FOOD IS SYNONYMOUS WITH COMMUNITY. We enjoy sharing every jar of pickles or loaf of zucchini bread with friends, family and our bed and breakfast guests. We love the land, the delicious treats that can be created from our harvest of it and the grins that accompany every bite.
This book champions community too. Without the amazing creativity, passion and talents of home cooks everywhere, our sense of taste would go dormant. The food you create in your home kitchens are what this book both celebrates and inspires. Special thanks to those cottage food entrepreneurs who graciously shared their stories for this book: Felicia Hill (FH Cakes), Erin Schneider and Rob McClure (Hilltop Community Farm), Isa Lunsford (Sweet Pick Me Ups Bakery LLC, LCC), Jennifer Evans (Cookies Plz), Suzy Zimmermann (Queen of Cake and Events), Rhonda L. Jones (Chez Moi Bakery), Barbara Preston (Hana Lulu’s Candy), Regina Dlugokencky (Seedsower Farm), Dorothy Stainbrook (HeathGlen’s Farm & Kitchen) and Liz James (The Happy Tomato). Nell Newman couldn’t have set the tone for the book better.
Thanks, also, to David Crabill of Forrager.com, who helped put cottage foods on the map and continues to guide the movement by providing a directory, a forum for discussion and a quick reference guide to what’s happening in every state. Appreciation goes out to Rachel Armstrong, founder and executive director of Farm Commons, for her legal insight and savvy support for small-scale farmers looking to diversify into value-added products. We offer a shout out to the Wisconsin Farmers Union for collaboratively supporting our efforts to expand the cottage food legislation in our state to include baked goods through the Cookie Bill. Thanks also to the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) and Renewing the Countryside for championing our work and the voices of rural food and farm businesses.
Without the talents of our editor, Scott Steedman, and the visionary guidance of New Society Publishers — Ingrid Witvoet, Sue Custance and Mary Jane Jessen, and all the marketing folks — our book would be nothing more than a half-baked idea. And once again, Diane McIntosh designed the perfect cover.
Finally, to our son, Liam, we cannot thank you more for your patience as Mom and Dad pecked away at the keyboard — and your never-ending sense of humor, which kept us laughing. While our parents, Aelita and Walt Kivirist and Susan Ivanko, may never have created a product in their own kitchens for market, their skills behind the counter provided the foundation for our culinary career today. They say you learn most by example, repeated over and over again.