The Gathering Place

September 07, 2026

The Gathering Place

Long before Chocology, our home had a name:

The Gathering Place.

It was simply the place where people seemed to end up. Friends came through the door, food found its way to the table, conversations lasted longer than expected, and we always stood at the door and waved goodbye until everyone had driven away.

Life looks a little different now.

These days, I don't have quite as much time for those gatherings. But this week, standing in Chocology, I realized something.

The Gathering Place may have simply moved.

At one point this week, I looked up and there were seven hands reaching toward me for chocolate.

I remember thinking, I should take a picture of this.

But I was in the middle of a tasting. Someone was asking a question. Another couple walked through the door.

And the moment passed.

There were other moments like that throughout the week. A few people gathered around the table. A conversation with one person turned into another. Someone tasted something they hadn't tried before. People stayed and talked.

I didn't photograph any of it.

And maybe that's okay.

I have pictures in my head.

I've always been very visual. I tend to think in pictures. I notice how things look together, how a table comes together, how people gather around it—and most times, I can see the picture before I ever think to reach for my phone.

Because sometimes stopping everyone and saying, “Wait—let me take a picture,” changes the very thing I wanted to capture.

And the photograph I don't have is probably my favorite image of Harvest so far:

Seven hands reaching for chocolate.

Not posed.
Not planned.
Just people gathered around a table, discovering something together.

Sometimes, though, I'm lucky enough to have the picture.

Yesterday, I was talking with a group who stopped into the shop, and we found ourselves laughing about this day last year—almost exactly a year ago—when they gathered around the table to work on our community puzzle.

I went back and found the photograph.

September 1, 2025

Everyone is leaning in. Hands are reaching across the table. Nobody is looking at the camera.

Everyone is simply doing something together.

And there, in the background, is our LEGO Peace sign.

I couldn't have planned a better picture for what I've been thinking about this Harvest.

I've been saying that this season at Chocology,

Harvest = Gathering.

I started by thinking about cacao—the fruit being gathered, the farmers and communities who harvest it, the makers who take those beans and bring together their craft, technique and ideas about what that cacao can become.

Eventually, some of those chocolates find their way here.

And perhaps there's one more step in that journey.

Eventually, the chocolate gathers us.

And next Sunday, we'll do it again.

We'll gather around that same table and begin putting our 10,000-piece LEGO Peace sign back together—

Peace by Piece. 

Join us next Sunday anytime between 12:00 and 3:00 PM.

Another table.
Another reason to gather.
Another picture I hope I'll remember to take.

Although I can't promise.

I may be too busy handing out chocolate. 

And apparently, after all these years, I still have a Gathering Place.

It just has a lot more chocolate in it.

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