Flashback I - May 5th, 2025: Our dear friends Natalie and Jairus came to visit us, in part to check out the new 1974 camper we had just put in our backyard thanks to help from a friend. We were all sitting in this seating area below, bubbling over with excitement and gratitude about it all, when Natalie looked around and said “You know, I think I could write in here.”

For some, that might have been just a general sentiment, but for Natalie it was a lot more significant. For the past couple of years, she’d been trying to finish the sequel to her wildly popular first book, Hench, and was struggling to get it to a place she was happy with1. So if this seemed like a place she could write, that was worth jumping on. Within a day, she’d returned with an overnight bag and a laptop.

As predicted, she was able to write in there. Over several visits to the camper over the course of the summer, she finished Hench’s sequel, Villain.

Flashback II - March 10th, 2026: For my 50th birthday, I rented this cottage for Haritha and me and Jairus and Natalie to spend a couple of nights in. Shortly after we arrived, Natalie gave me an Advanced Reader Copy of Villain. I flipped through it excitedly a few times back to front — somehow completely missing the dedication each time. Finally, Jairus was unable to take it any longer, and told me to start at the beginning and keep turning pages.

I did, and eventually landed here:

I couldn’t process what I was seeing. I thought Natalie had a copy of the book printed specially for me for my birthday, and I was so touched by the gesture. It was even harder for my brain to accept that actually every copy of the actual real book was going to look like this, and that tens of thousands of copies were about to be printed with a dedication to me and Haritha and to the shop we’d built together.

Everyone on earth dreams of having a book dedicated to them, and I’m here to tell you that the experience really is just that magical. I instantly became determined to deserve such an honour, and I figured I could get started on that by planning the most over-the-top community launch event for Villain at our store.

We started brainstorming what that could look like over the rest of our cottage trip. This is where we landed:

We decided Haritha would create a special Afternoon Tea menu inspired by the characters, Natalie would do a reading from the book at every tea seating, our friend and celebrated special effects makeup artist Céline Godeau would do face painting all day, we would have a Villain-themed Crafternoon, and writer and musician Ariel Marken Jack would lead a Q&A with Natalie after the last tea serving.

It was honestly such an ambitious and frankly bonkers undertaking, but what is the point of having our own space if not to do these sorts of things in! We even got some great advanced media coverage, you can watch Natalie and I being interviewed by Paul Brothers on Global TV here!2

Big thanks to Good Dog books for making sure we had books on hand for the event! Look at them all!

The morning of the book launch, some of our most treasured friends — Alli, JL, and Annanda, sent us this pic to let us know they were on their way to us.

Alli had (clearly) done her Bride of Chucky makeup already, but JL was ready to be Chuck-i-fied by Céline. Annanda was also already in full Villain mode, later describing her costume like this: “I was the one eyed one horned flying purple people eater’s publicist / agent, but I secretly killed him for his royalties and was pretending he still calls me.”3

One not-so-fun-fact about the day was that Natalie was fighting off a migraine for all of it. Not that anyone would have known it! Even on such a hot day and at such an oddball event, she had the audience’s full attention as she read from a section of the book that I won’t describe because spoilers.

While Natalie did each of these readings, Haritha and Randee were assembling the tea trays.

When Haritha was brainstorming what the menu could look like for this event, he asked Natalie to give him a sense of what each of the main characters like to eat. She said:

“Anna, the narrator, is a hypercompetent person who is often guilty of forgetting to eat, and is drawn to foods that are surprising, or otherwise put her back into the moment or otherwise remind her that foods are in fact delicious and pleasurable. Leviathan, a career supervillain, is someone who loves finer things but will spend exactly zero time preparing it, so will grab a plate of fancy ingredients and make evil charcuterie trays most of the time.”

The fact that Haritha was able to turn all of that into an incredible selection of foods makes me so proud of him.

Here’s what he landed on:

Scones - birthday cake, Earl Grey, and gruyère

Savouries - mini pancake skewers with bacon (or smoked tofu) and maple syrup, mushroom and brie quiche, and ginger pork belly sandwiches with mint and pickled beet

Sweets - smoked lemon posset with blackberry sauce, honey ricotta cannoli, and the launch of Jairus’ House of Mersu chocolate brand — flavoured with gunpowder masala granola and cayenne.

We had a sold-out crowd of regulars and first-timers, and I absolutely loved the joy with which they received and then enjoyed their trays. I also loved watching Haritha take the mic and walk folks through what they were about to eat, and I think we should do this at every Afternoon Tea delivery. But I guess it would be disruptive.

While all of this reading and eating was going on, Céline was making our face painting dreams come true and having amazing heart-to-hearts with attendees. I hope this little girl somehow learns that the same person who turned her into a bunny that day also worked on Watchmen, Godzilla, and Supernatural.

It wasn’t all cute kids becoming even cuter animals though! Here is JL, with extremely creepy Chucky makeup that truly looked so much like real staples I kept wanting to touch them.

At the second reading of the day, a gang of us, including our beloved Heather Stevens and Natalie herself, joined together to make a big raucous table.

I wish I had taken a closer-up picture of the page Céline is reading here. It is the character sheet that Scott (at the end of the table in the pink shirt) made for the villain they were portraying. I am nearly certain it contained mention of crypto, and I am going to try to get a copy.

I kind of wish I’d taken more pics overall, but I was also just trying to enjoy the day we’d made together.

Speaking of making things together, please enjoy the progress we made on this villainous collage before our glue sticks ran out! It was created with the most evil images from the most evil magazines we could find. My favourite cut out phrase in all of this is for sure “seasonal allergies”.

One of my only regrets for the day was that we structured it so that a lot of folks had cleared out by the time we did the Q&A. Ariel’s questions were so thoughtful and insightful, and this is another instance of wishing I’d documented the day better. If I had a recording of this, I would watch it over and over.

One of my favourite moments came when Ariel asked Natalie how Anna, the book’s main character, was so brilliant at seeing patterns when it came to predicting outcomes while analyzing data — but made such terrible choices in her own life, particularly when it came to dating. Natalie’s reply of “Why you gotta roast me like that at my own book event?” sent knowing laughter around the room.

I was about to write that I hope we get to do more events like this, but I actually know we will. Natalie's back at it in our camper this summer, so fingers crossed we'll have a new book to launch before too long. We'll save you a seat.

I love the Japanese concept of ‘Micro Seasons’. Why limit yourself to four chances a year to let seasonal shifts prompt a little contemplation? So I made a list of micro seasons relevant to where I live, and wrote a prompt to accompany each one. Feel free to join me!

Read more

Note: Our friend JL has started a GoFundMe for us. We are currently in a place of figuring out a lot of things on our own while waiting for insurance to get back to us. If you have capacity to give and / or share the link, it would make a real and immediate difference! Thank you!

Read more

I love the Japanese concept of ‘Micro Seasons’. Why limit yourself to four chances a year to let seasonal shifts prompt a little contemplation? So I made a list of micro seasons relevant to where I live, and wrote a prompt to accompany each one. Feel free to join me!

Read more

There are so many things I want to share here, but sometimes I don’t have the capacity when they first happen. To allow for a more forgiving chronology, I’m going to start posting some of those stories after the fact. I’ll label those posts The Catch-Up. Maybe they will be from a few weeks ago, maybe they will be from a few years ago. Let me know if there’s anything you’d especially like to see covered!

Read more

I love the Japanese concept of ‘Micro Seasons’, because I want more than four chances a year to to use seasonal shifts as prompts for contemplation. So I made a list of micro seasons relevant to where I live, and wrote a prompt to accompany each one. Feel free to join me in this process!

Read more

I love the Japanese concept of ‘Micro Seasons’. Weather is so many more things than just winter, spring, summer, and fall! Also, I want more chances a year to to use seasonal shifts as contemplation. So I made a list of micro seasons relevant to where I live¹, and wrote a prompt to accompany each one. Feel free to join me in this process!

Read more

Foxhole Radio is a recurring link roundup. I named it after a makeshift wartime radio powered solely by the signals it receives. I think we are also fuelled by transmissions — ideas, stories, research, and art that come to us with their own energy. Please recommend future content in the comments!

Read more

7:41am – I wake up before my alarm because two of the cats are using my torso as a trampoline while our grouchiest cat Evie growls from the headboard. As I mentioned in my post about going to Paris, Evie can be kind of volatile — so I think my brain woke up my body so I could manage the situation before it escalated. I make a pillow fortress so the cats can’t see each other1, and get a few more minutes of sleep.

8:30am – I have my first and only scheduled meeting of the day, with collaborators who are in two other timezones. I mean to ask if I can record the call so I don’t miss anything, but I forget and then feel like I have missed my chance to do so. I absolutely forget things said in the c…

Read more

I love the Japanese concept of ‘Micro Seasons’. Weather is so many more things than just winter, spring, summer, and fall! Also, I want more chances a year to to use seasonal shifts as a chance for contemplation. So I made a list of micro seasons relevant to where I live¹, and wrote a prompt to accompany each one. Let’s mark our way through them together. I plan to use each one as a lens: What did the calendar say to look for, and what does the prompt help me surface?

Read more

Foxhole Radio is a recurring link roundup. I named it after a makeshift wartime radio powered solely by the signals it receives. I think we are also fuelled by transmissions — ideas, stories, research, and art that come to us with their own energy. Please recommend future content in the comments!

Read more

There are so many things I want to share here, but sometimes I don’t have the capacity when they first happen. Then it feels like I’ve missed the moment entirely. To allow for a more forgiving chronology, I’m going to start posting some of those stories after the fact. I’ll label those posts The Catch-Up. Maybe they will be from a few weeks ago, maybe they will be from a few years ago. Let me know if there’s anything you’d especially like to see covered!

Read more

I love the Japanese concept of ‘Micro Seasons’ because weather is so many more things than just winter, spring, summer, and fall! Also, I want more than four chances a year to to treat those seasonal changes with the appropriate amount of reflection and gravitas. So I made a list of micro seasons relevant to where I live1, and wrote a prompt and tiny ritual2 to accompany each one.

Feel free to join me in marking our way through these next 12 months together via these micro seasons! I plan to use each one as a lens: Like, what did the calendar say to look for? Is it here yet? And what does the prompt help me surface?

Read more

Foxhole Radio is a recurring link roundup1. I named it after a makeshift wartime radio powered solely by the signals it receives. I think we are also fuelled by transmissions — ideas, stories, research, and art that come to us with their own energy. Please recommend future content in the comments!

Read more

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means when people say a place “has momentum.”

Momentum sounds glamorous. It sounds like growth, and buzz, and a line out the door. Sometimes it is those things. But more often, momentum looks like chairs being dragged closer together. It looks like one more event added to the calendar and then another, and then the quiet realization that if you don’t pause and recalibrate, you’ll tip right over.

This year at Rosefinch had momentum. It also had endings, exhaustion, spreadsheets, and a lot of learning in public. It was joyful and it was harder than it looked. Both things can be true, and pretending otherwise doesn’t actually help anyone.

There were moments this year where things clicked in ways beyond my wildest dreams. Rooms filled. Conversations lingered. There were also moments where the logistics got heavy, where enthusiasm outran capacity, where we had to stop and ask ourselves not “can we do this?” but “should we keep doing it this way?”

If you’…

Read more

A few months ago, I did what any normal person does when procrastinating: I typed “Port Medway” into Substack search bar just to see what would happen.

I knew I’d find Phillip Slayton’s . But other than that, I wasn’t expecting much. Maybe a stray newsletter from a poet who once passed through here? Most likely nothing at all?

Instead, I found this three year old post written by a journalist named Ed Jennings, who runs an independent news site in the other Medway — the one in Kent, UK.

Local Authority

The tiny, tiny Medway in Nova Scotia

Slightly late bonus edition of Local Authority this week. Sorry about that. I said at the start of the year that the schedule may have to change from the usual Tuesday bonus day, and this week it finally caught up with me. The plan is still to stick with Tuesday for now, but there might be the occasional slip into Wednesday. You’ll still get this bonus …

Read more

5 years ago · 5 likes · 4 comments · Ed Jennings

His piece was about our Port Medway. Our tiny lighthouse village, our river, our history. It was written with curiosity and affection.

I was so excited to find it that I emailed him with a kooky idea: What if the two Medways started writing letters to each other? Like actual letters on paper, with stamps and envelopes and messy handwriting. Our two communities connected by water and whimsy.

Ed wrote back with the same happy disbelief that I had felt stumbling onto his post. He found the penpal idea as delightful as I did.

And just like that, the Two Medways Pen Pal Project was born. A simple, cozy, handwritten pen pal program connecting people along the Medway River here with people along the River Medway there.

It’s extremely low-key.
It’s extremely wholesome.
It’s exactly the sort of thing winter is made for.

Live on either Medway and want to be part of it? Here’s the sign-up form.

Let us know things like what you like to do, what kind of letters you enjoy, and whether there’s any part of your identity or lived experience you’d like reflected in your match (totally optional).

Ed and I will penpal-match based on interests, vibes, or shared identities. We will then give each person the others’ address.

Once you have your penpal’s address, you will write to each other at your own pace, sending whatever letters / recipes / drawings / cards you are inspired to create.

… and each of you will make a friend across an ocean.

Our Medway is a tiny river community stretched along the bends of the Medway River in Queens County — Port Medway, Mill Village, Charleston, the Medway Reserve, Greenfield, Bangs Falls, Buckfield, Vogler’s Cove, and all the little pockets in between.

Their Medway is a collection of five towns and eleven villages along the River Medway in Kent — Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham, Strood, Upnor, Wouldham, Hoo Peninsula villages, and many more.

They have shipbuilding in their bones.
We have shipbuilding in ours.
Both of us carry river history, stubborn creativity, and a fierce love of the places we call home.

It felt impossible not to want to reach across the ocean.

Loneliness is real in rural places.
Connection is slow, precious work.
And sometimes the smallest ideas — the slightly odd ones that pop up at 2am when you’re supposed to be doing something else — can stitch communities together in ways you don’t expect.

This feels like one of those ideas.

So let’s see where this goes. Across two rivers, two histories, and one very charming coincidence.

Want to see how this whole thing is being pitched in the other Medway? Check out this extremely lovely post:

Local Authority

Connecting two Medways

A slightly unusual Saturday edition of Local Authority today, inviting you to take part in a project bringing together two very different Medways…

Read more

9 months ago · 2 likes · 1 comment · Ed Jennings

I’m so grateful to Ed for saying yes to a project born entirely from me typing “Port Medway” into a search bar.

And I’m grateful the people in my life — from readers to customers to my chosen friends and family — for constantly being enthused about my new experiments in connection.

Here is the sign up form again!

I know it’s been a long time since I posted, thought I am sure I spend way more time thinking about than anyone reading this does!

As a treat to myself, I’m going to write the kind of post I most like reading from others: a catchall of what is going on in my life and brain right now.

1. Lunch in Frankfurt

Haritha and I were fortunate beyond all measure to attend an event called Community Council in Normandy last month. That deserves its own entry, so I’m gonna cheat a bit and talk about the fact that on the flight back we had a six hour stopover in Frankfurt. This was the perfect chance to have a quick visit with one of our favourite families that have a summer home in Port Medway: Nico, Manuela, and little Ada!

They were one of our first “regulars” when we opened the store in September 2022, and Haritha won over Ada by making her plain toast one day with cream cheese and the crusts cut off. Her folks say that she still asks for “Haritha toast” years later. She also does a piece of art …

Read more

I started this newsletter to document the journey of getting this store open, which is something I pretty much failed to do. Every so often, I would have a few weeks of consistent entries, and then something would make me shut down—like how long things were taking and how much frustration I felt about it and how I got exhausted hearing myself say the same things over and over again.

I also had big plans to take pictures and video every day, but then there were huge stretches of time when those pictures would have looked the same day after day and week after week.

But sometimes I find a pic that does help me see how dramatic the change is.

(The above picture is no longer accurate, actually. I’ve since realized it was deranged of me to paint all that trim dark green, so it’s all white again now.)

At some point I’m going to try to go through all my pictures and match up angles for a bunch more before and after shots. For now, I’ll let you know what’s been going on here for the last little while!

Afternoon Tea

Since the departure of the catering company who was running a restaurant out of our kitchen, we’ve been finding our own footing when it comes to food. Haritha has been making really lovely soups and sandwiches (alongside the baked goods he took over production of in December), but it’s been a lot to manage on his own. We were so lucky to be joined part-time by Morag, a complete dynamo.

Thanks to that extra support, we’ve finally been able to launch the weekend Afternoon Tea we’ve been daydreaming about for a while! Our treasured friends Jairus and Natalie came to be the first to try it last weekend, and Jairus took so many incredible pictures, like this one. If you are nearby and looking for something to do on a Saturday or Sunday, we’d love to help make that day special! Tea is $25 per person, so this Tea for Two tray is $50.

Leveraging a niche part one:

I have to give a grateful shoutout to . I really love a well-curated online community, and has clearly attracted a great collection of doers and dreamers over at . When I saw that Anne sometimes turned her comments section into online classified ads, I knew it would be worth the $5 a month investment to be part of it.

In her Summer Solstice Edition open thread, I made a comment that gave a quick rundown of what we are up to here at the shop, and encouraged readers to come stay in our camper for either a creative collaboration or as weekend getaway. The comment was “liked” by 55 people, we and we got a combined total of over $750 in camper bookings and folks buying stuff from our online store.

As an interesting (to me!) contrast, when I had the most popular Ask Me Anything on Reddit for the day, the post got 246K views, and zero online orders. I’m not complaining! I’m thankful for the success of that post, and I don’t feel entitled to anyone’s money! But it’s a good lesson in that it is way better to be seen by the right people than the most people.

Leveraging a niche part two:

Similarly, when people come into Rosefinch Mercantile, they either want to look at all of the items we sell or none of them. I am 100% okay with this, because I’d rather cater to a specific customer who I know I will like than to try to have something for everyone (including creeps who I might not enjoy!).

When I describe my target market, it’s always some variation of “You were a goth in high school and have since come out as Queer and/or a Socialist.” My secondary market is probably the parents—or the children—of people who fit that description.

This is an over-simplification for sure, but anyone who would be horrified to be described that way probably wouldn’t like what we are up to here. And if having a few people walk in and immediately walk out is the flipside of someone squealing with delight at everything on our shelves, I’ll take it.

Take a one minute browse yourself, via this video!

Rosefinch as a community launchpad

In other dream-come-true news, please humour me for a moment and scroll back up to the top of this entry and admire the utterly charming crocheted creatures in my header image.

Their creator is Port Medway’s own Heather Stevens, the driving force (with encouragement and promise to attend) for us to start this weekly event which has healed my lonely heart.

Heather only started making these stuffies around the same time that these weekly meetups started last November. Which blows my mind because they are so magical and well made. Since then she’s sold so many! In addition to the ones she’s sold directly through her own contacts (and their contacts!), I love that she’s also selling them to her fellow Crafternooners, to customers who have been here when we are all squealing over her latest creations, to people who have met her here and then commissioned her to make specific things, and to me when I buy a bunch at once to sell at the store!

It makes me so happy to be a tangible part in connecting rad makers with rad buyers!

What’s next at Rosefinch Mercantile?

We are chugging away on the last stretch of renovations on the shop, which will involve opening an accessible sunporch area that we are painting the colour of pistachio ice cream!

Speaking of ice cream, we are still making ourselves crazy trying to get our soft serve machine up and running1.

On the dream-no-little-dream front, I’ve applied for funds for a very ambitious three-year community project based on this research.

But mostly I just want to have some time to sit and enjoy the space and eat a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich. Maybe today will be that day!

Thanks for reading! If want to support everything we are trying to make happen, here are five ways you can do that:

1. Subscribe to our Canadian Makers Surprise Package.

2. Order something from our online store, like these Radical Tea Towels:

3. Help get the word out to any locals or online shoppers who might love us!

4. Book a sleepover in our backyard! More details here:
   
   

5. Click this button and upgrade to a paid subscription2:

Subscribe now

Quick note! I have gotten a lot of new subscribers in the last little while, which is genuinely thrilling! It’s been a while since I updated, so if you signed up and are now thinking “What is this, anyway?”, this entry is the best entry point into this whole endeavour:

Thanks to what honestly feels like a miraculous investment from a dear friend, we now have a perfect little 1974 Tabbert camper (from Germany!) in the backyard of our shop. Want to come to our little seaside village of Port Medway for a sweet getaway? You can book with us directly or through AirBnb, whichever you prefer!

Imagine having this as your backyard! Think of the daydreaming or doodling you could do from that chair!

Being here is basically like being in a Hallmark movie, except you don’t have to choose between your high-powered city job and the swoony local baker. You just get to exist in a place where a bunch of rad people are working together to build community and make magic happen. Plus I am already married to the swoony local baker, sorry everyone!

Anyway, if you come stay in our camper, you will enjoy all the cinematic whimsy and charm without also having to worry about things like zoning and property taxes!

Port Medway is still kind of place where everyone waves at each other, where you can get a tour of a lighthouse, and where you can walk to the wharf and watch fishing boats come in with their catch.

Our shop was built in 1850, and when you sit in the sunny front window with a tea or coffee you're literally watching the same “main drag” view that was there back then.

Our chosen home has way more going on than you'd expect from a little rural village. You can catch the annual Reader's Festival, get lost in the stories of the Old Port Medway Cemetery (circa 1783), and check out Seely Hall for a history exhibit or quilt show or artist events.

Our café calendar is pretty packed as well these days! We’ve got monthly games nights, a biweekly Celtic Jam, and our weekly Sunday Crafternoons. Plus, we're only 90 minutes from Halifax, if you want to take a day trip to the city!

Finally, the landscape here is just so stunning. You can kayak through the sheltered harbours, or take my favourite drive and breathe in the rugged beauty of Long Cove Road. The drama of the crashing waves is beyond my ability to capture, so I’m sharing this much more peaceful view that I am equally obsessed with.

If you're any kind of creative person, the camper is a great place for a little retreat. You've got the community garden for inspiration, the harbour for contemplation, and the café for proper caffeine and human interaction when you need it.

Our treasured friend Natalie Zina Walschots has come for two stays so far, and she literally said that staying here cured her writing anxiety!

We'd love to hear from writers and artists and musicians and bakers and anyone else who might like to come stay and collaborate. Let’s host a show! Let’s have a high-concept high tea! Let’s give a weekend workshop! There is so much potential here, and a built-in audience with a high tolerance for shenanigans.

More practically, this camper represents something we've been dreaming about for ages: a way to make our business more sustainable while sharing this magical place with more people. The reality is that café and retail sales alone—especially during our quiet winter months—don't cover all our expenses. This is why I freelance so much, and why we are working to get the space ready to host larger events. Every little stream of income helps us keep providing above-average wages and below-market food prices to our community.

So being able to offer accommodation is a game changer. It means we can welcome people who want to experience authentic Maritime village life in a Queer and BIPOC-owned space. And it means we get to share this place we love so much with way more people.

The camper comes with everything you need: kitchenette, half-bathroom, wifi, sound system, the works. You can even schedule visits with some of our five cats!

During café hours (10am-5pm, later if there's an event), you're welcome to hang out at Rosefinch Mercantile—whether that means working away at one of our tables, chatting with locals, or just existing in the kind of third space that used to be everywhere and now feels precious.

We're also happy to provide your meals if you want the full retreat experience without having to think about food. Haritha makes amazing soups and sandwiches and baked goods, and there's something pretty glorious about having them delivered to you in your vintage camper by the sea.

So come stay with us! Whether you're looking for a writing retreat, a romantic getaway, a base for exploring the South Shore, or just want to experience what happens when a small town actually lives up to its potential, we'd love to welcome you.

I know I started this post talking about feeling all over the place lately, but this camper represents pure hope to me. It's proof that when you put yourself out there and ask for help, sometimes the universe delivers exactly what you need. Come be part of what we're building here! Here’s the direct link again, as well as the Airbnb link if that works better for you!

Supporter update:

I have two more paid Substack subscribers since my last update, which means so much to me! We also got our first monthly subscriber to the Rosefinch Canadian Makers Surprise Parcel, an initiative which I am very excited about and should possibly rebrand! As a quick reminder, I’d love to send you a little (flat!) parcel. It will look something (but not exactly!) like one of these:

Read more