Our Grand Opening - July 6th 2013 !!!

And so it begins ... or rather continues ...

Highland Grounds opened its doors on June 1st 2013, and has been running since.

Yesterday we held our Grand Opening and with the help of the Duncan family, who built the Duncan Block we call home in 1932, local politicians and dignitaries, and members of my family, we cut the ribbon and officially opened our doors for business.

A crowd of thirty to forty people came and helped us celebrate by tucking into the enormous 29 INCH chocolate chip cookie, the massive rice crispie square, and the GORGEOUS cake prepared by local baker Bonnie B.

Coffee and conversation flowed all evening as the shop ebb'ed and flow'ed with people, and lots of folks came and went offering thier best wishes and leaving after having tried the very best coffee we have to offer!

The evening ended with a fabulous musical coffee house with an assortment of local talent and lots of good music, great coffee and fantastic conversation.

All in all, it was a good way to kick off this crazy new venture ... it is truly a journey JUST BEGUN!!!

And so the journey takes a new and exciting turn ...

And so it begins ...
At 8 Toronto Rd in bustling downtown Flesherton - at the junction of Hwy 10 North, and Grey County Rd 4, A new business venture has opened ... it is the long awaited, much anticipated Highland Grounds Coffee Shop ... a venue that specializes in high quality Fair Trade and Social Conscience products:

The Duncan Room pictured below is a nod to the heritage and history of the building Highlands Grounds calls home - named after the three generations of the Duncan Family who ran the hardware store that formerly occupied the space - The Duncan Room now is a place to sit and savour a cup of Fair Trade Coffee and cruise the internet on the local WiFi.

And the best part of this ... is that all of it is the fulfilment of a dream to own and run my own business.

Highland Grounds is open 7 days a week from 5:30 am to 9:30pm Monday to Friday and 10:00 am to 9:30 pm Saturday and Sunday ... we have a wide range of Fair Trade products available and are looking forward to expanding our selection in the coming weeks ...

Stop by ... we're here to promote our community, and offer a very good cup of coffee at a very good price!!

Cheers

Peeling back the layers ... adding to the stories ...

Work in Highland Grounds future homes continues in fits and starts. Last week the wiring and the plumbing was transforming the former Hardware Store (it has been a hardware store since Mr Duncan first turned the key in the 1930's), into a community place to gather, enjoy a coffee or tea, and just hang out ...

At times it seems infuriatingly slow, while other times I feel breathless trying to catch up to what is happening. This morning my cell phone rang to tell me, via a phone tag relay, that a semi was sitting out front wanting to drop something off ... I returned home to find a Facebook update about the truck blocking downtown Flesherton (for those who haven't been here - a semi parked awkwardly on the road in downtown Flesherton pretty much blocks about 1/3 of the downtown!!!) The joy of Small Town Life!!!

In time, we'll look back on this busy, chaotic, hectic, frustrating and bizarre chapter with fondness. When the key officially turns on the grand opening of this long awaited coffee shop, it will be with great joy that we embark on this new chapter ... In the meantime, I find myself periodically overwhelmed with the events happening around me, and so I have to pause and seek a quiet place to find my centre again.

Last week one afternoon I went into the shop and surveyed all that was happening and sat down with a notebook and a pen and wrote the following reflection on where things are at, and what is happening. Amidst the new roughed in walls, the piles of furnishings, equipment and other assorted assundry, and with exposed bricks that have not seen the light of day in 80 years, I thought about what was unfolding and penned these words that I would like to now share:

Ah, the smell of freshly cut timber, the twang of new plumbing, and the chemical scent of wiring and other assorted stuff that goes along with renovations ... 

All around me are the very obvious signs of something new coming into being. 

Piles of furniture awaiting their final placement. Vanities, sinks, toilets and assorted assundry waiting for their installation.

Paint, rollers, brushes and tarps, bare stud walls, exposed wiring and new plumbing. 

Simultaneously, this venture that will be Highland Grounds is both exciting and terrifying. I've only dreamt of such an undertaking, I've never truly envisioned doing it. Yet here we are in the middle of making it happy. 

Like a mythic phoenix rising from the ashes of what once was, this simple coffee shop (Highland Grounds) is emerging from the last 36 months of transition, loss, grief and struggle. It will not replace what has been, but will open a new chapter of what WILL be. 

After a half a dozen long years of life bouncing from place to place, and wondering where I fit in with my life and ministry, I feel blessed and privileged to find myself in a place that feels right, and that has supported and encouraged me in dreaming beyond the mundane of this moment. 

As I stand, or rather sit on a wooden stool, in the middle of this work space - the renos begun - the bones of what will be in place - I realize that this Tent Making (to use a Biblical Allusion) is more than just a new job or a new business venture. 

It is a new expression of ministry, it is a form of outreach that embraces many of the values people of faith and people with a deep spirituality hold but have failed to find in the confines of Traditional Church. 

The very nature of Fair Trade, is about JUSTICE and helping people realize their full potential economically and socially. On a more local scale, the very act of pouring a cup of coffee, and offering the gift of hospitality is the very foundation on which our culture and our faith rests. 

The centrality of the kitchen table began with the hearth of the First People, continued in the settlers cabins with the rough hewn boards slapped together and standing before the warm wood stove, and it continues to the islands, tables and and counters around which much of the life within our homes focuses. 

The kitchen is the very heartbeat of our homes, and the kitchen table is where our family sits in fellowship, and offers hospitality to friends, strangers and even foes without hesitation. 

In recent days, I've come to realize how deeply imprinted the actions of my Great-Grandmother (a resident of Grey County) are impressed in my being. Our visits to the farm house just outside of Desboro were marked with an abundance of coffee, tea, juice and an INCREDIBLE assortment of baked goodies that seemed ENDLESS. 

Looking back, I remember the barn, and the outbuildings, the apple orchard and the path out to the woodlot, but I have NO MEMORY of the house itself beyond the kitchen!!!

We visited in the kitchen with its table and chairs and Uncle Newt's couch under the window looking out to the road. 

The kitchen was the very heart of the home, and it was where Grandma Cain offered her hospitality in ABUNDANCE!!! 

It is my hope, and dream that Highland Grounds will become the kitchen table for Flesherton, Eugenia, Ceylon, Maxwell, Priceville, Feversham, Proton Station, and beyond. 

 Like the many kitchen tables, and the table that sits central in the life and ministry of every Church, our tables will be where friendships are nurtured and forged, where life is discussed and shared, where the world's problems are solved with some simple common sense, and conversations about everything imaginable are exchanged and encouraged. Highland Grounds is about building community and seeking justice, and caring for one another ONE CUP OF COFFEE AT A TIME!!! 

I hold no illusions that this will be easy. But I know in the core of my being, that like everything in ministry, it will - looking back - be rewarding and joyous. 

Soon the coffee will be ready, and the mugs will be filled in the name of Community, and ALL will be WELCOME !!!! 

Join us !!!
 
 

Dare to Dream ...

There are days when I question my sanity right now ... I'm in my mid-40's, working full time, and within the next five years I will have the proverbial empty nest ... and here I am about to start a new business venture that will no doubt absorb huge amounts of time and energy to get it up and running ...

In an average week I flip from scared silly to excited when I consider the bits and pieces we are pulling together under the banner of Highland Grounds.

On the upside, I've pulled together a talented team of people who have been helping me move forward from the pie in the sky dream of opening a Fair Trade Coffee shop, to actually making this dream a reality.

Ms H and her circle of friends have been a big part of the creativity and energy that has helped envision the space, and the concept that Highland Grounds will be. They even helped craft the name that will soon emblazon the historic Duncan Block in downtown Flesherton!

Wayne and Linda have entered my life as friends, and their creativity and vision have given me so much ... colleague and friend Mark has been enlisted to harness his wood working skills to provide disctinctive one-of-a-kind furnishings that will give our Shop character and flavour ...

Graham has come on board with his trademark giggle and a willingness to see this dream to reality ...

There have been moments when I've been ready to thrown in the towel and just admit that I'm in way over my head ... but in those moments a faint glimmer of hope has broken through and the right person has offered the right advice, guidance and inspiration to get me out of the 'blahs' I may find myself in, and moving forward.

There is still A LOT of work to be done, and despite more then a few set backs and mis-steps, I feel more confident today about what lies ahead then I have in a very very very long time.

I don't think this will suddenly be an easy carefree endeavour. But I feel blessed and fortunate to have assembled a team of people who have shared their talents, their enthusiasm and their support in moving this dream into reality. Looking ahead, I have a talented and capable team of folks (adults and teens) who have expressed an interest in stepping up and backing the Highland Grounds logo when the door finally opens. They share the dream and want to be part of it, and I feel deeply blessed for their willingness and ability to join in the fray.

No one knows what the future will hold, and I can't even offer a firm date on when we will turn the key on our new venture, but I know it WILL happen, and when it does, it will offer Flesherton and the Grey Highlands a great place to gather and enjoy a quality beverage surrounded by people who share the knowledge that our world can be made a better place ONE CUP OF COFFEE AT A TIME!!!!

Stay tuned ... more updates WILL follow!!!

A New Chapter

I can hear my mother saying "What are you doing??"

Yet, despite moving from excited to terrified and back again with regularlity, I am moving forward slowly and intentionally on my new dream ...

The building pictured above is mine. The final sale went through last week, and we're in the process of getting it ready to be a Local Coffee Shop specializing in Fair Trade Products and local food, craft and artisan products as well.

Highland Grounds will have an echo of Chipperfield Coffee Company in Minnedosa and Forbidden Flavours in Brandon - but it will be it's own distinctive Flesherton creation ... I know what I want it to be, and I've heard what the local folks have said they are looking for, and right now we are working to bring those two streams together, and create a community hub for the Flesherton and Grey Highlands area.

The goal is to be open sometime in mid to late March, with an official 'Grand Opening' after Easter, but for now I will be uncommittal around dates - there is a lot of work to be done, and as we move forward there is little doubt plans will have to change and alter as we learn more about the building, and more about the business we've proposed.

The bottom line, as of today is Highland Grounds will be a coffee shop specializing in the provision of high quality Fair Trade products, while providing a place for people to come and sit and enjoy the ambience of a building that has been an integral part of 'Downtown' Flesherton for three generations as a Hardware Store. That legacy will be honoured and continued, and Highland Grounds will strive to be an active and unrepentent promotor of the other local businesses, and the many wonderful things that are happening in and around Flesherton throughout the year.

When the door is finally opened for business, I look forward to welcoming you all into this exciting (and slightly terrifying) undertaking - and I will be proud to pour you a cup of Fair Trade Coffee and share this dream with you ...

See you soon !!!