. Oh Lawrd, so wrong.

Ya see, now I’ve got 47 “prized crops” and enough water in this waterin’ can for about ten at a time before I gotta waddle back to the hose alllll the way on the other side of the house.

Meemaw took one step outside, took one look at my marathon-disguised-as-a-garden, and let out one of her ‘This boy ain’t right’ chuckles.

“What are ya, a rain cloud?”

And y’know what, I ain’t. But sometimes I get HYUGE ideas that, in hindsight, are way too big for my britches. I wanna grow everything all at once. Fix this, start that, help here, build there… just scatter seeds like Johnny Appleseed’s disciple or somethin’.

Somewhere between overplantin’ and under-waterin’ though, a third brain cell sprouted to let me know: some of the best things that have ever grown (👋🏻🤠) started small… and stayed small for awhile. An’ I been thinkin’ on that ever since.

‘Cause this city right now has got seeds everywhere: ideas, plans, “what if we combined this with this?” kinda things floatin’ around like pollen in your eyeballs. And some of the folks apart of the National Park City crew have been scoopin’ a whole bunch of ‘em into one big ol’ greenhouse with their “Seeds” campaign.

It felt like peekin’ into a future Chattanooga where folks are plantin’ libraries in parks, stretchin’ greenways, makin’ spaces safer, and solvin’ food deserts right in our backyard. It really is just regular neighbors sayin’, “Hey… I think we could grow somethin’ good really sturdy together.”

The fun part? You can just join in. Pick a seed that makes your heart do a lil’ hop, create an account, and ‘Support a Seed’ by clicking the sun button at the top of each idea. Or you can plant your own if you don’t see something that fits your vibe!

One thing I’ve learned from both my IRL gardening attempts (and the budding ideas that I got to admirin’ from the seed program) is that you don’t gotta chase every idea, sometimes the best thing you can do is pick a few… and love ‘em real good. Show up for ‘em. Stick with ‘em long enough to see somethin’ actually bloom.

The other seeds that you’re worried about? Another neighbor’s got it under control, or you can always hop in once you’ve cultivated your section and see what beautiful innovations might come bloomin’ from that.

It all starts with digging in the dirt and worrying about the messy later.

I’ve got bad news, folks. It seems that despite the long-awaited arrival of spring, Mother Nature has completely lost her marbles.

Seriously. Last week I think we had every single type of wild weather in one week:

Tornado watch? Check.
Snowstorm and freezing temps? Yep.
Winds that’ll knock your socks clean off? Oh yeah.
Heat that’s almost record breaking?  Yeah, we had that, too.

Seriously, what’s up with this weather lately? You know how banks have those signs that tell you the temperature? Yesterday, that sign had the audacity to read 87°.

NO!!!!!

I renounce that heat and demand that mild conditions continue throughout the spring season: 65°, partly cloudy, slight breeze… yeah, that would be perfect.

How are you enjoying the first few days of spring? I think the earth is listening because the weather is actually supposed to be nice this week. Make sure you get outside and enjoy it before the heat dome graces us with its presence!

Whether you’re plantin’ big ideas, or just tryin’ to keep one lil’ thing alive this week (we’ve all been there), we’re mighty glad you stopped by the porch to get a little bit of Vitamin C(hatt).

If somethin’ in this issue sparked your curiosity, follow it. Ya owe it to yerself.

— Bubby & Clementine