CHECK IT OUT

our farm website:

grocesgrow.wordpress.com

where you'll find more goodies like this!

friend and neighbor, Jared, helping us "process" some chickens.

365

A year ago I walked toward Luke with a lump in my throat. I was laughing, but not; crying, but not; biting my bottom lip so that nothing crazy would come out of my mouth. My father was helping me walk toward Luke's beaming face. He seemed sturdy and constant and I wanted to burst to pieces.

5 months before that, Luke walked me through the woods, collecting leaves and proclaiming the beauty of that last autumn day. He had a burning lump in the pocket of his jeans, a ring, waiting for his future wife. As we stood by a pond in the fading sunlight, he put it on my finger, shaking and grinning and crying.

just a happy day at the farm

things i still like about my job

i never work nights
there is usually some kind of excitement happening
i work with three other ladies who are unique and happy people
the owners of the establishment are gregarious, kind, and intelligent people
i'm the boss and people do what i say
i'm the boss and if i mess up no one can touch me!
i'm the boss.
phone conversations with another Java manager, Chuck, that comprise mostly of laughing and terrible jokes
i can bike to work
i get to watch the world and weather go by through our windowed walls
and, probably most recently, my favorite thing has been opening the shop and making myself an 8oz latte every morning:

moving slow and humming

this past saturday was sleepy and dimly lit and warm and full. i didn't leave the house once. i ate two meals with my best friends and three with my best-friend-husband. i made bread and rue only ate 1/4 of the dough. noel and i planted all the pac choi and broccoli and rudbeckia in trays and read books and had tea and fresh bread. we ate three delicous, handcrafted, wowzer pizzas around the coffee table while tyler and linsey talked about old-school video games. a lot.



luke told me to caption this: "My name is Olga and I make many delicous breads."
this is how I would caption this: " I am baking bread in my favorite apron and I am also cold."

Here is a current debate in our house:
If Luke and I had a wrestling match, who would win? Me, because I am little and aggressive and rascally (and Luke says too willing to inflict pain) or Luke, because he has more muscles and weight to him and also knowledge in the ways of wrestling moves?
Let us know what you think.

love
the groces

sunrise at Groce Family Farm

We're making headway with the farm - we have a name, as you can see, and we already have five households signed up to receive CSA shares from us. We've bought seeds, we have a list of volunteers (yes, if you have said that you'd like to come and "check it out," you're on the list), and we're dreaming at night of chilly spring mornings and long, hot summer days. And sometimes we don't even wait until the night to dream: yesterday in church, despite a captivating sermon, I found myself dreaming of work-pants covered in mud up to the knees, sore, sunburned backs from harvesting radishes, and the satisfying soul-filling exhaustion of a hard day's work.

Come on, Spring, come on.

we considered a field and bought it!

that's the text message that Luke sent me as he handed over the check to the former owner of 2 acres of land in New Albany, IN.

we are land owners.

we are (almost) farmers. we're on the cusp of a lot of changes - who knows what life will be like for us? we've never started our own business, we've never farmed 2 acres of land before (though we have gardened every square inch of green earth we could get our hands on), and neither of us have ever had a job that quits with the onset of winter. but we've also never felt so ready and certainly didn't believe that we would start living the dream so quickly.

we went out to the farm on Sunday to do a little planning and took a few pictures. I'm excited to share the changes in our life with you and am eager to show you how this plot of land will change as we get our hands in the dirt!