CLEAN WHITE PARCHMENT

Nutshell #2 (it’s about time Marmie!  Somewhat busy with NWraw and family and….)

Zach’s first visit to NWRaw

It’s like that.  The new year is like a crisp white sheet of parchment.  I never dreamed in January 2013 that in February of the same, we would be given a dream seed of a new business.  Not in my vividest dreams could I have conjured up this new venture.  Truth is, we never know what a new year holds.  I wasn’t dreaming big enough.  That’s the problem.  What I thought was that we would be diving back into what we knew, not storming shoulders back into the new unknown.  This dream is bigger than the two of us.  It’s bigger than I could dream with a horde of dreamers.  We needed The Dream Giver to embark on this wild wonderfulness.  Astounding is what it is!  What will be written on our new parchments at the end of 2014?  Exciting to even imagine considering this past year.  What will be the joys, the challenges, the dreams and sorrows?  We will each have some of these things in the new year and most likely all, if not more.

We here on Staunton Hill are loving life; at NwRaw still hammering, still nailing, still waiting to open.  Challenge number one in 2014, open this new business ASAP.  We dreamed a dream, we pushed forward with gusto.  We gotta hike up that preverbal hill; take the high country.  Live the dream.  I like a good challenge and this new business is that.

Grand babies in the unfinished cupboards at NwRaw.  I adore this photo!

Good tidings came near the end of 2013.  News concerning the funds available for Zach in 2014; amazingly enough, plenty and then some for the hiring of a full daytime nanny!  Oh yeah, lets hear it folks!  *clap-clap-clap!  Now, Mary Poppins, if you could please appear at my front door.  Thank you very much.

What will Marmie Karen do with eight hours of care per day for her Zach Angel?  I’m reeling with ideas.  Reeeeeeling!  Write…work some at NWRaw and perhaps; no probably I will just sit and stare…breathe in the restful refreshing-ness of nothing pressing.  Tell my shoulders to get down….where they belong.  Mornings in my pjs with time to sip a hot cuppa.  Ahhhhh….

How will Zach do with a new caregiver?  She/He will be phenomenal, energetic and loving, stupendous…able to bring out the best in our beloved, or we won’t hire them, period.  In a nutshell, he will love it :).  Happy new year, happy new friend Zachie Angel!

We have our space at NwRaw almost completed and it is astoundingly beautiful.  We are working nearly around the clock to get those doors open.  Cold Pressed colorful goodness in a glass coming your way in weeks.

I can’t wait to post a full on photo of our shop and of people bustling in and out…for now…here’s a partial peek.

Dream, and stand back.  The filling of our 2014’s will be fabulous!

Dream Big or Grow Mold

My next four posts will be nut-shell blogs—a challenge from Marmie Karen to herself.  Can she keep it short and sweet?

Nut Shell #1

Juicy News


It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged, it’s been awhile since we left Applegate Fellowship and it’s been awhile since we’ve had a steady job!  We have been exploring a bit, you know like Lewis and Clark.  It’s been fun, unfortunately fun doesn’t pay the bills.

This past season whizzed passed something like a spring zephyr.  We used this deep-and-wide time to fast, to pray and to play.  To connect to each other and spend more time playing and caring for our Zach angel.

We had no idea what we might do that would fulfill our dream of working together.  It was like hopping from stone to stone in a pond only to end up standing one footed on the last stone with hands to foreheads…vague shadows, dappled light, but no clear way to our dreamland…suddenly something began to take shape in the mist before us.

Fruitive Juice Bar in Virginia Beach, VA (missing from the photo, Josh and Zach)

The family crammed bun to bun around our dark wooden table at a juice bar in Virginia Beach brains all a whir with our newfound pressed juice buzz.  How fun would it be to have a family owned juice bar?!  But…we had a job waiting back home, so this dream would wait.


March 1, we were not beginning the job we’d thought, but rather, we had begun writing a business plan to open our own raw juice bar.  STOOOOKED!  We rented a space in May and now in September we are waiting for our plans to get the stamp of approval.  In November we will be opening our own organic juice bar located at 370 East Main, Ashland, Oregon.

We are working hard with a team to make sure that our new dream is formed excellently.

Visit our web page and indiegogo video, www.nwraw.com,  NWRaw Indigogo video