Meet the Groves
Five family members. One hydroponic tower. Absolutely zero chill.
The Grove family is at the heart of everything here. They grow things. They argue about things. They name their lettuce after biblical figures and somehow make it feel completely normal. Get to know them.
Woody Grove
Founder & Creator, The Twelve Roots
Woody Grove didn't set out to start a movement. He just wanted to grow something.
It started simply enough — twelve pods, a little water, and a whole lot of curiosity. But for Woody, nothing ever stays simple for long. A man who finds connection in everything, it wasn't long before those twelve pods became twelve apostles, those apostles became a family competition, and that family competition became something much bigger than lettuce.
Woody Grove is a believer. In good food grown with intention. In music that moves the soul. In conversations that last long after the dishes are cleared. In education that opens minds. In kindness extended freely to strangers and friends alike. In gratitude practiced daily, not just spoken occasionally.
He'll tell you that roots matter — the kind that anchor a tree through every storm, the kind that connect a family across generations, and the twelve notes that form the foundation of every song ever written. To Woody, these aren't separate things. They're the same thing, expressed differently.
When he's not tending his grow, you'll find him outdoors — hat on, glasses slightly crooked, smiling at something most people walked right past.
He started The Twelve Roots for his family. He keeps going for everyone else.
Willow Grove
The Heart of the Home, The Twelve Roots
Willow Grove didn't need a hydroponic tower to know how to make things grow.
She has been nurturing life in quiet, steady ways long before the pods were planted — in the meals that bring everyone to the table, in the laughter that fills a room before anyone knows what's funny, in the gentle but firm hand that keeps a family of five moving in roughly the same direction.
Willow is the administrator of the Grove household, which is a polite way of saying she is the reason anything actually happens. Woody has the vision. Willow has the calendar, the grocery list, the follow-through, and the good sense to know when to let him run with an idea and when to quietly redirect it.
She is a remarkable cook — the kind who doesn't follow recipes so much as understand them. Food, to Willow, is a language. A pot of something warm on the stove is her way of saying I thought about you today. Her table is always set for one more.
Those who know Willow best will tell you two things: her kindness is genuine and her laugh makes a room feel like home. Both are given freely.
She entered the Lettuce Pray competition because the family needed her to. She intends to win because — well, she's Willow Grove. She tends to finish what she starts.
The garden is Woody's idea. But this family? This is hers.
Hazel Grove
The Oldest. The Wisest. The One Everyone Listens To.
Hazel Grove doesn't say much. She doesn't need to.
In a family that is never short on opinions, energy, or unsolicited commentary on each other's hydroponic techniques, Hazel is the still point. The one who listens first, thinks it through, and speaks when she has something worth saying. Which, when she does, is usually the thing that settles it.
The Grove family would not describe Hazel as the leader. They would just notice, if pressed, that they tend to look her direction when a decision needs to be made.
She is quietly brilliant in the way that doesn't announce itself — you just find yourself realizing, somewhere in the middle of a conversation, that she understood it before you finished explaining. Her laugh, when it comes, is warm and real and worth waiting for.
Hazel's world is built around the things that matter most and take the longest to grow — close friendships tended carefully over years, long hikes where the destination is secondary to the thinking, a kitchen that smells like something good, a dog at her feet, and music that fills the space without demanding attention.
She brings all of that to Lettuce Pray — patience, observation, and a quiet confidence that is either very reassuring or very unsettling, depending on whether you're rooting for her or competing against her.
In the Grove family, Hazel is the root that runs deepest.
You just don't always see it. That's the point.
Reed Grove
The Technician, The Competitor, and The Middle Child.
Reed Grove has always needed to know how things work.
Not in a restless, anxious way — in the quiet, methodical way of someone who finds genuine satisfaction in understanding. Pull something apart, see what's inside, put it back together better than before. That's Reed. That has always been Reed.
He is the family's resident problem solver, which sounds like a compliment and is, mostly. It also means he is the first one called when something breaks, the first one consulted when a decision needs to be made, and the first one to point out — kindly, but clearly — when a plan has a flaw. He is almost always right. The family has learned to appreciate this. Mostly.
Reed approaches the Lettuce Pray competition the way he approaches everything — with data, observation, and a carefully maintained growth log that no one else in the family is allowed to touch. He named his plant Peter. There is a reason for this. There is a reason for everything with Reed.
What surprises people who don't know him well is the humor. It arrives unexpectedly — dry, perfectly timed, and usually at someone else's expense in a way that makes even the target laugh. Reed Grove is funny in the way that smart people are funny — because they see things others miss.
He is creative in the way engineers are creative — not decorating the surface, but reimagining the structure underneath.
The tower runs because Woody dreamed it. It works because Reed made sure of it.
Maple Grove
The Youngest. The Free Spirit. The One Nobody Can Keep Up With.
Maple Grove does not color inside the lines. This is not a phase.
She arrived into the Grove family like a warm, chaotic breeze and has been rearranging things ever since — furniture, plans, expectations, and the general energy of any room she walks into. Not out of mischief. Out of pure, unfiltered love for life and everyone in it.
Maple is the kind of person who makes things more fun simply by showing up. She is creative, musical, and wide-eyed about the world in a way that never gets old. She laughs easily, connects instantly, and has never once met a stranger. People are drawn to her without quite knowing why. She knows why — she's just too busy enjoying it to say.
She is also, quietly, one of the hardest workers in the family. The free spirit thing is real. So is the follow-through.
Maple holds a degree in agroecology, which makes her the most formally credentialed grower in the Grove household. She has thus far contributed to Lettuce Pray mainly as a consultant — dropping in with an observation, a suggestion, or a raised eyebrow at someone else's technique before floating off to her next adventure.
Her role in the grow is still developing. So is she. That's exactly how she likes it.
Banjo Grove
Chief Morale Officer, The Twelve Roots.
Banjo doesn't seem to think too much about life after he left the streets of Mississippi. He is, by all available evidence, simply delighted to be here.
Rescued and relocated to the Grove household with no formal interview process, Banjo slid into family life like he had always been there — tail moving, tongue out, absolutely no complaints about the arrangement. He is the Grove family's most enthusiastic member and also its most uncomplicated one. His needs are simple. A good walk. A warm nap. Someone to play with. The absence of car rides.
He does not bark. This is noted and appreciated by everyone.
What Banjo brings to The Twelve Roots is harder to measure but easy to feel — the particular kind of joy that lives in a dog who knows he is loved and has decided, completely, to love back. He runs into every room like something wonderful is about to happen.
Usually, because he's there, it does.
Ivy Grove
The Needy, The Mischievous, The Traveler.
This is Ivy. She belongs to Hazel, though Ivy has her own opinions about that. Affectionate, devoted, occasionally scheming, and absolutely certain that whatever you're doing right now would be better with her involved.
Rescue. Graduate of the school of making herself at home. Minor in counter surfing.
She walked into the Grove family and the room adjusted. It always does.