Proud to Be a Lemon Grovy

As a brand-new Lemon Grove Patch blogger, I thought it was a good idea to introduce myself as my first post. There is always the typical introduction: My name is.... I was born in..... You get the idea. That just seemed too boring. Okay. You do want to know my name. Marianne West. But what else about me is of interest to you? If you have ever taken a writing class, the first thing the teacher will tell you is to think about your audience. In this case, I thought of you, the Lemon Grove Patch readers, and it all became easy.

We, my husband Mike and I, moved to this beautiful town, known all over the world to those who read tourist guides as the home of the Biggest Lemon and the Best Climate in the World, about a year and a half ago and have been self-proclaimed “Lemon Grovies” ever since. What in the world is a Lemon Grovy, you might ask. It is somebody who loves living here and has the best interest of the town at heart. In other words, a proud Lemon Grove citizen.

Let me tell you what that means to me. Everything happening in this town is of interest to me, both the good and the bad. If it is good, I like to be part of it and enjoy it if I can, or support and promote it, or just be contented to know that wonderful things are happening in my town. If it is bad, I like to be part of changing it to something better—either through personal action, in support of somebody else’s effort or by helping to figure out who or what can make a positive impact on the situation.

It also means that whenever possible, I will spend my money in my community. I buy my groceries, pet and garden supplies here in Lemon Grove as long as I can find them. If I can’t, I’ll ask the store keepers if they would consider carrying the items I like to buy. A fair warning to the merchants who might be jumping up and down for joy right now: Don’t get too excited—I am pretty thrifty and not a shopper just for shopping’s sake. With one exception. When it comes to plants, edibles mostly, I have a hard time holding back. Hunter’s Nursery and Home Depot—here I come. 

Yes, I do love to garden and Lemon Grove is a great place for that. My ultimate goal is to eat mostly out of my own garden. But if I go out, I make it a point to bring my business to one of the restaurants in this town. So far, we have been pleasantly surprised with some of the good eats we have found.

The list could go on and on, and I will share much more about being a Lemon Grovy in future blogs. I want to close this entry with the importance of volunteering in your community. During this summer, I have been fortunate to be able to offer my skills as a yoga instructor to the community by teaching free “Fix your body classes” every Monday and Wednesday from 6-7 PM at the First Baptist Church in Lemon Grove (in the Red Barn). We will be there for at least another week and possibly longer. Maybe I can meet you, my fellow Lemon Grovy, at one of my classes there. For more info, check out this .