The Magic of a Quiet Day

Yesterday was wonderfully busy.

Today was wonderfully quiet.

I imagine that's how the universe keeps us humble. Just when you think you've figured things out, it hands you a quiet day and says, "Go make something."

So I baked.

I'm not entirely sure where my love of baking began. Maybe it was my Easy-Bake Oven, which somehow convinced an entire generation of children that a light bulb was a perfectly reasonable heat source.

I mostly remember what went wrong.

The frosting that somehow became marshmallow.

The cakes that could have doubled as coasters.

The pizza dough came from a box because I hadn't yet learned that yeast can't be hurried. Bread has its own schedule, and it has absolutely no interest in ours.

Come to think of it...neither does life.

Today I decided to tackle an enriched yeast dough. (Thank you, The Great British Bake Off, for teaching me terms that make me sound far more qualified than I actually am.)

While the dough was happily proving, I made chocolate chip cookie bars with chickpea flour—because apparently I can't make dessert without trying to convince it to be healthy. Then came vegan blueberry and peanut butter mini cheesecakes, followed by strawberry-rhubarb sweet rolls made with jam from our own rhubarb patch.

Miraculously...

Everything worked.

Nothing caught fire.

Nobody cried.

The quiet gave me time to think.

Over the past six years, Rob and I have built a coffee shop, a farmhouse store, gardens, workshops, skincare, Aura Sprays, artwork, and more dreams than we could have imagined.

We've also learned something that yeast knew all along.

You can't rush what matters.

Not bread.

Not gardens.

Not people.

Not community.

Our hope has never been to simply build a coffee shop. It's to create a place where people can slow down, reconnect, and feel welcome.

There are no requirements to visit.

You don't need to be interested in shamanism.

You don't need to be looking for therapy.

You don't even need to order a cup of coffee.

You can simply stop by, wander through the woods, visit the river, sit in the field, or listen to the birds and the very opinionated red squirrels.

Come by.

Stay awhile.

See what finds you.