Working At Home?

It's been 9 months now of working full-time "at home." This was one of my most anticipated aspects of being my own boss. I have to say that during the winter months, it was great not having to get dressed and go out in the mud, freezing rains, ill winds, and occasional snow. Being inside in comfy fleece with a nice cup of tea or cocoa, a space heater, and the cat on my lap was marvelous.

What I didn't anticipate was that come spring and summer, I'd be so seldom at home! I can do a lot of my interviewing and story research over the phone and online, but some articles just have to be covered in person. In this past week for instance: I went to the USDA to see their trial fields of new pepper plants and listen to their scientists talk on other new innovations; I attended the Eastern Performance Trials for new spring annuals at River Farm; and, interviewed various area gardeners at their homes.

There goes my grand plans to spend every warm morning in the garden and every afternoon at my computer working. If I'm home now it is a mad dash to get phone calls returned and things done inbetween daytime appointments and evening events such as garden club meetings.

My weekends are even more packed than my weekdays with one area garden-related event after another. Often I'm calling live to WMET AM1600 Garden Gurus radio show (you can listen live or go to the archive at http://1160wmet.com/) to report from those events. I also try to squeeze in some time to visit with family and friends, attend church, and basic garden/house maintenance so that I don't get the county coming by to condemn my place! OK it hasn't gotten close to that point yet, but I can see that a few weeks/months of neglect could easily start it on that path.

Now that it is autumn, I'm hoping my schedule will loosen up again and I'll get a few more spare hours to focus on updating the web site or recruiting more advertising.

So how do I like working at home? When I'm there, I love it!