When you meet the cheerful Grace Brock of Vienna, you might assume she leads the life of a relaxed, retired woman. But for the owner and chef behind Ole Pioneer’s Kitchen, nothing could be further from her reality. She’s up early each day to shop for, prep, season, wrap, label and freeze pounds of steaks, sausages, bacon and meatballs. And then she goes to a farmers market. Why the business? For one, says the native Argentinean, several months after she retired from her job as a software analyst, she became bored with so much time on her hands. “I couldn’t stand not having a daily schedule,” she said.

She had a collection of traditional sausage recipes garnered from her Argentinean grandfather, a butcher by profession. After throwing a dinner party featuring her homemade sausages, Brock wondered if these products would sell at a farmers market. Her first efforts of a Mexican chorizo and a chimichurri sauce were so successful that Brock started a second career.