5 years ago today on the first day of spring, Glenn and I married. Which makes it fitting to share a little bit about the beginning of our journey. It would be impossible to give a short version today as a lot has transpired in 35 years of growth from our humble beginnings, so I’ll just start from the when we first met.
Glenn was fresh out of college returning home to his family in So. Hamilton, MA. He had just left working a full time position at a large farm in Michigan. I was living in Beverly, MA and was a Periodontal dental assistant, living with my parents and identical twin sister Annie. Glenn had a love for Agriculture which he studied at Colorado State University and Virginia Tech. I worked right out of high school at Henry’s Market in Beverly in their bakery and kitchen. Prior to that, I worked in Sweeny’s greenhouses in Beverly for many years nurturing my love of gardening, planting things and seeing them grow. My Dad was always on his Great Grandma’s farm in Hanover, Pennsylvania and he had me in our vegetable garden pretty much as soon as I could walk. I’d like to say I got my green thumb from Dad.
Glenn walked into my life in 1979 when he returned home from Michigan. He was a manager of many new employees caring for 220 acres of fruit orchards, working 90 plus hours a week. The owner of the establishment called in his employees and stated the top priority is the job, above God and everything else after that. Glenn’s priorities did not align with those demanded, God was always first in Glenn’s life and then work after that. He figured if he was working this hard for someone else, he’d may as well work for himself, and that’s when we first met.
He was thumbing through the yellow pages of the phone book and came upon a Pentecostal Church in Beverly which he decided to go to that one Sunday. He walked in, sat down in the empty chair, next to me. And thus, our relationship began. He said some 30 years later, it WAS love at first sight! Now, the interesting thing was, that my identical twin sister, Andrea was seated right beside me and the running joke all these years was, what would it of been if I had sat next to Annie? Hmmmm…
We were married a year and a half later on the First Day of Spring March 21st, 1981. Our humble beginnings has been that of we had our Faith, about five hundred dollars our name, a chain saw and a used beat up oldsmobile station wagon, yes, olive green. We had purchased our farm property signing papers 3 months after we married. The owner of the Vedrani Poultry farm was gracious enough to let us move into the little cottage next door to her home and just after our honeymoon to Pennsylvania we two kids returned with our big dream of farming. We planted our orchard behind the big red chicken barn that still stands today. The very first thing we did was kneel down with our Bible in hand, praying and thanking God for the farm, dedicating it to Him. We asked God to allow us to be good stewards and caretakers of His earth and that all the people who would come to step on the soil of the farm property would feel His presence and love. And that is what we are bearing the fruit of that today, some 35 years later.
It has been a growing experience and still is each and every day of life of the farm. Part 2 of our Beginning will be next- stay tuned!
till next time, Happy Spring and we’ll see you soon! warm hugs and love,
Karen