R and J in the USA

There is nothing grim about the family we had the pleasure to meet 2 miles away from the teeny town of Morril, Kansas, except their name, of course. We are continuously impressed by the people we meet at Harvest Host and every once in a while, we are downright amazed. It is rare that the word “gobsmacked” feels anything less than cartoonishly excessive, but, in this case, it fits just right.

Google had taken has to a dead end street 2 miles past our Harvest Host stop for the night, through the main drag of Morril whose building’s looked more than a little worse for the wear (which we later found out from the Grimms only had a welding shop and a grain elevator that were still in operation). As we were following Google’s directions, we passed by a set of red and white barns and a beautiful brick house with a wrap-around porch, all lit up. Ryan pointed it out and we both admired it as we drove by. We ended up in a dead end in someone’s driveway in the dark. If we were the folks in that house, we would not have felt great to see a strange van pull up in the dark. We were eager to get out of this wrong spot as quickly as possible. We went to the app and clicked “call host” and the phone was answered by a delightful young woman who eventually handed the phone off to her mother to help get us to where we needed to head. We went back and forth talking with our host, Carrie Grimm, each trying to orient the other as to where we were and where we needed to go. As we started getting a sense of which direction we needed to head, Ryan asked,

”Does your house have a big wrap-around porch?”

”Yes!” Carrie said, surprised that we knew already.

”Is it a brick house?”

”Yes.” She again concurred.

Ryan and I looked at each other. We had both had a feeling when we had passed that house. Something about it just felt right. Our internal GPS’s had been more accurate than Google’s in this particular case. 

“We know exactly where you are. We were admiring your house as we drove by!” We said. “We’ll be there in 2 miles!”

”Awww.” Carrie responded on the phone, clearly touched by the admiration and her response gave a sense that this is a person who takes pride in her home and has invested a lot of heart into it. 

We were soon to have that suspicioun confirmed with gusto and to find that, in fact, it was the understatement of the century. 

We arrived just after 7:30 and, as early birds, our wind down clock was already beginning to tick. But talking to the Grimm family is so enjoyable and energizing, we barely noticed as the next almost two hours sped by as we all chatted and they gave us a tour of their inspiring family farm.

After we grabbed a spot and got settled in, we met Carrie by the barn that was brimming with goats. The ones in the back seemed uninterested in our visit and content to mill amongst themselves, while the ones in the closest pen lifted their front legs to the top railing of the gate with all the eagerness of a puppy leaping at the door as their person approaches after some time away. They looked like they could leap right over it if they wanted to – and they looked like they wanted to – and they eventually did.

”They were bottle babies.” Carrie explained, noting our entertained smiles as we watched their eagerness.

Before long, one of them made the leap over the fence and just hung out on a bale of hay as we wall got to talking.

During this time, Wayne Grimm, Carrie’s husband and one of their fives daughters, Ettie, a mature and poised 12-year-old young lady, had come over to join in the conversation.

We liked the Grimm family from the word go – some people just have the demeanor that puts you at ease and makes you feel welcome. And they all did.

They peppered us with questions about our adventures and we peppered them in turn. 

We mentioned our blog and Ettie was quick to look it up and subscribe before the conversation had even gotten rolling, which impressed us with her engagement – where many 12 year olds might not be so interested in what these random adults were doing – and her quickness to take action and get it done.  (Hi Ettie, if you are reading this!) They told us about the YouTube channel that the girls had started to share information about life on the farm and, it wasn’t long until we realized, this was only the tip of the iceburg of what this industrious and entreprising family was up to. You can check out their YouTube channel at.

When we had let them know our arrival time earlier in the evening, we had wondered if 7:30PM would be too late to show up. Here, once arriving, Wayne was quick to let us know with a smile that activity was only getting started at 7:30pm as the whole family would be out doing chores until close to midnight.

The two oldest girls were on a trip to visit friends in Ohio, which was a big adventure. We learned how the family managed to get away for a couple of weeks every year to take a trip to Phoenix as well – not easy to get away and travel when there are so many balls in the air, but the Grimm family even found a way to check that box.

We asked them if they had trouble finding help when they needed it on the farm and they were quick to reassure us that, for them, it was easy, having so much family nearby that was happy to chip in when needed.

Then they took us back to the farm store where there was one handmade product after another thanks to the enterprising spirit that Wayne and Carrie had clearly encouraged and fostered in their girls. One of their daughters made an array of beautiful artisanal soaps from goat milk. We bought one of the lavender and basil soaps and the mango peach soap as well. Then there was the handmade chapstick that was another daughter’s venture. Another endeavored to make homemade air fresheners and another had taken up raising dogs. If you want to personally partake of their homemade goods, you can check out their shop, Grimm Girls Farm. They showed us around and told us about it all and our jaws were dropped. But we still hadn’t seen much of that iceburg.

Also, it wasn’t just WHAT they did, or how much of it they did, or how well they seemed to do each thing they undertook, but the attitude they seemed to be doing it with and the way they did it all together. We commented more than once on how impressed we were with them and, no matter how big the compliment, their egos remained uninflated – rather, they received any compliments with humility and gratitude. And Carrie was always quick to note the saying we have all heard (and we have heard more than once from lovely figures along this trip!) – but it takes on a different sound when coming out of someone living and breathing it.

”If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Carrie said with sincerity. 

Well, whatever you want to call it, it was clear that the Grimm family was busy “not working a day in their life” all day everyday, tirelessly and with passion and commitment to what they were doing and the values with which they did it.

We compared notes on travel experiences and Wayne told us about his trip to NYC back in the day and how, as soon as he and his fellow Kansan travelers got into NYC, they couldn’t get out of there fast enough. It is understandable coming from a life on the farm like the one they had so lovingly cultivated here that NYC would hold little appeal, especially the driving. He hadn’t been so keen to be honked at all the time and all the other insanity that is part of driving the streets of NY. We took it upon ourselves to do our best to be ambassadors for our fair state’s famous city. Ryan chimed in,

”I like going there, but after 2 days, I’m ready to head home. Julie’s just getting warmed up though. She loves it there.”

”I do!” Julie chimed in.

Then we got into explaining how, though, on the surface, it may seem like folks in NYC are rude, it is just a different culture – and there are just as many truly decent, kind people there as anywhere else. We explained how, at least as we see it, NYC’s famous rudeness is not exactly what it seems. Just like any other place in the country, in order to understand the people of a place, you need to see things from within their cultural context rather than from within your own. In NYC, time, autonomy, privacy and mobility are the treasured commodities and so there is a common understanding amongst everyone, to a certain degree, that the best way to be polite is to keep from robbing anybody of any of those precious resources.

”So, honking, it’s not personal. It’s not even meant to be rude. It’s like, my job is to get where I need to get and, if you are in my way, I will do you the decency of letting you know – loudly and clearly. And, you’ll do the same for me. That doesn’t mean people smile when they do it. As a matter of fact, they are allowed to be angry, frustrated or annoyed…but it’s just the grease that keeps it all going. Very rarely do people take it personally.” Maybe we are wrong, but that has always been our experience and impression when in the city. We explained and Carrie nodded her head, taking in the interesting viewpoint.

”Yea,” Julie added, “I like to think that NYC has its own ‘state bird’, the car horn…or the ambulance siren.”

It wasn’t long until Carrie and Wayne and Ettie brought us into a massive hangar-like garage that they used to park their tractors in in the wintertime. They kept it heated, even in sometimes 20 below weather using heat from under the floors. 

Sitting in the corner was their food truck, another one of their ventures. They also cater, of course. They told us of how they hosted a yearly nativity scene at Christmas and, when they first put it on, they expected maybe 50 or 100 people, but 300 showed up. No problem for the Grimms! The more the merrier. Even when the “more” is 200 more! Ettie chimed in that this year, there were already 750 interested folks on their facebook page for this year’s event…each of whom, if they attended, were likely to attend with family.

We consider ourselves energetic and endeavoring folks, but, we were already exhausted thinking about holding up as much as they do, but it was clearly not a front – these folks were really handling it and handling it all with flair.

At one point, Julie mentioned how remarkable it was that they did all of this.

Carrie was quick to share the credit and say how it was truly a full family effort.

”Well, that’s even more remarkable!” Julie said. “That you all work together and seem to enjoy it and work so well together.”

”Well, we have our moments.” Carrie presented with continued humility.

”Well, that’s confirmation that you are indeed human!” Julie said with a smile.

We noticed an article on the wall about the family and asked them about it They had been the recipients of 2021’s Kansas Master Farmer and Master Homemaker award. You can learn more about their family through the video that the award made about them here. We clearly weren’t the only ones that were impressed and we were glad to see that they had already been publicly recognized for their wonderfulness. 

Or, if you want to learn about their family from the girls’ perspective, you can check out this video on the girls YouTube channel, Double G&L Farms.

At some point, another lively, blond-haired Grimm popped into the scene, playing around on a 2 wheeled contraption that we are sure there is a name for, but we don’t know what it is, as we all talked. We would soon come to see that the Grimm energy was spread down to the younger siblings as well, as Nellie joined in the conversation with her own brand of Grimm enthusiasm.

Before long, we had all made our way over to the cattle barn where we got to meet, if our memory serves us as to the correct type of cow, their baby Scottish highland cow. We found out the sad story of how the calf’s mother had had poison milk and how someone had solved the problem of how to get mama and baby cow some qt together by creating a cow bra that they would put on the mama to keep the calf from feeding from her, but they could still be together. 

Nellie was bouncing around with energy and stories to tell. 

We learned about the dangerous work of calving that all the girls would do and what made it dangerous.

We learned that, on top of all of this, Carrie also taught piano, though, once again, with characteristic humility, she was slow to claim she was much of a pianist. And the girls had taught themselves various instruments as well. Carrie was interested in Julie’s musical as she shared about her own musicality. 

Then we heard a wonderful story about a hike the family had been on where Nellie and one of her sisters had been yodeling back and forth to each other…to the entertainment of all of the other hikers on the trail. Because…they taught themselves how to yodel.

How did that come about? Well, there had been a time where something had occurred, that we can’t recall, but whatever it was, it meant that the girls spent almost 6 hours/day milking in three separate 2 hour sessions. Carrie had had the good sense to encourage them, ”While you’re spending so much time milking, learn how to do something.” So they did. They taught themselves how to yodel.

At one point, Julie asked Carrie, “What is in your water and where can I get some of that magic?” Though meant to be a compliment and one that, of course, Carrie took in stride, as soon as she said it, Julie felt it was such a disservice. This was not a magic potion that happened to these people. The magic, was them.

Carrie told us of her aspirations to someday write some children’s books. We were enthusiastically on board. If there is anyone whose wisdom would do good to impact other children, it would be hers.

With all we’ve recounted, we’re sure we’ve left out plenty of the conversation and what we learned about farming, Kansas, their family and life itself, because there was just so much. By the time we made it to bed, it was well after nine. We felt bad to have kept them so long from getting to their chores, but they had engaged the whole time enthusiastically with full presence and relaxation. If they had any sense of stress or weight from the work yet to come and the delay in getting to it that we were causing them, they didn’t show it. They welcomed us with pure hospitality and generosity of their home and of their spirit.

The Grimms struck us as what human beings look like and operate like when all the energy that might be spent complaining or lamenting or finger-pointing was directed, instead, into creativity, camaraderie, quality time and good old fashion sweat equity. 

The only real problem we had with meeting the Grimm family was the difficult task such a meeting presented us with equal parts of feeling compelled to write about them and share the Grimm energy with others while, at the same time, also feeling completely inadequate to the task of finding the right words that would do them justice. 

We can only be satisfied in knowing we’ve done our best. 

And, that’s exactly what made the Grimms so wonderful to meet and cross paths with. That’s the feeling you get from them – that each of them is simply doing their best in what they do – nothing more and nothing less. It is not a place of perfection, but a place of the perfect kind of imperfect, the human kind, that is elevated to another level because it is infused with the purity of people doing their best with authenticity and sincerity. And when you have a group of people doing their best together, day after day after day, well, it creates something that glows a bit – something that, in this case, was wholeheartedly Grimm.