Looking Back at the 2023 Market Season
THANK YOU to everyone who joined me for the markets this year! Whether you tasted my bread once or bought it every time you came to the market, I appreciate you! Special thanks to my repeat customers, especially those I’ve been serving since I started this business in 2021!
This year challenged me in ways I could never have predicted. First came the challenge of adding the Rofco B40 bread oven to my process.
I’m so grateful my new oven was installed and ready to use by the time the markets started, but my first time completely filling it was actually the day before the Springs Vegan Market. Talk about winging it!
I had heard, though, that bakers sometimes need to take risks when incorporating new equipment. Sometimes you just have to bake in the new oven before you fully know how, and you learn by doing.
That’s exactly what I did with the Rofco. I filled it with dough for loaves, only knowing roughly how long I should leave them inside, and they turned out beautifully!
Sometimes baking is high risk, high reward.
The Rofco was essential to my success this summer. Before, I had only been able to bake two loaves at a time in my regular home oven. With the Rofco, I can now bake NINE LOAVES at a time! For most of the summer I did six at a time, cutting my baking time by a third (and keeping my house from overheating).
Another challenge was incorporating helpers. You might be wondering why that would be a challenge; I had help for the first time ever! I had less work to do and no longer had to work myself half to death for every market!
(In theory.)
In reality, managing other people is way different from only managing yourself. I hired an employee (shoutout to Claire!!) to help me on Thursday nights and Friday mornings with the bread. But before she could help me, I obviously had to teach her how.
I had to verbalize a process I had never fully explained to anyone. I had to let go of differences in speed and technique when the end result was the same.
Hiring an employee was well worth the money and the patience for her learning curve. I learned to accept that my specific way is not the only way to get things done. I got to take breaks and eat regular meals for the first time out of any market season I’ve done. I learned that I had been doing the job of three people on market prep days. (I still did the job of at least two, most times. Eighteen-hour work days suck, but I get through them.)
In addition to hiring Claire, my partner Christian was there to help me boil bagels, wrap loaves, load the car, and sell bread at every market this year. Accepting help is hard for me, especially when it’s so freely offered and non-transactional. I won’t get into that here, but suffice to say I’m so grateful to have a partner who wants to see me succeed and does everything they can to help me in that.
And that’s pretty much a wrap for this 2023 farmer’s market season! I had so much fun baking, meeting new customers and vendors, and exercising my passion for good bread.
I don’t do this because it’s easy; it definitely is not easy. I come back to the markets year after year because I know I have something valuable to give to you. Something for you to enjoy with your family and friends, or even just by yourself on your lunch break.
Thank you to the Springs Vegan Market and the Backyard Market in Black Forest for having me this year. Until the next one!
Thank you for reading!
You can follow Rustic Peak Sourdough on Instagram and Facebook @rusticpeaksourdough
Following the markets, Porch Pickup orders are now open!
