Rachael's journey

Hey guys!! Thank you SO much for coming to visit my page. Baking is my families bread and butter (every pun intended) and it's our passion to bring you every ounce (yes, pun again..hehe) of enjoyment through my baked goods. So, let me answer some common questions you all often ask: 

Have you always baked?

Never to sell and before selling I had only ever made a couple loaves of bread and a handful of yeasted items in my life! But, I've always found joy in baking for fun and I grew up around delish scratch baking by my Mom & Step-Mom throughout our childhood so quality and happy memories surrounding quality baked goodies from the heart are instilled in me. Bringing it to others now is just the icing on the cake.

How long have you been doing this?

Up until Covid lockdowns I had been with the same direct sales company selling bags and totes for 8.5 years! I LOVED being around people and doing home parties, plus the bag perks were awesome! However, everything got shut down and all of my home parties cancelled indefinitely. I have never been one to just sit in from of my computer (of course Facebook partying was an option) and people just weren't in the position to spend hard earned money on luxuries so I was under a HUGE amount of stress to pivot and provide for my family. I turned to baking simply to relieve stress and to feed my family something affordable and from the heart while we figured things out. I taught myself how to bake bread and opened a few of my Mom's recipes to bring myself closer to her, which had been so hard after her death. 

Soon after friends and family were asking to buy it and do porch pick ups. Shortly after that my husband built me a driveway stand for selling and not long after that we opened Dan's Farm Shack on 149 as a bricks and mortar to sell from. My business and baking to sell happened by a lovely accident of stress baking too much lol!

Long story short...I'm in my 5th year.

What's next for you? What are your dreams?

You know, I'm asked this more times than I can count. I like to think more along the lines of, "What's now for me." When I think to how everything has happened in my life and the timeliness of it ... it's been no accident. I'm being led in a direction and I intend to follow it. So, what's being placed in front of me now is an AMAZING opportunity to build out a bakery kitchen at diagonal from Bean's Country Store in Queensbury. 

I purchased half of the old Mohican Grange building at Oneida Corners and I can't wait to be a part of bringing the liveliness of what was there back to life. As you can imagine the space needed a COMPLETE overhaul right down to the studs and replacing of all of the electrical, repair of the foundation and block work, replacement of HVAC, well...basically an entirely new space! When it's done it will be the headquarters of all of the baking for Rachael's Bread! YAY!!

My family deserves their home back and a more present Mom and wife. That's what this building will allow for. It's difficult to be present when you're surrounded by the temptations of work all day long and you can't "leave." My dream consists of having my children (14 & 16) and my husband working with me in the new space with properly sized equipment so that I can work less than 12-15 hour days and being able to come HOME to a space that hasn't succumb to a massive take over and is just for relaxing and memory making :) I'm excited to see what passions arise from them while in the new space as well! What an amazing opportunity for my kids!! 

The rest of the awesomeness that is ahead for me will unfold over time but will not be limited to baking. The space has so much potential and will allow for shipping, events, homeschooling headquarters and more! 

Tell us about "a day in the life" of a micro baker

Oh gosh, are you sure you want to know? Haha! It's super demanding and busy but I just love it! If you're passionate about something it's not work anymore as long as those you surround yourself with are equally understanding and supportive. Your positive reviews and feedback help TREMENDOUSLY with my drive & passion so keep that up! 

For the last 3 years I work 7 days a week (in the summer) around the clock essentially. That's with being closed 3 days a week. There's no fairy tale schedule around this labor of love. Hence the decision to pivot to midweek work hours and weekends off. This will allow for some much deserved dedicated family time that we've been severely lacking while we follow this amazing biz in any direction it's willing to take us. It's time to reign in the steering juuuuuust a tad so that we can pour into our family while the teens still enjoy our company and so that we can be better stewards of our faith as a family. 

Oh and hey...as if we weren't busy enough we are also a homeschooling family and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about me and my family's story! 

~Rachael, Dan, Mason & Maddie