Hey, tea tribe (we’re trying out a new name), welcome back to our blog! This week has been so crazy between our busy lives and everything else. 2020 has been a rollercoaster from beginning to end but we’re rolling with it! Anyway, we plan to introduce ourselves this week so you can get to know our tea and us!
D: Well, as you know from the previous blog, my name is Dria! I was born in Chicago, raised in Oxford, Mississippi. I’m currently pursuing my Masters in Nutrition at the University of Mississippi, with the goal of being a Registered Dietitian. This is my internship year, so I’ve been doing a lot of travelling and working for school. Although my internship feels like I’m working an actual job without the actual benefits or pay, I am beyond grateful for all of the different places that I have the opportunity to experience.
In my free time, I’m either at the farm, Halima’s house, or attempting to get some sleep. I absolutely love cooking and trying out new recipes, most of which I trade with Halima. She’s learned my lazy, college-kid friendly, semi-healthy recipes and has taught me several of her soul warming recipes from home. I’ve developed a passion for farming after spending most of my years in Mississippi. This past year, I had my first home garden which fed Halima and I SO MANY TOMATOES, peppers, and watermelon. I had so many different varieties of peppers and tomatoes this year; you can say I was kind of ambitious. Once I finish my master’s program, I’m not quite sure what I want to do professionally. I absolutely love community nutrition and would love to attend culinary school (don’t tell Halima because she doesn’t want me to leave). We’ll see where I go from here, right now I’m just focusing on school and Justevia.
Halima and I found each other through Mr. Brown, who convinced us to come out to his farm on the same hot day in the middle of a Mississippi summer in 2019. We went from total strangers to inseparable within a matter of months. Whenever I mention her name to my family or friends, they all roll their eyes with jealousy and say I spend all my time with her haha. When I’m not home, everyone’s first question is, “Are you with Halima again?” Soon enough, we were running Brown’s market stands with smiles on our faces and sweat dripping down our backs.
H: My name is Halima and I was born in Jos, which is a city in Nigeria. I have three kids, two of whom you all will hear stories about. The oldest is away at college. Eduardo is 9 years old and is very sure of what he wants and who he is. He takes piano lessons and has been taking guitar classes with his father. He likes what he likes, but is the most loving and caring child you would ever meet. He does have his quirks and I’ll tell stories as we get to know each other. Bella is… hmmmmm… how do I describe Bella? She’s like a fairy. I say that because she’s very, very dramatic and spontaneous and it’s like she’s floating on a cloud all the time. Bella plays the violin and the piano and if you can believe this, her teacher is teaching her to play with more drama in the way she moves. I’m the dramatic one in the partnership if anyone was wondering. I have crazy ideas and I also am constantly in a state of panic cause I think I’ve messed something up. Dria is the one I bring all the ideas to, and she tones it down and smooths it out so I come out seeming as eloquent as I’ve deceived you all into thinking I am. Dria to me is Bella’s older sister and Eduardo’s mom. Eduardo is terrified Dria will one day have kids and he will be replaced.
I love, love, LOVE farming and I find so much joy in working with the soil and plants and getting to grow food and to teach this tribe of ours how to enjoy the gifts that nature so abundantly provides. We love cooking, I mean looooove cooking. We are constantly looking at recipes and sharing recipes and testing recipes. Whenever food is cooked and in the fridge now, my husband has no idea if it was Dria who cooked it or me, and I can live with that. Whenever we have recipes that we find we can’t live without, we will be sharing with you all.

Both: Our bucket of ideas is always overflowing; watching Justevia unfold before our eyes has been a dream. As we always say, we’re still figuring things out day by day. We’re getting all of our background things together in order to make sure that we start with our best foot forward. We have some very exciting news to share with you guys next week, so stay tuned!
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