September Already

As I write this, the rain is coming down. The sound is soothing to me, as I enjoy a morning of quiet. This wasn’t the plan, I should be at the bakery whipping up more treats, instead I am filling my soul with some much needed quiet time. I am learning to cherish these times when they are offered. This morning my sweet husband turned to me and said, “stay in bed”. He knew that I was exhausted, so thoughtfully he would get the bakery opened and operated until Amy arrived at 8:00. I’m so thankful for Amy. She has been a Godsend. She has the kindest soul and she has a passion for baking like I do.

God’s Plan

So this morning as I have time to read my devotional, which is spot-on for the day. Funny how that happens….. (yes, I know it’s not a coincidence), I thought it was a good time to share some thoughts. We are fast approaching our one year anniversary. One year ago on September 26th, we opened our doors. Matthew and I worked tirelessly to get the place just the way I imagined it to be. Neither of us had ever physically worked so hard on anything before. Our world was in the middle of a Pandemic and life as we knew it seemed uncertain, yet God had given us a vision and the drive to press forward. Just take a look at the before and after pictures that I have posted and you can get a tiny glimpse of the work .

Challenge is good

Most of you may know that I am a home baker that has always had a hunger, (pun intended) to bake for anyone willing to eat the said bake. To say that I was a little naive about what it would take to keep up a bakery is a vast understatement. However, the bigger the challenge the better I thrive. When I look back to last September and my business plan for daily activity, well let’s just say, everything has changed. Everyday we learn and change something and approach something differently. We are still learning and we are thriving.

Baked Fresh

Not to toot our own horn, but yet maybe I will for a brief sentence or three. Amy and I make and bake, from scratch every single item that is at our bakery. That is almost unheard of…… Every week we get at least one person who asks us where our bread is made or where we purchase our fillings, or how fresh is each item. I love the question of , “how old are your baked goods?’ We bake fresh each and every day. The turn over is swift and our families and friends reap the benefits of any so called stale bakes.

Hence the reason for a quiet morning. Before Amy started working for us full time just before Easter, I was putting in 16 to 18 hour days to keep up with the demand. Thankfully, Amy and I have a great rhythm, and are learning each new day, just what each of our strengths are. We are both still exhausted but in a good way…..

Our community has been so supportive over our first year. Everyone knows that since the pandemic started the challenges for small businesses have been extreme. We have been blessed at the bakery. First, we opened the doors in the middle of the pandemic, so we don’t know any different. Second, Matthew and I have been diligent as to how we financially approach the business. God has blessed us and we are debt free and thriving.

Community

On the subject of community… It is our greatest desire to provide our community with a quant neighborhood bake shop. It’s for your pleasure and enjoyment. We are here to serve you. Now in saying that, we are small. We are Not a supermarket or a chain of bakeries. We have a huge baking staff of 2…. That means we can not fill everyone’s desire and we won’t score a homerun with every bake. But when we do drop a ball, we will recover, learn and hit it out of the park the next time around… Can you tell I spent years as a baseball mom ??

Did you catch that I mentioned we are coming up on our One Year Anniversary ?? We will be celebrating Friday September 24th thru Sunday September 26th. Stay tuned for more information on our celebration !! Thank you for all the warm fuzzy, critical critique and carb hungry bellies !!