One month!
and the celebration of new life
Hi Everyone,
I’m grateful to able to send this newsletter to you. Thank you for being here, and being patient with me to publish my first newsletter since opening Tommy’s Whole Grain. We can now look back on the 27 previous newsletters published over the last 14 months to reflect on how we got here, on everything that we put into getting here, and the work left to do. Thank you everyone for having interest and supporting Tommy’s Whole Grain bakery and our mission to show that the most delicious bread and pastry is in fact the option with the highest nutrition and most positive environmental and social impacts. Whether you have been here since I first incorporated last November, joined after one of my popups in early 2023, or have recently subscribed since opening the bakery on December 11, 2023, thank you for showing interest and supporting my work. Special thanks to everyone that has been contributing as a paid subscriber or has donated to the GoFundMe campaign. It takes a village, and I value each one of you for caring to see me succeed.
I might not know where to begin, it has been a whirlwind. By mid-November, Charlie-May and I were pretty much living in the space. Renovations were just wrapping up. There were some small electrical jobs to finish, we had to get our coffee machine plumbed in, and our friend, Ehren, was finishing the wonderful tile work on the bar. On November 25, I ran the Meadows mill for the first time. This is the 8-inch burr mill that we use to make all of our flour with, generously loaned to us free of charge by Washington State University’s BreadLab. Sometimes the generosity and support we receive from the whole grain community seems limitless. November 27, we painted one of the inside walls white, while Ehren kept working. This is the first time the five of us full-time bakers were working together for our future bakery. November 30, Kat’s incredible window display went up, printed and installed by East Van Vinyl. We did our first team photos that day, too. Seeing the window display was one of the most exciting milestones to reach before opening. We knew it was actually going to happen, and there was a buzz on the street as people watched the progress.
December 1st, we painted the back wall in the mill room. It was raw cinder block, and soaked up nearly two buckets of paint. We also turned on our deck oven for the first time and tempered our stones throughout the day. Over the next few days, the electrical and plumbing inspections were passed. On December 6, we passed our health inspection. I cried. The next few days were spent unpackaging our small wares, receiving orders, and getting our mise-en-place together. As you know, and hearing this will never get old to me, we opened Vancouver’s first whole grain bakery on December 11.
I don’t know how many straight days Charlie-May and I worked to get to that point, and once we opened we didn’t slow down. For more than the first week I would pick up CM at 5:30 in the morning, and drive back home around 8:00PM. I cleared 100 hours the first week, but there wasn’t anything like it. I’ve never worked so hard in my life, yet found myself to be feeling so well. I really think we have created something different, and I owe so much credit to Charlie-May and our colleagues, Cheryl, Eli, Marianna and Ben for making this possible. Our opening day is still one of our best yet.
I hope over time we will learn to get that level of enthusiasm through the door more often. Two days after opening I was lucky enough to get to go speak with Gloria Macarenko of CBC about Tommy’s Whole Grain. I was so excited for the opportunity and had such little time to prepare. Charlie-May coached me on what to say, and we threw together as much baking and props that we could gather. I was very nervous for the interview, but I’ve heard people thought it was just fine. I can jokingly tell people that I cut myself on television, and that I nearly cried when Gloria mentioned Kat and our upcoming baby girl. I guess it was around this time that everything seems to make me emotional. Even writing this out right now..
I can’t believe it has been a month already. We have been visited by some our greatest friends and mentors, including Laura Valli and Simon Blackwell. Also it has given us the chance to sink our teeth even deeper into our relationship with Jim and Diane from Cedar Isle Farm, for whom I am incredibly grateful for. We also had our first event in the space. On December 30, our friends, Bev and Greg of Aiyaohno Cafe, did a Tea Pop-up and green tea tasting. It started off a little slower than I had hoped, but by the afternoon we had a great crowd in the bakery ordering pastries and Yamamasa tea-based lattes and trying green teas made from different parts of the plant. I hope we can do another event with them soon.
I can’t believe Christmas and New Year’s have passed, or how fast time has gone. 2023 was an amazing year for me, and so far 2024 has been beyond anything I could have ever imagined. As incredible as everything was in 2023 was, the best was still waiting for us in 2024. I am so happy to share with you, that on Sunday, January 7, at 2:30am, Kat gave birth to our beautiful daughter, Elena Juliana Aird. It’s meant I haven’t been at the bakery in a few days and that I don’t know what day it is anymore. But this time has been the most magical and fulfilling of my life so far.
We have big big goals for 2024, and I have to ask for your help to accomplish them. We believe in our bakery so much, and know that our community does, too. We’ve had 33 google reviews and have a 4.9 rating, and are making positive first impressions everyday, as well as starting to see return costumers. But there is a problem: our GoFundMe campaign has only reached 35% of its goal. This necessary community support is crucial for the bakery being able to make it past these first few challenging months, and until we reach our goal, the future of the bakery is in jeopardy. Please, if you can, make a donation now. It takes a village to boost us up so we can survive, so we can have a voice and a platform, and contribute to positive change in our community and our food system. Please donate, and tell everyone you can that you have. The response on our baking has been incredible, and I’m not surprised. Our baking is the results of our immense passion and our love and respect for the incredible ingredients we use. Please help us make sure we can continue this important work. I have fallen in love with the Downtown Eastside, and couldn’t imagine baking anywhere else. I want to see Tommy’s Whole Grain open for years to come.
I’ll be back at the bakery before too long, and I can’t wait to see you there. Excuse me if there are tears in my eyes, these days have been more than I ever expected. Thank you for all the love, kindness, and support. I couldn’t have done any of this without you. Happy New Year.