If you ever find yourself traveling on Highway 18 inching close to South Dakota and Minnesota in the middle of beautiful rural Iowa country, do me a favor and get off the beatin’ path and travel through and into the community of Hartley, Iowa.
There…nestled on one of the back streets is one of the most unique coffee shops: “Grounded: Coffee & Junk” and seriously, you can’t get any more unique than the word junk paired with coffee! Close your eyes and think junk in the term of rustic treasure, someone with an artistic eye takes one person’s “junk” and makes it into a beautiful piece of furniture, or a keepsake!
Meet the masterminds of this coffee oasis- Kelly and Deidre Welch. You will want to take time, and get to know them and hear their story…a couple that literally sold their house, and went “all-in” on this business…turning it into a home, coffee-house, rustic-furniture store and more!
Their Story..as posted on the website – www.Groundedinhartley.com
Grounded In Hartley is a celebration of the home. Grounded In Hartley is all about color, fun, warmth and being about to put together a recycled and restyled environment that people want to experience.
Our goal is to share our endless supply of great ideas and to inspire others to jazz up their day and their spaces with something funky and junky. Something can always be done to re-invent, re-imagine, rethink, refresh, reuse, redesign, recreate, refurbish and most importantly, recycle ‘junk’ to make this a better, more beautiful world. It is invigorating and cleansing for our souls and our spaces, and it makes us – and other funky junkers – happy. We also hope to focus on making people more comfortable with and less afraid of color, so they can actually use it, work with it, and love it.
It was an absolute joy to visit this coffee shop in NW Iowa, and I wanted to highlight the food made in the side kitchen area – I ordered a breakfast burrito and it was cooked to perfection and filled with cheese, bits of sausage and peppers mixed in with eggs! The secret? They grill the burrito! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
It was easy to make Grounded the first stop on the tour! What made it more unique was sitting and talking with the owners and getting the “small-town welcoming vibe”. It’s more than just coffee, food, and JUNK, it’s an experience. So, carve out time (if you are around the area) and go back and order a drink and some food. Sit back, relax and take it all in. Go explore around the shop and check out some of Deidre’s furniture.
(A five-minute video will be coming on Thursday, February 27th highlighting the 7 Day NW IOWA “Coffee Shop” Tour)
Until that time…..go check this place out! — Dan
Country Pilgrim 
Fascinating place! And that burrito has made me hungry 🙂
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