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It’s not exactly typical to buy a house while on vacation and then move halfway across the country, but 6 years ago, that’s exactly what we did. At the time, I’d left a career in event planning, and spent a lot of time baking & cooking for new friends. So six months after we’d begun putting down roots, I decided I’d begin baking for the farmers market.
Growing up, whenever family would get together, everyone gathered in the kitchen. Holidays and weekends were filled with opportunities to learn how to bake, cook, can, or whatever else they could dream up. I remember my aunts whipping out the latest foodie magazine to share an article on bread or cheese, everyone oohing and ahhing over it, and then brainstorming how they could incorporate it into their next get-together. I missed those days.
I realized that there were so many transplants in my new town. They, too, were missing their hometowns and families. I wanted to create food to help ease their homesickness and inspire them to cook for others and break bread together. If we couldn’t be with family, we could create a new community here.
For the next 4 1/2 years, and without any formal training, I turned my lifelong love of creating food and feeding people into a full-fledged bakery. I started in my home kitchen–baking up to 36 hours at a time to meet demand, to landing in our first commercial kitchen in a haunted mansion (actual haunted…not charming Disneyland-haunted), back to our home kitchen, and eventually into a brick and mortar store in the middle of town.
During that time, I’d baked for the governor, created breads for popular restaurants in the area, and was even invited to do a live baking demo on Today in Nashville. It was then that I realized that the desire I’d had to have my own show wasn’t just a dream. This was just my first taste.
So, when an unexpected health scare forced me to close the bakery, I saw it as an opportunity to pivot and create a way to teach and empower people to cook and bake. That way even more people are being fed; heart, bellies, and soul.
Spring Hill Bakery now serves as an online baking school, teaching people to create delicious food, how to serve it, and how to feed people. It’s a mixture of handmade breads, incredible desserts, and comforting classics. I teach the how and the why behind baking, giving even beginning bakers the confidence to create. As it’s said in Ratatouille, “Anyone can cook,” I believe anyone can bake, too.
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