Feeding My Soul: Part 1

Come With Me!

Yep, I did it. I finally made the decision of leaving my teacher life for the life of baking. And man, it was not an easy one. So many late night chats with my husband, phone calls with my mom, articles read, and soul searching done, all to realize that I know what I need. I need to feed my soul.

All my life, I've learned to take care of my body and my mind, and I've gotten really good at it. Exercise, drink plenty of water, do yoga, mindfulness, go outside. I can do all of this really well and track it all in my journal. But I realized that I have been neglecting the most important part of myself: my soul.

What feeds my soul? And how can I feed my soul each day while being productive and financially capable? I have to have passions, right?

Hubs and I hiking in AZ

The Turning Point

I've been a preschool teacher ever since I was able, eventually having babies and getting to be their teacher as they've grown. And I have loved it. I feel confident in my skills as a teacher, and I've genuinely enjoyed my work. But, here we are, my kids 5 and 3, with a decision to make. We've always felt pulled to homeschool and I've dreamt of all that entails for as long as we've had kiddos. I could see us doing extracurriculars, spending so much time outside, and leaning into individualized learning.

Homeschooling while full time teaching was not going to be possible, so we were at a crossroads. I've always had a passion for vegan baking. I started this business as a very small, very random side hustle that I could do for a couple vendor shows a year and get my fill. So naturally, this felt like the direction to go, because everything is already started, but what a huge risk to take. Not only for me but for my husband and our kids.

Thanks to therapy (shout out to Dr. Maria), I decided to take the leap for myself. I can totally do this! But how??

Bhima and I : At SASHA Farm

Researching the Microbakery Concept

First I had to understand if I could really do all the things I'm aiming to accomplish. Can I make x amount of money each week realistically, while full time teaching my two kids, while keeping up a house and a marriage and a social life and allllllll the things?! It sounded overwhelming and scary and stressful. I had no idea where to begin other than with a ridiculous sense of confidence and an acceptance that I will probably fail at some point, so why not just try?

I started where everyone would start: social media. Now I know that that may develop a false sense of reality, but I needed something to jumpstart my confidence. I found a couple creators who were doing exactly what I was wanting to do; they were achieving my dream. Okay, it was a possibility! I can do this.

From Cottage Foods to Food Licenses

When I created Handmade and Homegrown, I decided to do it from my home kitchen, under the Michigan Cottage Food Law, where I could make things as long as I followed a few basic rules, and I could only make under $25,000 per year. Easy, it was just a side gig.

Now that I was needing this bakery to be at least a part time job, where I could supplement my income while staying home with the babes, 25 grand wasn't going to cut it. Insert a need for a food license, where there were three options:

• Rent out a shared kitchen space

• Purchase a storefront

• Build a separate building on our property

Being that the goal was to be able to bake while homeschooling, allowing our days to be flexible and not counting on outside babysitters or other schooling, the option I chose needed to be close to home, or at least where we would homeschool from. Constructing a second building was for sure the answer. We are lucky to be on a few acres which allows us some space to build on, and our county allows its residents to build on their property for business purposes, which is not a normal thing I've learned. So yay us!

Making the decision to just build and go for it was a huge step for me. I have been on the fence about making this bakery be a full time venture for years, and now it seems like since my husband and I made this decision, it's so official. I even put in my last day for my teaching gig, so I have a date set when this whole new adventure is going to begin. So crazy, so scary, but so exciting! It feels good to bet on myself. I can see the dream unfolding, new roads opening for me. As a parent and a spouse, its seldom that you choose to take a risk based on blind hope alone, and even though we have somewhat of a game plan, it's still so many emotions rolled into one. Fear hesitation, anxiousness, and imposter syndrome are high on the list, but so is freedom, excitement, confidence, and calmness. So much calm, which is strange to feel with such a large decision, but I feel calm.

My very first "fancy cupcake" before H&H was created

Next Steps

After chatting with what seems like way too many government employees, I got the forms I need to fill out, the general steps to take, and the people I will be in contact with. Now, follow me as I begin this crazy process, the highs and the lows we experience, the roadblocks we encounter, and what we learn when it's all said and done. We're so excited to see what we can turn this into!

Click for Part 2!