Video: Susan’s (Semi) Retirement

retirement, rudbeckias
retirement, Susan Mulvihill

I certainly hope the title of this week’s video won’t shock you! But I’ve been giving a lot of thought to retirement lately and what that’s going to mean for me.

As you’ll hear, I’m constantly thinking about video topics, social media posts, and updates for this website. Creating my videos every week takes a LOT of work.

In many ways, all of this has been a labor of love for me. But I want to step back a bit so I can enjoy every single day! That will mean more time with my sweet husband Bill. More time for quilting and, believe it or not, more time for gardening. That is, gardening without a microphone and a camera, LOL.

Here’s what I talk about in this video:

  • The history of “Susan’s in the Garden” – you probably don’t know about my very humble beginnings and it’s a fun story. This includes a long history of writing the garden columns for our local newspaper, The Spokesman-Review
  • How my videos came about… all 687 of them. When I look at the number of views each video has had (and some in particular), I’m stunned.
  • You’ll also hear about the 10 most popular videos I’ve created — it’s mindboggling to me!
  • My other social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram
  • And this website, which I created from the ground up
  • Then there are the two vegetable gardening books I’ve written. I also co-wrote The Northwest Gardener’s Handbook prior to those.
  • Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks to you all. None of this would have been possible without your support and kindness!

What will my “semi” retirement look like?

I’ll no longer shoot a new video every single week. But if I have some interesting gardening news or techniques, then I’ll shoot one. Same for social media posts: I won’t post every day on Facebook and Instagram. But if I have new gardening information or something cool to share with you, then I’ll write a new post.

I will still keep up this website. After all, it’s absolutely packed with helpful information. And I’ll still update the site whenever I have new information to share with you. At some point, I will pull the plug on it but I promise to give you advance notice.

There are so many folks I’d like to thank, most notably…

  • Susan English – the first Features editor who asked me to write garden columns
  • Scott Sines – my boss who let me rearrange my work schedule so I could go through Master Gardener training
  • Cheryl-Anne Millsap – the second Features editor who hired me to write the columns as a correspondent
  • Cinde Johnson, Penny Simonson and Tim Kohlhauff – all wonderful Master Gardener coordinators/supervisors
  • Jessica Walliser of Quarto Publishing for asking me write those gardening books!
  • And so many others who have helped nurture my love of gardening
  • And, of course, all of you for being so interested in gardening and so kind to me over the years. Thank you.

Here’s the video in which I announce my (semi) retirement:

I hope you enjoy the video, even if it wasn’t the news you were hoping for. I plan to keep my YouTube channel for as long as they let me. And hopefully shooting the occasional video will help make that possible. If you want to send a note to me, my email is Susan@SusansintheGarden.com.