ICES = International Cake Exploration Societe!

You can visit their website @ www.ices.org and find out all you need to know if there is one .. which Im sure there is

Thank you for that info..

OK - pirate cake done and delivered - uploading a pic in a few - I just had to comment on your local bakeshop - I am not suprised either, but in this economy so many things can happen, and you never know when one day you can no longer go to work, not to mention there are so many people out there baking from home anyway. Its not like you can bake on the scale that a bakeshop does. I could only feasibly see me being able to do 2 to 3 cakes a week just because of space. AND - I know that the only business that I would be taking is from Publix, Costco or Walmart.

Ok - I just typed this whole rant about home bakers not being able to discount the way some shop owners seem to think we will be able to etc....but it was a little soap boxish so I decided to delete it...

I had a thought about going to my local cake decorating supply company to get them on board and see if I can leave some letters there for people to pick up as they come in - so maybe think about that. They sould be on board b/c it would increase their sales.... Anyone in Orlando want to go by Jesters?

Is today the last day of the session - can we begin the onslaught of letters next week??

I will be starting on my letters going out on Mon. The cake shop that I went to is a small shop, I mean by space everything that I ask for were common items she would have to order. I can order them my self, I wanted to keep the money here locally. So I make the 2 hr trip to Orlando .

my going to go to my local cake supply store ad ask her if i can leave flyers or infomation there. she gets a alot of home bakers so maybe we can spread the word that way

I think they have extended the session until May 8. Saw it on a news blurp somewhere. The only thing they are going to consider is the budget.

ok so we shouldnt send out letters till like the end of may right

Hey it's me from Texas popping in again. I don't know if one of you are doing this yet but one of our awesome CCers (lanibird) actually went through the CC memberlist and PM'd everyone in Texas to let them know about the thread that had started and about the bill that was about to be introduced. I really do think that is one way we got so many people and supporters involved.

Actually it's the reason I'm back on CC. I have been on a hiatus for a while (7 months) and then I received an email notification stating that I had a private message waiting for me. The rest is history.

I know it took her time because you have to PM each person individually but I know it would be worth it.

Just a thought!

Keep it up you guys! I really think you guys will be successful especially since you have time to plan and get it going before the next session.

As I'm sure you know the Texas bill has passed the 2nd (of 7 stages) and has also received 2 co-authors!!! So it IS possible.

Keep up the good work!

ok I spent all night send pms using the members list. I sent about 150 pms, my eyes are begining to blur.

ill keep working on the list

Yes let me know who i should write to? is it that address in one of the threads? are we using the same format or in our own words?

Nicole

I am in.....I will send out letters and pass them around to my baker friends too!!! I am so excited for even the small chance that this may work!

I really would like to help and if there is a final letter that we can send would someone please send me an PM and ill be more than happy to do what ever I can. Sorry I got thru about 3 pages and had to stop.

Maybe I didn't read this tread in it's entirety but for those of you who live in Florida, if you have the right set up at home, you can bake. The baking industry in Florida is regulated not by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation as that applies to restaurants. If you run a bakery the approval comes from the Department of Agriculture. Normally, as long as they permit you to have an "in home" bakery, then your local county or city permits can be issued if you are given the green light from Dept. of Agriculture. The big issue, however, is that you have to have a separate set up including all of the normal commercial bakery components, i.e. three compartment sink, drying racks, hand washing sink, etc. In a nutshell, if you close off your garage, make a small commercial kitchen including all that they require and do not need to pass through your home to go into this area this is acceptable. If you go to Earlene Moore's website, her specs on a kitchen would be the type of set up I am referring to. I have checked and rechecked in my area and it's no problem, I just have to get my husband to give up the garage and dedicate it only to baking as long as I have all the required components of a commercial kitchen. Essentially, there is some money required to get equipment but there are ways to set up a kitchen on a skelaton budget because you don't always have to buy expensive equipment - you probably already have your mixer, can bake in a regular type oven at first, can get a spare fridge etc. It can be done for sure but this my depend too on if you live in a restricted community so you'd have to check but again, there is the possibility to do it in Florida. You cannot advertise your home address but you may not need to anyway. The Department of Agriculture has a web site and if you go there and look up the requirements you may find that it is a possibility in your area. Basically the set up is just like a normal bakery, just smaller scale for your needs. Check it out, you may be surprised what can be done.

PSLCakeLady-

That's what they are trying to change (just as we are in Texas). We are trying to make it so we can bake and sell out of our house kitchen without the need to build a commercial setup in the garage. There are currently about 12 other states that have a cottage foods law in place that allows people to bake and sell directly from their home kitchen.

I hope that helps clarify a little.

Also PSLCakeLady - a problem I found when researching this way back was zoning - alot of ppl live in residential areas (me included) which is NOT zoned for commercial .. there lies the problem .. Cant do it even IF we made our own seperate kitchen!!

So the zoning laws need to be ammended also - another battle!!

Hi everyone! Thanks to Kayla1505 I got my PM to join and I'm fired up and ready to go!!!

KAYLA! you are AMAZING!!! I had started to go through the list and I got so overwhelmed from the beginning - you ROCK SISTER!!

PSLcakelady - the other problem with using the garage is that if there is an entrance from the garage to your home you cannot use it as your kitchen. Most garages enter into the home - making it almost impossible to bake from home. If (when!) we get this law passed you can start baking right in your regular kitchen without ANY added expense for equipment.

Thank you all so much for lending your support!!

I am going to repost all the important informtion - where to find your legislator information and the letters so you don't have to search through to find them.

Also - as previously stated we need to put them in the mail - if that is what will get them read then that is what we need to do!!

no problem I want everyone to know.

I underestimated how many members of cc there are. lol

its a big task, but I wanna help anyway I can

someone should put all of the sample letters in a word doc, like they did for the cupcake recipes.

and put them in their signature so its alot easier to find them

Keep me posted on this! I would love to help but like everyone else I have no clue on how to go about gettin this approved. This would help alot of parents out that want to stay home with theres kids something else they can do at home. I'm in Pensacola FL so if theres anything i can do just let me know and i will do my best. Best of Luck to everyone

OK, we will try this again. After quite a learning curve, I think I have the docs posted on the web and in my signature. There are four of them.

1. What we are trying to do - Gives the statue we are trying to change and a link to its location. Also a link to find your senator or rep

2. Janel's consolidation of the two Texas letters

3. The NJ letter

4. The non bakers support letter

Hope this helps, and will someone let me know if it works for them?

Thanks

ETA - It looks like the links do not work, but if you click on them, there is a dropdown box that lets you click again to to to the site.

Linedancer! you rock too!! thank you so much for doing that - I couldn't figure out how to add it to the signature line! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

Ok, I just tried to change my signature - lets see if it worked....

You are welcome, you have to check add signature when you do a new post, or you can change it in your profile to add it all the time. Let me know if there is anything else I can do. BTW, did you check to see if the links work??

I went back and checked that box on my profile - I checked the first link and it worked.

hopefully, the signature will add this time!

Looks like we've got it

yay linedancer !!