Many people have asked me over the years how I got started making pies out of my home, and I’m always happy to provide my best advice. There are so many great family recipes that have potential to do great business.
Think of a family tradition that you all love — it could be an opportunity to make more money and share with the world something great from your kitchen!
The MSU Extension office offers regular sessions in Horticulture and Agriculture that can explain how to get started. In addressing the latest applicable laws, they do a great job of explaining how it is now easier than ever to begin a home food business.
Please take a look at this link for more details. There are new sessions starting often! Bon appétit!
December 23rd, 2010 · in Our Thoughts
My good friend Helga is so entrepreneurial! From building her own sustainable home to giving the best facial or back massage, I’m always impressed with her creativity.
Helga is one of the most openminded people I know. Most recently, my beautiful German friend has started her own business called Choices. She makes soaps and lotions the old fashioned, handmade way, using only natural ingredients — jojoba, olive and coconut oils in her soaps and pure essential oils in her lotions.
A couple of years ago I asked Helga to come to my house around Christmastime as a treat and learning experience for my kids. She brought a truckload of oils for lotion-making along with at least 75 different essential oils to blend and scent. My kids got a firsthand lesson! By the end of our party, my entire kitchen was slippery just like our arms, legs and faces!
Continue “Sharing the Entrepreneurial Spirit”…
December 12th, 2010 · in Our Thoughts
Maybe this looks like some kind of drug paraphernalia. But it isn’t — unless you think smelling vapors of essential oils of eucalypts and spruce can get you high.
Yes, this is a diffuser! My husband Dave has taken an interest in aromatherapy and has become a home apothecary! Everyone is getting Dave’s own special blends of essential oils for Christmas. (Don’t tell the kids. I’m sure they don’t read my blog anyway, so no Christmas surprises spoiled.)
Dave gave me this wonderful diffuser as an early Christmas present to help me improve from a recent cold. And it’s amazing how well it works! After feeling lousy nearing the end of our vacation in Florida, I’ve been regularly adding oils of eucalypts, pine and lavender to a little bit of Kleenex. In the past, bronchitis may have already settled hard in my lungs. This time, however, the oils have killed off any bacteria and have helped me to get better, faster.
Thanks, Dave — this is a great gift. I love it and want one for work!
September 7th, 2010 · in Our Thoughts
After another great Labor Day at Achatz Handmade Pie Co. (thanks to all of our customers!), I made my way back from the Oxford shop ready for a little R&R. As luck would have it — minutes from the comforts of home — I was stopped abruptly by the Romeo Peach Festival parade.
But you never know when something positive can come from the unexpected: the detour led me right past the annual Romeo Craft Labor Show! I knew that I had to stop in.
We used to sell at this craft show every year; it was a great venue. Since then, with so many other projects at hand we haven’t had time to return. But it’s tough not to at least pay a visit.
I was lingering at a craft booth of handmade Christmas decorations, admiring and shopping. A husband and wife team were busy at work personalizing the decorations for customers.
Rob and Renee have been coming for years.
I mentioned I used to sell pies at the show. Their eyes lit up.
“Achatz Pies?”
Continue “A Success Story at the Romeo Craft Labor Show”…
September 3rd, 2010 · in Our Thoughts
I love this time of summer. All of the heirloom tomatoes come ripe and ready for canning. Their smell and taste is so amazing — much different from the genetically engineered product you might find at an average supermarket.
So far my husband Dave has canned a few dozen quarts. That’s right, Dave enjoys canning too. And he has been teaching our three daughters how to preserve food — a lost art. (Our youngest son, Zack, already knows how.)
Dave and Zack planted the garden together and are working on a few raised beds this year. Zack loves to cook; it’s in the blood. He is very creative and uses many of the herbs he’s planted in the kitchen. Truly great chefs like to know exactly where their foods come from.
Even though our garden is full of weeds, and we don’t spend the time it takes to really make it beautiful and abundant, our kids still get the idea.
One friend asked, “Why plant a garden when the farmer’s market is just around the corner?” That’s true, but not the point. We are trying to teach our children to be self sufficient and to learn how to manage the soil, plant, grow and harvest in the most organic way. All part of a bigger picture. It’s a great accomplishment to see rows of home-grown canned goods on the shelf!
Did you know that honeybees must visit 2,000,000 flowers to make only a single pound of delicious honey? It takes 150 bees to make one teaspoon of this golden nectar!
I recently visited Pete and Paul Blake of Blake’s Orchards and Cider Mill in Armada. They operate three farms equaling 700 acres and honeybees are some of their hardest workers!
Continue “The Wonderful World of Honeybees at Blake’s Orchards”…
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