A Quacking Way of Life: Pop Up Bakery

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I’ve got the chicken coop. Got the chickens. Three of them are laying six days a week. Three haven’t started yet. (But ooh, wait, we had an extra egg today – you wouldn’t believe the excitement that has brought!)  I pick out their mess from the coop (almost) every day keeping it nice and fresh, replenish the wood shavings two or three times a week and have disinfected the coop twice in two months (this is more than I need to, but I can’t help myself). I’ve also moved the coop and run three times to fresh grass and have learned how to hold the chickens upside down to cover them in red mite powder. Now that was fun. We are now waiting on a quote from a garden man to put in a large, permanent run which the chickens will stay in all the time. This should keep them safe – especially over winter.

Yes, things are ticking along nicely.

So. What’s next?

In my first article for Bea Magazine I talked about opening a Pop up Bakery. This is still something I’m inspired to do. But where on earth do I start? What about environmental health, insurance, packaging? It is all extremely daunting.

Well, Vanessa Kimbell, author of Prepped (I was one of her fifty recipe testers), has this covered. Vanessa is a huge inspiration to me. I am in awe of her. She has achieved so much and if she decides she’d like to do something – such as write a recipe book – she just goes ahead and does it. She’d read about Rose Prince starting a pop-up bakery with her children. And so developed her own version. Then developed courses in her own home where she unselfishly imparts her wisdom on what she’s learned about the whole process.

I went to her Pop up Bakery Class a few weeks ago. Around Vanessa’s kitchen table we learned about all the things I’d been anxious about. And was also given information I hadn’t even thought about. It was a fantastic insight. Next though, is learning how to make sourdough effectively and on a large scale. I’m hoping to pop back to Vanessa’s to also learn about that.

So yes, the thought of setting up my own Pop up Bakery is daunting. Especially as I don’t even have an oven at the moment. But then, the thought of having six chickens some six months ago also daunted me. Yet here I am. And planning to get twelve more come Spring.

*Photograph reproduced from Vanessa Kimbell’s website.

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Category : Bea Business, Bea Careers, Bea Creative, Bea Delicious, Bea Inspired
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