My name is Emily Landenberger, and I have been involved with the co-op in some way, shape, or form since about 2005.

And I'm James Landenberger, and started working at the co-op in 2012, sort of right after college, and then was there for six years.

We met there. James was working in produce as the assistant manager. I would often choose the bulk workstation closest to the produce workstation. And I would, you know, try to chat with James while I was working.

And I was always trying to make her laugh on the sly.

Like I was trying really hard to get James to ask me out. And James, I learned, is the person who doesn't pick up on subtle cues. And so I started out like pretty subtle. And then I got like a lot more oblivious about it. And even that wasn't working. You'd think I would have been deterred. But no, then I just recruited the help of some fellow staff members. And we organized this whole night out and the whole point was just to get James there. So we had agreed we'd meet at 51 Main and I was like, it's my chance. I'm going to see James outside of work. And then he got there and he only lasted about five minutes because he had this really cool project going on at home where he was building a sewing machine from scratch, like out of wood—which is part of why I was just so smitten with James—is he had all these really fascinating hobbies. And so he got there and he hung out for a minute and then he's like, you know, guys, I just, I have this project. I can't stop thinking about it. I really just want to go home and work on it, but it was great to see you guys. And he left. And I remember just feeling so, like, if he only knew the effort we went to, to get him to come out and join us. But eventually it was about ramps. He was like, where do you like to get ramps? And I thought, this is my chance.

And so I said, I can't tell you, but I can show you. And so I got him. It's a very like Vermont-y first date to go on. Like, let's go foraging for ramps. But we did. And the rest, as they say, is history. Coworkers. But I think even on one of our early dates, Catherine made us some smoothies for our date and wrote James a list of things to do and don't do on the date.

And it was like, don't lick your fingers and put your napkin in your lap. And so we just had so much support for our relationship and felt like we had all these people like rooting for us and trying so hard to help us succeed, which is a really sweet thing. But I do remember when we got married, there was like a joke that, like, well, you can't have every—all of us come to your wedding because the co-op still needs to be open.