Are you Driven?
I had to laugh at my last post, when I went to publish it, “grief” came up as one of the descriptive words. I found that funny because we have never been happier than we are right now. Poor, stressed and tired yes….but happy.
I don’t measure our wealth by the amount of money in our accounts or investments (ha, what are those). But, with happiness, Samuel stop rolling your eyes you know it’s true. Is money tight? Of course, any new business will do that. Most importantly our boys are well taken care of and happy. We are obviously not afraid to take leaps of faith. However, most wives would probably…punch, glare or yell at their husbands to get their butts (some would use other words) back to their steady paying job. I see it as, if we never try, we will never know if we could make it or not. We don’t want to sit back years from now and say “what if”.
Starting our business (what we call our adventure) kind of just happened. All of our experiences over the last 12-13 years slowing started to come together. Sam is still using his financial degree, me my pastry education (in twisted weird ways but still baking and always in my kitchen) and both of us our retail background. I would not give our adventure up for anything. We have met so many hard working and ambitious people; I feel inspired by so many of them. Not that I want to make a new side hobby about milling trees, marbles or burial ash boxes (yes that order has been placed) but their energy and excitement is what inspires me.
What can I say we are Driven. You may wonder why the D is capitalized? Well, we have joined a new group of amazing people looking to educate others through life experiences, called Driven. This (soon to be) non-profit organization meets once a month in different locations. A speaker is brought in either being an expert in their field or having knowledge from life experiences. We are all driven to learn more, to excel and to teach others, for ourselves and our communities.
It all started like any other night. Good wine and good friends, the way every night should start. Next thing I know I am agreeing to run a Driven session about scratch cooking and baking with homegrown food. We are taking the word “scratch” to the extreme. The title is “How to Grow a Pizza: From Seed to Sauce”. I dare any of you out there, next time you want something as simple as tortilla chips take the time to grind down your own wheat. No, I do not grow my own wheat….yet. Then make tortillas and turn those into chips. I have done it and trust me, we all take tortilla chips for granted! We go to the store and buy a bag of flour, not stopping to think how it got there. For a moment think about everything you ate today, how much of that could you make on your own? Would you eat differently if you had to?
For those interested, the video will be posted after the event on February 17th. I will be talking about a few different subjects. For example, making yogurt, then ricotta cheese and finally homemade bread all starting from milk and live cultures. Also, grinding down wheat berries to make bread then sifting out the flax for granola and egg replacement. Home gardening, cast iron cooking and awareness of ingredients in what we eat, will also be discussed. I by no means consider myself an expert in any one field; I believe that takes a lifetime to fulfill. I am simply a curious person who wants to know how things are made. There may need to be a dry run of this presentation for our boys. HA, we will see how long I can hold their attention, ages 2 and 6. Bets anyone?
I am a food snob (proudly), if it’s not real food why eat it? Same as, in my opinion, if it’s not real wood why restore it? Which sounds better to you: a handcrafted solid cherry wood dresser with dovetail drawers and pewter hardware with a high gloss finish OR pressboard glued together then glued some more with what looks like wood but really is plywood disguised as solid wood?????
So, what's your adventure in life? Keep watch with an open mind. You never know when the Driven in you will speak up.