I spent a lot of time trying to read and absorb all the wonderful information everyone so freely gives and decided to go ahead and say hi and THANK YOU. I tell people I am a therapy baker lol I use baking to de-stress and as family time. I am a scratch baker just because its my preference and I enjoy the time I put in. Nothing wrong with box mixes just not my thing. I make breads as well as cakes as sometimes I need  to work out frustrations kneading dough.

  I am going through process to sell at our local Farmers Market and a wee excited. Haha I lie I am a lot excited. I am a stay at home mom and full time caretaker to my almost 22 yr old who has epilepsy, autism and organic brain disease and suffers from hallucinations and voices. I am also mom to a 3 yr old who keeps me on my toes and LOVES to bake and even at 3 adds her own ingredients she thinks sounds good. She has her own little piping set and she sees it only as fun mommy time but I know its so much more than that. I also have a 17 yr old son who is a wonderful tester as he has texture issues and now uses a term  I learned here "mouth feel". He also makes the best scratch biscuits I have ever eaten. My oldest daughter has given me two grandbabies that see"going to grandmas" as "time to bake".

  My grandmother was always a huge influence on me growing up as she always baked from scratch and NEVER measured anything. I am trying so hard to measure things for consistency but find myself if just for us in house, getting lost in thought and doing same thing. My mom didn't bake much from scratch but could decorate beautiful cakes unfortunately they never tasted very good. She just did not get the Taste Good gene when it came to cooking. I always wanted my kids and grands to enjoy their foods not just have eye appeal and find myself always going to old family recipes that I have begged for and compiled into a book for my children.

 My husband just a month ago retired after 20 years in military and we have moved back to our small country home town. I now have access to fresh fruits and vegetables and  can not wait to start having homemade jams of all flavors to play with. Just this past month family have given me muscadines, pears, peaches and figs to can and already canned blackberries, my mind is awhirl with ideas lol

AHi!!! Really beautiful to read a little bit about your life, good luck with your farmers market! And once again welcome x

Welcome to CC!