catching up

It seems it's been awhile. Like, a really long while. What have we been up to?

Most importantly, this...

We're getting SO close to opening! It's been a long, hard road with lots of unexpected bumps along the way. Nate's been working his butt off doing all of the work himself and it's really starting to come together. The entire place had to be pretty much gutted. It's been so much work and I'm so proud of him. We hope to be able to open sometime next month. More pics soon.

Of course there's been a lot of this...

Nate's getting in his practice doing weekly baking and making our local friends very happy.

And then there's this kid...

Getting my soap and jewelry ready for Etsy...

 

 

And a little bit of time for fun...

There have been more happenings, but we lost a camera along the way.

And what would life be without a nice, big curve ball? We've been loving this house we moved into over Christmas and though we're always on the lookout for the perfect small farm to buy, we had decided to call this place home for now and focus our energy on the bakery. All of our money has gone into the bakery anyway. But life has other plans. A few weeks ago we got a call telling us that our landlord needs this house for a family member and that he's unable to renew our lease. What?! So let's add looking for, moving and settling into a new house (AGAIN) to our already full plates as we try to open this business.

Send us some love y'all.

happy spring!

We had a beautiful day Sunday, as we celebrated Spring with an Easter twist. We didn't bother celebrating when he was younger, so it was a first for Zander. He had already heard some things about Easter, but I was determined to not make the day all about candy. In fact, before Sunday, Zander had never even had candy.

We had an egg hunt with eggs filled with cars, sea creatures, bouncy balls and stickers. I managed to include a few fruit juice-sweetened lollipops and gummy bears and the boy was over the moon.

After our egg hunt at home, we headed over to celebrate the day with our good friends Ted and Kathy at The Stone Camp, for their annual egg hunt which they host for friends and family. Ted and Kathy live entirely off the grid and have created a beautiful corner of the earth which they call home. They're always so kind and welcoming. The place is inspiring and full of magic and wonder, and it's the best place for an egg hunt!

They recycle everything and have zero waste. All of the items that most would consider trash, are carefully cleaned and sorted for future reuse. I think all of the different containers are my favorite part, though there's just so much to love about this place.

 

The eggs here were filled with coins and real candy. We did the Stone Camp egg hunt last year, but Zander was only 2. He was just so excited to find eggs that he didn't even catch on that there was stuff inside. I was able to empty them out and give the candy away to the older kids. I was unsure of how this was going to work this year. He was so excited to open the eggs and find candy!! I told him we were going to save it for later, thinking that maybe I could make a trade for some healthier stuff. To my surprise, he not only agreed to wait and eat it, but he completely forgot about it. I may have allowed a few jelly beans, though.

It was a great day. Zander woke up the next day asking if we could go find more Easter eggs. Happy Spring!

WildFire!

It's been awhile. We're settling into our new home and focusing on starting our new bakery business, WildFire. The name WildFire incorporates our love of traditional sourdough, also known as wild yeast, and the wood fire that does all of our baking. We're still working on our website, but we've started a Facebook page. We'll be sharing updates and our progress on the bakery there.

Check it out here:www.facebook.com/WildFireBread

Catching up...

After a long wait for the parts to be fabricated, and much trial and error with installation, Nate finished the baking doors for the oven. It wasn't an easy process, to say the least, but if anyone could figure it out, it's Nate! This means that aside from the aesthetic exterior, this oven is ready for baking. And the first chance we got, we did just that. We fired that baby up last night and made some long awaited pizza!

These doors are 8.5 inches thick, with vents that open and close. This will allow us to control the flow of air to the fire and keep more heat in the oven.

The doors open fully to allow full access to the 48" x 60" hearth.

The first pizza!!!!!

Happiness.

this christmas

Our Christmas this year was a little different than those of years past. This year, it was spent moving.

Our rental/work arrangement was perfect for us when we needed it almost 2 years ago, but as our plans began to evolve, it was becoming clear that it wasn't the best fit for us. Our main priority right now is getting the bakery up and running. Our animal work responsibilities required a lot of our time and with Nate gone most of the time working on the oven and bakery, the responsibility was mine. It took some juggling with Zander, but it was manageable. Ultimately, we both need to be able to focus our time and energy on this new business.

The last month has been pretty rough. We had intended to take our time with the decision to leave, giving both parties plenty of time to find other arrangements, but let's just say that both parties didn't feel that way. The owners were unhappy with our decision and were anxious to have new tenants move in and take over our work position. Though we knew it was the right thing for us, it put a ton of pressure on us to find something quick. In December, no less.

We needed to stay close to town, where the bakery is located, as we'll be spending a lot of time there. Although buying a small farm in the area is our goal, we knew we needed to find a comfortable place to rent, while we start the business and continue to look for the right place. There wasn't much available in this small town of ours, and as the days passed, the stress increased. It was hard to keep our spirits up and it was hard for Zander, who had no understanding of all that was going on. And Christmas cheer? Virtually non-existent. We found a place that we thought we could make work and were just about to commit, as it was our only choice, when we heard about another one. On December 20th, we looked at the new place and were happy to find that it fit our needs perfectly. We signed a lease on the 22nd and moved over Christmas eve and Christmas day.

To say that this journey has been stressful would be an understatement. We've moved a lot and I'm pretty good at it, but this time was different. Zander was confused, emotional and needy. I'm sure he was feeling my stress, but it made it so much harder for me emotionally to be worrying about him. I started to fall apart the day before the move, but Nate helped me get it together by reminding me that we were almost there. We were so incredibly lucky to have the support system of our friends who not only gave up their Christmas eve to help us move, but also watched Zander for the entire day. This enabled us to try to set the new house up just enough that it wasn't complete chaos when we brought him home that night. More friends welcomed us into their home that night for a holiday celebration filling our hearts, bellies and dog-tired bodies.

With a three year-old who is just beginning to understand Christmas, it was a little depressing to not have a tree or any decorations, but we were able to salvage Christmas after all. Santa managed to find us in our new house, even if his presents were unwrapped and still in boxes, and our family came a few days later with trees, decorations and a complete dinner.

It's been quite an emotionally exhausting adventure. December is a hard month to be worrying about where your family is going to live. To hear Zander tell us that he's so happy in his new house, makes it all worth it. Being able to sit here, in front of this roaring fire, recounting the events of the past month isn't bad either.

I'm sure we'll do this all over again someday. But next time, it will be because we have a successful wood-fired bakery business and we've found the perfect farm.

Until then, this is home.