We were lucky to catch up with Nikita Grove recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Nikita thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

It was the heat of the COVID 19 pandemic and my husband just finished his cancer treatments. I just got home from work and we both made our way up to the rooftop to recap on our day. I worked as a supermarket dietitian, which was not only my first job as a licensed and registered dietitian, but a job I loved and was approaching my fifth year with this company. As relaxed and sipped on our sparkling waters, my husband shares that he couldn’t go back to his firm to work that it was too much for him post chemotherapy and radiation. This came to no surprise as I knew all that he’s been through and supported his decisions, but naturally, I asked what he wanted to pursue instead (thinking it was still going to be a career in law or finance). My husband shared that from his diagnosis and treatment, he’s been having lots of thoughts of the circle of life, life and death and the natural processes we all go through. From this existential experience, he realized farming was a beautiful example of the cirlce of life from growth to harvest/death, this was the most natural way of life. And in that very moment, he shared that he wanted to become a farmer…and my heart dropped! In my 12+ years of knowing my husband (my H.S sweetheart), never has he expressed interest in doing anything with his hands, he’s always been “scholarly”. I proceeded with saying, “are you sure?” as I was in absolute disbelief, I thought he was joking! I grew up on my family farm and I know all too well then hard working hands of farmers and I never knew my husband to have interest in this type of laborus work. We sat on the rooftop the rest of the evening as my head was spinning, from this life changing news (because having a cancer diagnosis as a 27-year old young adult was still plenty to process). But then flashes my epiphany moment. Everything in my life now makes sesnse. I’m a dietitian, I love wholesome food, sourcing and supporting local farms (when possible) and I grew up on my family farm. At this point in life, neither my brother or I were on track to take over the family farm as we both worked more “corporate” jobs with no intensions to farm. Moving back home (we lived in Philly) to the country (Lancaster county, PA), just made complete sense, post cancer. We were looking to slow down from the busy city life, to pivot and find a deeper and meaningful life. Through farming, we can support the natural circle of life that would fulfil our love of food and farming while also supporting my husband’s career/life change in cancer survivorship. This provided me the official push to launch my private practice as dietitian, I am on a mission to help people learn about fueling their bodies with a farm to table approach. Here I was as a supermarket dietitian, working in retail (a job I loved), but knew there was a bigger need when most of my clients/store customers, had no idea where their food came from. All along, all I needed, was go back back to my roots of food and farming.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am fueled by helping others establish a healthy relationship with food as I had my own journey as a student-athlete and an eating disorder. Through my private practice called, The Wellness Grove (I’ve kept my last name to honor my family farm as the 8th generation) I work as a dieititan offering nutrition counseling and yoga instruction to support others in developing a healthy relationship with food, while also guiding people to properly nourish and connect their mind and body through yoga and breathwork to ultimately support their health and longevity. Once my husband finished his cancer treatments and entered cancer survivorship, once again, cancer slapped us. Cancer survivorship support was far and few. We didn’t have anyone close to us who have gone through a similar experience (cancer, yes, young adult cancer, no one). This experience provided a deeper fuel for my practice. I am going to support cancer preventation and cancer survivorship through food and farming. This is why my husband and I are working towards regenerative farming practices. Not only are we exploring our roots, but we’re taking steps to assure our roots are well nourished, just as nature intended. Through regenerative farming practices, we work with nature instead of against it (opposite of conventional farming) in order to restore the soil quality, which in turn, will support our roots and continued growth. From our life changing experience, I’ve planted the regenerative farming practices as part of my working philosophy at The Wellness Grove. I work to help others explore their roots (root causes, cultural food preferences, cuisines, food values, cooking techniques, etc.) and help them restore their health through wholesome and sustainable solutions. Another deep value of The Wellness Grove is access. We have worked hard to become a provider with various health insurance plans which often covers nutrition counseling services making it very accessible for all. And as farmers, we will continue to work towards supporting food access and resources for our community to help bring the farm to table to everyone.

Being a yoga instructur is still fairly new to me. I have practiced yoga for many years, but once again, it was not until my husband entered cancer survivorship, that I felt enlightened to pursue my yoga teacher training. My husband suffered neuropathy, poor balance, strength and stability from his treatments and we used yoga as a way to help him restore. Once my husband finished his chemo, I signed up for my yoga teacher training and never looked back! My goal as a yoga instructor is to help make yoga accessible to all and inspire others as new beginners to find the benefits of this practice. I’ve now included yoga instruction as part of The Wellness Grove services to make yoga accessible and my vinyasa yoga teaching style as appraochable (beginner friendly) as much as possible. I teach livestream virtual yoga almost every day and host in-person classes in the community. I hope to one day begin offering yoga classes at our family farm!

Lastly, The Wellness Grove has partnered with another local business, Kairos Massage & Skincare to host wellness retreats called, Sanctuary Wellness Retreats. Together we combined our love of helping others and our passion for delivering wellness experiences to offer a space for people to find restoration, support their wellbeing and offer connection. Our retreats include yoga, nourishing meals homemade by myself with ingredients sourced locally, massage/facials, we sometimes partner with a guest speaker (i.e: therapist guiding a mindfulness workshop) and simple connection between the group. We host our retreats in the heart of Elizabethtown, in a beautifully restored old firehouse that a floor to ceiling library called, The Firehouse Library.

I am proud of my husband and I finding the ability to turn his life changing diagnosis into something to grow from. I am proud that we were able to dig into our roots and find ourselves planted back at home with a life/career/work that supports others, but is also fulfilling. We’ve found our purpose and together we’ve bloosomed. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my husband, my best friend, my hero.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Being purely authentic. When we (my husband and I) decided to write a newsletter together, called, The Wellness Grove THYMES, we were not sure what to say to our audience to captivate their attention. So we just started with our story. We were open and we spoke from the heart and let our lived experiences communicate our mission. We hit send and from that moment on, our audience responded with an abundance of appreciation so we kept at it! People will always remember how you made them feel and through our newsletter we hope to inspire, empower and connect with our audience. Especially following the pandemic, we ourselves craved connection and so we lead with our authentic experiences to deliver connection through our stories and our words.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Connection! I believe in the power of connecting with others over a meal. Networking, but more importantly individually connecting one-one-one with others by sharing a meal together and really understanding one another. It’s amazing what you can learn from someone by sharing a meal with them. I offer both in-person and virtual cook-alongs or cooking demonstrations and this is a great way to learn from one another while also sharing a nourishing meal. Eating can be an intimate, learning others food preferences, cultural foods, cuisines, cooking styles and also an extrodinary way to connect. I truly believe that food brings us closer together and a great way to reach people, a love-connection language.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.twgfarm.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_wellness_grove/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWellnessGrove
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/nikita-grove-ms-rdn-ldn-ryt-84b873115

Image Credits
Heike Martin Photography (food/yoga headshots) Cole Williams Videography (farm photos)