All posts filed under: Uncategorized

A Heritage Grain Moment: Farmer Mai and the Path to Our Table

June 24, 2025
by Karen Quinones
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I have some incredibly meaningful news to share with you — the kind that feels like a full-circle moment after years of slow, intentional work. Through the generosity and connections of a few dear friends — Roe at Kings Roost, Nate from Fat Uncle Farms, and Katie from Mimsys_munchies Bakery — I now have in my hands a small but mighty harvest of heritage grain grown by someone extraordinary: Mai Nguyen, also known as Farmer Mai. Who is Farmer […]

Recipe Use & Adaptation Guide for Cottage Bakers

June 22, 2025
by Karen Quinones
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Can you sell food made from someone else’s recipe found online or in a cookbook? As a self-taught cottage baker these are important ethical questions I had to ask myself. I cannot create recipes out of thin air. I certainly didn’t learn sourdough on my own. I absolutely learned from cookbooks and online. After reading the Tartine cookbook, I settled on that as the primary way I approach baking. I may have increased my wheat […]

How to Maintain Focus and Balance in Business

June 3, 2025
by Karen Quinones
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I get asked all the time how I avoid burnout. The honest answer? I’m still figuring it out. As a small business owner/micro-baker, we are multi-hyphenate—baker, recipe developer, bookkeeper, delivery driver, social media manager, customer service rep, cleaner. I also receive 30 to 50 messages a day—texts, emails, DMs. I’ve always taken pride in making people feel heard and answering each question thoughtfully and in a timely manner. But lately, I’ve noticed that constant communication […]

The small business conundrum

September 15, 2024
by Karen Quinones
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When I started this business three and a half years ago, I was very wide-eyed and inspired to bring my community the highest quality sourdough and desserts money can buy. I pride myself on using as many organic ingredients as possible, even down to the sugar. As this small business started to grow, my costs started to grow as well. The upfront costs took almost two years to pay off: mixer, fermentation refrigerator, Simply Bread […]

Cook to Baker

October 2, 2023
by Karen Quinones
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So much has changed since my last Karen’s Kitchen-recipes for the home-cook blog entry. We were still in the thick of the pandemic and my life was pivoting from the home-cook who shared her tried and true recipes to becoming a sourdough baker. My last entry was about working my way through the Tartine cookbook and sharing my journey with you. Life had different plans for me. Instead, of making every recipe from a cookbook. […]