ahora · Finca Brinca

it was fun, and we are so grateful for our community. ❤️🇨🇷 fue divertido, y estamos muy agradecidos por nuestra comunidad. ❤️🇨🇷

we’re closed for daily service but still turning it up for community events, and this weekend’s dance party was epic. djs were @mantu_dj, @juanjonativo_dj, and omani and tacos came from our friends at @aztecas_pz. thanks for coming out! 🎶❤️ 🌮

estamos cerrados por servicio diario, pero seguimos en marcha para eventos comunitarios, y la fiesta de baile de este fin de semana fue épica. los djs fueron @mantu_dj, @juanjonativo_dj, y omani y tacos vinieron de nuestros amigos de @aztecas_pz. 🌮🎶❤️

1/19

our community is the most hilarious, beautiful, creative, talented bunch of humans. we ❤️ u all. mark your calendars for aug 30 - let’s meet up and dance. until then, we’re taking a break! 😘

Nuestra comunidad es el grupo más divertido, hermoso, creativo y talentoso de la humanidad. Los adoramos a todos ❤️. Apunten el 30 de agosto en sus calendarios: ¡nos vemos y bailamos! Hasta entonces, ¡nos tomamos un descanso! 😘

We met Geo almost as soon as we moved here, and we agreed right away that we would feel lucky if he wanted to be our friend. Three years later, he has graduated from college and is moving out of Finca Brinca, the place he has called home and work for so long now. We are proud of him, and we can’t wait to see all of the impressive things he does with his life. He is smart, funny, and kind, good with kids and pets, and he’s only a little bit messy. His taste in music has improved since he met John. His ability to break pottery is unmatched. We know our customers will miss him as much as we will. He prided himself on remembering everyone’s names and orders, and we won’t ever forget him. Love you, Josécito! ❤️☕️🐾

Conocimos a Geo casi en cuanto nos mudamos aquí, y enseguida dijimos que seríamos afortunados si quería ser nuestro amigo. Tres años después, se graduó de la universidad y se muda de Finca Brinca, el lugar que ha sido su hogar y trabajo durante tanto tiempo. Estamos orgullosos de él y estamos deseando ver todas las cosas impresionantes que hace con su vida. Es inteligente, divertido y amable, bueno con los niños y las mascotas, y solo es un poco desordenado. Su gusto musical ha mejorado desde que conoció a John. Su habilidad para romper cerámica es inigualable. Sabemos que nuestros clientes lo extrañarán tanto como nosotros. Se enorgullecía de recordar los nombres y pedidos de todos, y nunca lo olvidaremos. ¡Te queremos, Josécito! ❤️☕️🐾

we’re all hard on ourselves, right? ⬇️

finca brinca was born from 20+ years of john & i working our butts off for other people. this is our little corner of the universe at the moment, crafted with love & care for the experience that others have here. we want you to leave happier than you came. we want our staff to look forward to coming to work instead of dreading it like we did for so many years. we want our community to know that we’re here for them, & that we’re doing our best to share resources & provide a space that welcomes all & encourages all to treat their neighbors with love, kindness, & respect. our values are not rooted in capitalism, but in generosity & service. this means that we still have not implemented a digital payment platform, we still don’t make money, or break even, & we still have a disorganized stock room full of ideas and items that i’m planning to sort through & launch…eventually. what we do have is a gratitude for the moment we’re in, because no one knows what tomorrow holds for any of us. we have a goal of being the best versions of ourselves that we can be. and we have a hope that those who know us & have shared the space with us are ok with the fact that we, by no means, have any of this figured out. the question about SKUs wasn’t an unwelcome or negative question, we were chatting about the functional details of our businesses. but had i been in a different time in my life, i would have let that question burn inside of me like hot, poisonous judgement, allowing me to twist it into something that made me feel like a failure. i spent a lot of years making sure that i beat the drove the biggest KPIs & the highest ROIs. now i’m just making life up as i go along. we don’t know what we’re doing. we’re following our heart. we’re learning as we go. and whatever happens is the right thing. some people have told me that our life seems perfect here. it’s not! but we are all perfect in our own way, no? our disasters become our hilarious anecdotes as quickly as we can transform them, because reacting any other way is a waste of energy. be kind to yourself. be kind to others. you’re doing great. ❤️

bring the fights within your soul and your mind to boxing class at suda and work those demons out in the open! 😈 🥊

¡Trae las luchas de tu alma y mente a la clase de boxeo y desata esos demonios al descubierto! 😈 🥊 🔥🎥 @andrew__barron__

Get to know our neighbors at Monte Tirrá, who grow the Café Calderón Geisha espresso beans that we serve in the café. They’re a beautiful example of many different types of people working together who all truly care about each other, sustainability, living well, and living simply. ❤️

Conozca a nuestros vecinos de Monte Tirrá, quienes cultivan los granos de café espresso Geisha de Café Calderón que servimos en la cafetería. Es un hermoso ejemplo de la colaboración entre personas de todo tipo que se preocupan por los demás, la sostenibilidad, el bienestar y la sencillez. ❤️

i took a vacation this week; didn’t answer emails, didn’t join zoom meetings, didn’t pay attention to the café (thanks so much to john & our amazing team for keeping it all going without me), and hosted my bestie @nikaliye from the states, along with two of her friends, @samhertz & @very_fussy.

it’s important to stop working and have fun. i forget this time and time again because i am wired to be a producer - a producer of work, a producer of art, a producer of experiences for others. but i made arrangements to be unavailable, and i could take a deep breath and say to myself, it’s ok that no one can reach me right now, i am not designed to be reachable to everyone at all times, i can take some time for myself, for friend hangs and mental space and laughter and nature. and wow, it felt really frigging good. ✨❤️😉

we had the best time learning from @marketas_kitchen how to make simple gluten free pizza crust with yucca. who knew it could be so easy and delicious?

just boiled yucca, garlic powder, italian herbs, and olive oil makes a gorgeous crust. marketa added her homemade pesto on top of sauce (marketa uses local coyote culantro along with basil to keep it super green, and cashews instead of walnuts) along with fresh veggies and local cheese. we are serving another one of marketa’s awesome dishes in the café right now - thai quinoa salad, topped with local uchuva fruit and the most delicious ginger dressing. huge thanks to marketa for keeping us full and healthy, and to @leti_passemier for inviting us to this fun class!

we’re two! 🎂✨ looking back, when all we had was a meant-for-home-use espresso machine and just coffee and tea on the menu, when we were waiting 16 weeks for the ceramic kiln, when we thought our business would be a successful plant nursery (ha! people don’t really BUY plants in the jungle, they clip them), we have come so far. 🌿

we are happy. we are grateful. we are tired. we could never show up every day the way that we do without beautiful products and assistance and support from people like @algrano_microbakery, our coffee farmers at monte tirrá, kim and sarah from suda, pablo, our house DJ, and our amazing team, especially josé, who has been with us from day one, jon, our hilarious lawyer, and geo, our main café homie. ❤️ to our beloved community, we had hoped would like this clubhouse, and we are so glad that you do. thank you for coming to see us every day. thank you for giving us ideas and offering to help. thank you for making us laugh and giving us lots to talk about and think about. we love you. the biggest thing i’ve learned to lean into as a small business owner is acceptance of the beauty of evolution. i am used to only presenting my projects when they are complete. most of the time, when new customers come in and start looking around, i feel exposed, like i’m standing in front of them in my underwear, because there is so much left to be done. so many more projects to finish before we are fully clothed. but self-financing a business challenges your patience, and there is no choice but to know that your complete vision will arrive in due time, and that, today, this place, full of love, inclusion, and the best of vibes, is perfect just the way it is. to my husband, señor café, my johnny, i love you to the ends of the earth. thank you for all that you do for me and for all of us every day. 😘

priscilla was born and raised nearby, and as the daughter of a boutique owner, she became well versed in quality materials. she has a meticulous eye for the best thrift store finds, and we are so happy to be able to share her selections with you now! ✨

priscilla nació y creció cerca, y como hija del dueño de una boutique, se volvió experta en materiales de calidad. tiene un ojo meticuloso para los mejores hallazgos en tiendas de segunda mano, ¡y estamos muy felices de poder compartir sus selecciones con ustedes ahora! ✨

will you please share in the comments what qualities people tell you that you emobody that you’re working on believing?

people told @sarahtaggartwellness that she is brave, courageous, strong, funny, beautiful, and loving. 💪🏻😍❤️ it’s all SO true! people tell me that i’m generous, a leader, and a visionary. i’m going to work on believing that today. 💡 we love you, sarah, and we are so glad that you were born. 👶🏻✨

updates! ❤️🌿

all you need is ❤️

i know you all miss john, so here’s some fits to tide you over until we re-open on september 13!

sé que todos extrañan a juanito, así que aquí les dejo algunos conjuntos para que aguanten hasta que volvamos a abrir el 13 de septiembre 👔👖🧦

#art #painting #besties

📌

Come with me to visit Gema Ossenbach at @eljardincr, and you can find a new selection of her work in the shop at Finca Brinca ✨

a satisfying saturday. giant thanks to chi, @pablolucerosometimes, @algrano_microbakery, @aztecas_pz, and our beloved staff for bringing so much magic to the mountain. ✨

are you in here? 👀 tag yourself ✨

3 days of friends & fire 🔥 muchísimas gracias to tefi and marifé for their vision and leadership! ❤️

just taking a moment to celebrate this miracle of a pottery studio, on top of a mountain in the middle of a jungle, self-funded with our life savings, that brings the community, john, and me endless days of laughter and creativity. ✨🌿🔥

grateful every day for this man. ✨❤️

it was a good day for karyn the ceramist. ✨🔥

shop tour, part 1! we love sharing the space with local costa ricans and our neighboring indigenous tribes in order to widen the pipeline of access for their pieces to be seen. ✨

just hanging out in sal’s class. 💪🏻

best day = coffee to start, friends and nature throughout, live music, yoga and a fire to close it out. 🔥

one day i’ll stop blowing too hard into the voiceover mic but that’s on the to do list after starting kim’s HIIT class 💪🏻

✨ what a year! john & i have never owned a business before, never worked together before, and we never dreamed that we’d be doing this in costa rica.

we stayed present in every moment of this journey, paying attention to signs from the universe, requests from the community, and our own instincts. ☕️ we have days where we’re exhausted and doubtful that we can continue, but most of the time, we are just unbelievably grateful for this opportunity to serve. ❤️ giant thank yous to all of our regular customers for your support in our first year. with your help, we gave 5 costa rican students full scholarships for pottery classes. we can’t wait to announce what’s up next in 2024…stay tuned! 🌿

feliz navidad y muchísimas gracias to our dear friends @_fabisegura & @morajafeth and of course the tias peligrosas for inviting us to make tamales! they’re the perfect christmas snack ❤️🎄🌽

meet all of the good doggos who visited us today. 🐾

may today bring you more flowers than mud. 🌸🌼🌺

the kids’ halloween handbuilding class was epic 🎃👻

i’ve been teaching ceramics and building community on this precious mountain for four months now. it’s such a joy to see students learn and grow. throw - trim - glaze - repeat! ✨

i’ve been teaching ceramics classes for 3 months now, and every time i get to open a kiln with student work, it’s like christmas morning! ✨ big thank you to my students who are so creative, talented, patient, and open to learning 💪🏻

john & i had the most magical morning when we went to learn about where the banana bread that we serve comes from. thank you for sharing so much deliciousness with us, @algrano_microbakery! 🍌🐐🌿❤️

check these beautiful bowls out from @beinginlife! she just finished her first series of classes at finca brinca. DM us if you’re interested in learning, too. ✨

¡echa un vistazo a estos hermosos tazones de @beinginlife! ella acaba de terminar su primera serie de clases en finca brinca. envíanos un mensaje privado si también estás interesado en aprender. ✨

sunday morning at finca brinca ❤️🌿✨domingo por la mañana en finca brinca

i’m back! for my longtime connections on my ceramics account, thank you for your patience over the last year as i launched my new studio. up this beautiful path in the foothills of mt. chirripó, costa rica, through a passionfruit vine, and in my wildest dreams. glaze tests have been getting better and better and i’m moving back into bigger pieces. want to buy something? come to costa rica, baby ✨🌿✌🏻

life, lately. it’s a bowl of 🍒, and we’re making the bowls ourselves. ✨

grateful to be a part of inspiring young minds to create! ✨

john covered a wall with pages from ram dass’ “be here now”. it was his first time trying something like this. the wrinkles give it character. authenticity. 😉

john cubrió una pared con páginas de “be here now” de ram dass. era la primera vez que intentaba algo así. las arrugas le dan carácter. autenticidad. 😉

maybe the most fun ever with @laurengiraldo & @henny ✨❤️

a dreamy dinner party ✨ 🍜 huge thanks to FED, @jon_montenegro_b, @wrenworks_ , & @maegeo69420 🍜✨

supporting yourself through your art is a roller coaster of a journey full of creativity, doubt, confidence, insecurity, laughter, disappointment, and success. it all depends on the day. we were honored to host @wrenworks_ as a featured artist at our first dinner popup. ❤️

if you build it, they will come ✨ feeling so grateful to have hosted our first dinner party at the shop. i need to tell this story in a few parts. this is part one. 🌿 it began with a conversation with FED, our neighbors who are chefs. john, luke, becca, and i started talking about how much we missed ramen. so we put together an idea for a 4 course pop-up dinner party. stay tuned for part two. ✨

it was a gorgeous day for a 7 hour road trip to visit our friend miguel and see what he’s been creating lately. 18 new sculptures now available at finca brinca. ✨

call her sugar. ✨ @nikaliye 💖

still in shock that this is happening ✨

1/4

by popular demand! new long sleeved green t-shirts and black aprons available with a new logo designed by john. cerro chirripó translated is mt. chirripó - the tallest mountain in costa rica. $35 each plus $8 shipping. black short sleeved t-shirts available with the original logo updated, as many requested, to include our location in costa rica. those are $30 plus $8 shipping. super limited qualities. DM to order. the proceeds from these shirts will go into our tico scholarship fund so that we can provide free classes for native costa ricans. thanks so much for your passion and support of our little dream! ✨

1/10

plant/life. finca brinca is officially open for business, and we just heard today that the ship with our ceramics supplies arrived in the costa rican port! cross your fingers for a smooth customs process, and we’ll be throwing pottery again in no time.

The story of the Finca Brinca grand opening, part 1.

peru road trip. ✨

my heart. ❤️

✨they call it heavenly for a reason ✨

dude. i don’t know.

encantadaaaah ❤️

🐴💦🙏🏻

drag me into the bus, not under it ✌🏻🌱

1/4

🌱 we had not been able to get to finca brinca for 3 weeks because the rains came early this year and our mountain road is waiting to be paved. we tried to drive up and got stuck in a giant red mud puddle. today, it was great to get up there and see tigrito again. he’s growing up so fast; he’s not a kitten anymore. 🐈

this week we start meeting with architects and builders! ✨

1/5

🌱 with your help and feedback, we actually decided on not one, but five logos, to use for different needs. ✨ which one is your favorite? 1: mountains 2: mountains & pottery 3: mountains, pottery, & tagline 4: hexagon 5: oval

thank you for joining us as we embark on the journey of a lifetime! ✨

welcome to finca brinca, 1.5 acres of mountain property nestled in herradura de rivas, costa rica. 🌱 on it, we will build a philanthropic pottery studio and store, guest cabins, sensory deprivation tanks, and our own home. ⛰ we can’t wait to host you for a visit! giant thanks to @aestheticcrimes for the video and to my favorite musician, @caeldadian for the song ❤️

Finca Brinca — Leap and the net will appear

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