Building Grove House: The Beginning

So...we bought property in a beautiful citrus grove. After searching for about two years to find another house, we've decided to build our own custom home. It's just now starting to sink in that this adventure is really happening and we're looking forward to all the hard (but rewarding) work ahead. And in sharing our journey with you.

Since we're going to have to clear some of the trees for the house and additional building, we invited our friends and family over for an Orange Picking Day. We wanted to try and harvest as much as we could from the trees that are slotted for removal. 

Let me just say....there are a LOT of oranges! And we barely, barely scratched the surface. We're going to donate hundreds of pounds to local food banks and shelters because we hate to waste such perfectly ripe, delicious fruit.

I knew everyone would need a break and some lunch since we planned to be there for the whole day. So I set up an old Boy Scout folding table with wrapped sandwiches and finger foods. Things that would be easy to grab and go.

We made fast friends with the dogs that live on the remaining grove property and Cashew was everyone's favorite. He's still in that puppy stage and is very playful and curious.

After lunch, it was back to picking....

My sister had picked up a bunch of potato sacks at a yard sale just a week earlier and they sure came in handy. We ended up picking over 1,100 lbs!

There's so much ahead of us and our day set us off on a memorable start. Spending it harvesting with family and friends is the perfect beginning to building Grove House.

I'm looking forward to sharing the design process with you as we finalize those plans. We're meeting again with our architect this week. I've been waking up at night writing notes on my phone of things I forgot to mention or new details I want to add. There's just so many details.

In the meantime, we'll continue to harvest the trees and I'll be juicing, freezing, canning and making anything and everything with oranges! Have any great recipes?