The Big Scary Dream: Launching CloverLock Lane on YouTube
Happy very belated New Year from CloverLock Lane! I’ve spent the last few weeks in a state of 70% utter chaos, 30% joy and relaxation between cooking, guests, the holidays, and a trip to see friends and family in Florida. With all that, C and I took a huge step back from the house and the sea of projects, focusing on getting through the day and keeping the house at mostly right angles.
We don’t really vacation a lot, so spending this trip actually resting and enjoying my time doing not-that-much instead of three jobs has been really refreshing and I feel way more ready to take on 2026 and the laundry list of things on my Project List. It’s also giving me a new mindset for the year; focusing more on a balanced, offline life.
I feel like everyone made analog their word of the year for 2026, but it really is something we all should be prioritizing. The world has gotten so consumed by social media and instant gratification and the utter selfishness of it all, and I’m no exception to that. I’m exhausted by the eye strain and the inability to be bored and the social pressures to keep up with the Jonses’, and it all never ends online. I know, that’s rich coming from me, I work in digital marketing, writing a blog, and building an online brand. But I think they key for me is finding a balance between the real world and the online. Everything is okay in moderation you know, the dose makes the poison. The internet is amazing and incredible for connection and education, it’s just about making sure it has its place in your life and doesn’t take over your life. How does the platform I want to build fit into that ideal? Well, I’m so glad you asked, what a timely question.
YouTube is Coming
I grew up in the golden, pre-streaming era of YouTube, and it’s been so incredible to see that industry grow from my perspective as a consumer and as a marketing professional. I always wanted to be a cool YouTuber as a kid, I was jealous of the vlog girlies in college, and have always been impressed by the folks who’ve been able to build incredible careers from YouTube. This year, I’m turning 30, and as silly as it feels to think/say/write this, I kind of want to give it a go?? In moving to CloverLock Lane, I saw an incredible project, and an opportunity to share that with the world. Not just in a lame vlog kind of way, but as an opportunity to connect with similar folks, encourage others to learn similar lifeskills, and to share the knowledge I do have with others.
We’re looking at a March launch, with videos every other week. It’ll be mid to longer form videos following smaller projects from start to finish, and larger projects will be more serialized. There’ll also be a few vlog style videos with local events, conversations with other similar creators in our area, and small how-to style videos for some projects. I’m really excited about the how-to videos, as it’s an area I really see a gap for content by and for women, practical tutorials without condescension or assuming you have every tool in the universe and know what a drive shaft is.
The channel is called CloverLock Lane, give us a subscribe to help the channel kick off strong!
The Big Projects
The Big Projects on my list will be a big focus of my time and budget this year as well as the focus for the YouTube channel. Here’s what on the docket, in no particular order:
Barn Rehab - I’d really like to have this bad boy done by the end of the year, but there’s a LOT of work!
Backyard Fence - will we contract out? Or will we DIY? Stay tuned to find out, mostly because I straight up do not know
Building the Coop - I told C this is what I want for my birthday, coop and birds! We’re debating a custom build, so definitely follow along to see what we end up with.
Starting the gardens - the Secret Garden is going in the ground this year, and we’re going to start work on the raised garden, something which is going to probably be a three-year project for us
Wedding Plans - now this I’m giving a stay tuned to for dramatic reasons!
What You Can Expect from the Blog
Alongside the video content, I’ll be sharing more here on the blog too! I have always enjoyed writing and blogging (genuinely, it’s in my blood!), so continuing it as a part of building up everything around CloverLock Lane really excited me. Some of what’s here will be project updates, behind-the-scenes of the videos, and how-tos for new builds/fixes/DIYs. I’ll also have inside-the-house content as we finally get to improving and designing the rooms beyond the basics we brought with us from our last home. The blog is also an opportunity for longer thought pieces on things that make my brain light up, but don’t necessarily fit on YouTube or need video content with them. Most of all, you can expect honest documentation of the journey to build our lovely little homestead in the woods. I just don’t have the time and money to cultivate a fake, glamorous journey for the internet. And I’m exhausted by seeing the folks who do! In this era of being real with ourselves and grounding our lives in what matters, lying to the world about it all is just not the energy we need to bring to a platform.
The Vision Behind CloverLock Lane
This is my favorite part. This is the part where I talk about The Big Dream. The reason I wanted to launch CloverLock Lane. I’ll keep it simple. I want to build a cozy, capable life for myself. I want to learn to be self-sufficient. I want a life where I feel confident in myself and my knowledge and my skills. And I want to build a community of people who want the same things.
Not a community of perfection, but a community of progress. People who are willing to try, fail, learn, and try again. People who believe that becoming capable is empowering and that a cozy life is one you actively create, not one you perform.
The scariest part of The Big Dream is the idea of learning in public, and not having a perfect presentation or mastering the skills before sharing it. The idea of sharing the real version of life and making mistakes on the internet for everyone to see is terrifying. But like I said before, presenting the perfect version of yourself is exhausting and it sets such an unrealistic and frustrating standard for what life should look like.
It’s scary and hard, and I’m genuinely afraid to do this. But spending your life huddled in the safe corner of your comfort zone won’t help you live and grow and thrive. The best it’ll ever be is good enough. And who dreams of ‘good enough’?? Life is short. Life is scary. And as the ancient wisdom goes: YOLO.
If you’ve made it this far into the blog, thank you for reading! I’m really excited to bring this project to life, even though it scares the pants off me. At worst, it’s a cringy thing that happened. At best, I’m about to kickstart the coolest stage of my life.
Give CloverLock Lane a follow in all the best places: YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
And sound off in the comments, what are you working on in 2026? Are you climbing your big, scary mountain this year? You should!
The Barn Rehab Project
Welcome to the Barn
The barn is a little rectangular building with one ‘stall’ space with a sliding barn door, a small feed or tack room space with a separate Dutch door, and an overhead hayloft. The stall has what I think is a hay manger, a small door dividing the animal area from the food area. There aren’t any rubber mats or stones for storage, only the natural clay dirt that has hardened into a really solid stone-like floor. There are cobwebs galore, and something has burrowed quite cozily under the feed room area.
On the outside, there are a few points where there clearly used to be a fence attached to the barn, but it’s been gone for a very long time. The sliding barn door doesn’t really slide anymore, so it’s been open for our six months, plus the last three years of the home being vacant. It’s a wooden door on wooden tracks, so it’s not going to slide as easily as modern metal rollers. The Dutch door to the feed room is barely a door anymore; every week, it’s sliding further and further off the hinges. We’re not messing around with it yet, leaving the door shut until she gives up. The roof needs some love, though luckily, the overhang on the front is in great shape
There’s also a lot of damage to the bottom of the back wall. Our property has a pretty significant slope, so the water rolling down from the house gutters flows directly into the back here. The barn backs up to a pretty big tree, and there are a few others in the way of the new fence we’re planning. The trees are dropping a lot of branches and litter on the roof of the barn, causing more damage to the already leaky roof.
The Goal
Based on what the previous homeowner left, we think they used to have a horse in this little barn. Despite having five acres, which is technically plenty of room, we’re not planning on fencing a big enough space for a full-size horse. Instead, we’re aiming for some smaller friends: a couple of goats, a couple of sheep, and maybe a donkey or pony, depending on the field size. The field we build will be shared with our chicken coop too, which we’ll build from scratch a couple of yards down.
The To Do List
There is a lot to be done on the barn! Here’s the to-do list we’re starting with, roughly in order:
Cut down the big tree behind the barn
Repair the water-damaged back wall and protect from future water damage
Repair the back roof and add overhanging shingles on the sides
Clean! Sweep the cobwebs out, remove the trash, toss the old furniture
Repair the floor in the storage room
Repair the gate in the storage room
Check flooring in the hay loft, repair if needed
Replace the Dutch door
Fix the sliding stall door - replace? new tracks? TBD!
Stall flooring - need to figure out a plan! Level, bluestone, and mats? TBD!
Paint the exterior
Bring water to the barn
Bring electricity to the barn
Build the field fencing & gate - DIY? Hire out?
Keep an eye out on the Barn Rehab Project Page to catch all the newest updates as they’re posted and follow along on social!