My Blessed Homestead has an interesting beginning. I have always been passionate about baking, cooking, health, and, in turn, sharing these things with those I love. The idea to share how to make sourdough was brewing in my mind. I was pondering how I could get starter to my friends who don’t live near me, or people interested in sourdough who live far away. I also thought about possibly teaching classes, except we lived in a tiny home at the time. I saw on our Cocolalla Community Facebook group someone had posted asking if anyone local sold sourdough! ME! I make sourdough! Then I thought, “oh that is scary…selling my bread…what if they don’t like it?!”. I prayed about it and decided to jump in and offer to make her a loaf. I was terrified. Yes, I had gifted loaves to friends and taken goods to dinners, but I had never sold it! She so kindly wrote a review on our community page about how yummy it was, and that others should get some too! I got requests from others for bread, and so it began.
The idea to do a FCFS farmstand was definitely a God idea. I am not quite sure how I even thought of it. We live near a beautiful Christmas tree farm right off of Cocolalla Loop, which is the main road that winds around the lake. I saw the owners out there working, and right then and there decided to go ask them if I could set up a stand. They were more than willing to let me! In return, I would give them a loaf of bread every now and then 😉 Now the brainstorming began. My husband is beyond talented. We were right in the middle of building our dream home, but he stopped it all to build me the most perfect little sourdough stand. He was 100% behind this new venture and my biggest cheerleader! We quickly milled some cedar logs we had laying by our sawmill. We cut, chiseled, stained and put tin on our little stand. He built a door with a plexi glass front. I wanted my sourdough to give a homey, loving, warm feel. Beyond just tasty bread, I wanted customers to feel they were somehow being spoiled. My talented brother and I worked together to design a logo that shows off all my passions. I, of course, had to add a scripture verse about bread to my label! The packaging needed to look professional, classy, yet still rustic. I scoured the internet for ideas, shopped for cute little signs and plants to put inside, made a money jar, hand painted two sourdough signs to hang on either side, and tried to make the stand a full experience. Then we hauled it down to the tree farm on our backhoe! The whole thing almost fell as we were moving it from our new build into the backhoe bucket! We got it all set though. There it sat by the road with a gorgeous backdrop of trees. I posted in our community group about my launch just hoping I’d get some foot traffic. I had loads of free samples and goodies for purchase. People seemed to be excited about it. My menu was made, the decorations were set up, the advertising was done, so all I could do was wait. I don’t know how many times I drove there just to see if anything was selling. To my surprise, I sold out of goods and free samples in no time!
From there, it was all trial and error. I offered a variety of items daily, then switched to direct orders during the week and FCFS only Saturdays, and now I only do direct orders. I have switched and perfected my recipe, changed up techniques, had flops, had successes, wanted to give up, wanted to expand, you name it. It has been a journey. I am so thankful that God brought me on this path though. I love what I do. I love that I can provide families with healthy food options. They can sit around a table enjoying warm sourdough together. In the morning, they can all indulge in a gooey cinnamon roll while drinking coffee. They can play games and laugh while eating a browned butter chocolate chip cookie as a treat. They can spoil their family with fresh local goods. They can have a treat for their air bnb guests. Most of all though, I love that I have gotten to know my community. I didn’t know anyone except my direct neighbors before. We have some amazing individuals here in Cocolalla.
I feel so blessed. So, thank you to those who have supported me, ordered from me, encouraged me, and reminded me not to give up. My Blessed Homestead is more than just sourdough. It’s bringing people together into community.
