It's starting to look like a store!

David came to help! It was great having him here for the weekend, although we did miss Judy.

The two Daves (one our good neighbor) and Bob putting the shelving together.

Here's a better look at the shelving- as well as the check out area that Bryan is building.

And the mural continues as well. Ali and Sandie are doing an awesome job!

So that's where we are for now. The store is really beginning to come together. Of course we still have alot of work ahead of us- namely stocking these shelves and learning the register and computer system. Thanks to all who are helping to put this together!!!!

Benji's gluten free cake and other goodies

Benji's Gluten free birthday cake!

Blueberry and cranberry scones- these will be a regular item at Nature's Grocer.



Happy b-day Benji!
Here's the GF birthday cake- I'll explain how we went about this creation!

A new recipe- chocolate chip walnut blondies.

Benji's liking this present thing!

Today Benji is a year old! We had a small family brunch to celebrate his becoming a whole number as his aunt Maxine calls it! Anyways with Ali trying a GF diet, what a good excuse to try to make a GF cake! And it was great! Bob made a marbled cake with a mocha frosting- delicious! We also had GF scones- blueberry and cranberry as well as chocolate chip walnut blondies. (pics are above)

Making a GF cake is really easy. I'll admit- we cheated a bit- we didn't make this one from scratch. We bought two boxes of GF cake mix- one chocolate, one vanilla, then swirled the two together in two cake pans. The frosting was Mocha buttercream. Here's the recipe:

Mocha Buttercream Frosting

6 tablespoons unsalted butter- room temp.

6 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa

5-6 tablespoons decaf coffee (or you could use GF coffee flavoring)

1 teaspoon GF vanilla extract

Directions: In an electric mixer beat butter until soft. Add two cups sifted sugar and beat until smooth. Scrape down the bowl and blades and then add the remaining four cups of sugar, cocoa, coffee, and vanilla and beat until smooth. If necessary,add a little more sugar or coffee to get the right consistency for spreading the frosting. Fill the cake layers and then spread over outside of the cake.

That's it! Of course you can always adapt a favorite cake recipe using GF flour mix instead of buying a ready made mix. The frosting is not too sweet and is nice and light.

So we'll call this Benji's cake- since he was our inspiration!

The painting coninues...

It is truly fascinating to watch two artists work and collaborate- different styles and ways of doing things and yet it all seems to mesh. This wall is where our little cafe part of the store will be- seating for 8. Ali and Sandie have been adding to this mural all week long- so it is still very much a work in progress. Click on the pics if you want to see details up close- it's pretty impressive! Work continues to move along with all sorts of people coming and going as the store takes shape. We are still aiming for the end of February to open- so keep your fingers crossed! In the meantime the response from passersby and emails to the website have been great! Thanks and please keep it coming- we're getting really excited. Once the equipment is organized, I'll post some more pics... until then Bob and I can still say we're in semi- retirement, I guess!

The Making of the Murals

The mural painting has begun and Alison and Sandie are doing an awesome job! I love the look and I think it will be very inviting for our future customers. We have given them "carte blanche" to do as they please- so this is what they have created so far.

Sandie is here working in the cafe area, painting trees. At this point Bob asked her to include rocks as those of us who live here are so aware of all the rocks in our landscapes.

Alison and Sandie came up with a list of words for the mural and then pared them down to what they chose to put on the wall. The pharmacist next door came in to check on the progress and immediately remarked: "What the hell is this- the sixties???" (Interesting, as Bob and I always said that Alison should have been born into that era.)


So that's what it looks like so far. Tomorrow there will be a wave of chaos as the kitchen equipment, freezers and refridgerators are delivered and installed. The shelving has also started to go up- but will need to be delayed a bit as the other work is completed. And the murals will continue as well. I'll post more pics as the week goes on.

More pics

Here are the finished walls ! (This is especially for Chels and Matt to see!)

Artists in Residence and a whole lotta painting going on!

Karen and Jim joined in the painting this weekend. Karen had already been priming with me during the week- thanks guys!

Benji trying to get to Jim to check out the paint job in the bathroom.

Myles, in his job as mini-foreman, checking out mine and Karen's work.

Alison and my good neighbor, Sandie, checking out the colors and deciding where each will go. Teagan put her two cents in as well!

It's been a busy week! We started with our resident artists picking out our colors and deciding how it would all play out at the store. Bob had to grin and bear it- no- we weren't going to paint all the walls some shade of white! Our colors are amber, eggplant, a brick-like red, green and yellow. And so far the store looks great. After we are done with the walls, Ali and Sandie will move in and do their murals- should be sometime next week. Meantime we have had people stopping in, wishing us luck and wondering when we will be opening. At one point we had a line of cars facing the store and people sitting in them watching us paint. Guess it was a slow day for some... Our website is now up and running- http://www.naturesgrocervernon.com/ -check it out! I will post some more pics later of the finished walls.

Taking a break while the work continues-GF travel

We decided that now was a good time to get away- since there really wasn't much that we could do except to continue to watch and wait. So we went to where the sun shines- Turks and Caicos. I have always loved the Caribbean , but this was my first time going to an island on a GF diet. The grocery store proved that apart from outrageous prices- there was absolutely no trace of GF anything. I had brought food and snacks with me and dinners we planned to eat out. I had to ask the usual questions regarding ingredients and found that the simpler the better as far as eating safely. It was a great excuse to order grilled lobster on more than one occassion in an effort to avoid dishes that were not GF or had cream in them.


Anyways we took our little general contractor to check on the store today and he seemed to be pleased with the progress.

Here is Myles checking out the sheet rock throughout the store.


Teagan came along as well, because we were going shopping afterwards and shopping is quickly becoming her favorite activity. Check out the headband- how cute is this child????

On the islands we found the real deal- a place called Da Conch Shack. Truly a place for the locals with a real community feel - can Nature's Grocer become a local stop too? I hope so!

Here's the beach at Grace Bay- 12 miles of beautiful white sand.

Cabinets soon to be installed.....

So we're back, we're tanned and ready to go. With a little luck we may be painting this weekend. And with a snow storm coming tomorrow, we'll just remember the sun, sand, and get geared up for the work to come.