Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim & George Anderson.
Hi Kim & George, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
After the loss of our daughter in 2018, we were lost ourselves. Eventually, three principles emerged to provide us some direction: Live Simply, Serve Others, Grow Food. Following these principles, we purchased a farm in Frederick County, Maryland in 2021. Along with our son, we began a journey of converting what was once a cattle farm into a commercial bakery, certified organic market garden, and permaculture orchard. We hope to channel all the love we have for our daughter into nurturing and nourishing our community, our earth, and ourselves and to inspire others who are rebuilding their lives after loss.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have certainly been struggles along the way! George was a software developer and Kim was a financial advisor prior to this. Neither of us had any professional experience farming or baking. We had only been growing food in our backyard and making breads and pastries in our kitchen as hobbies. To do these at the scale we are now has only come through a lot of failures, a lot of help, and a lot of hard work. For example, the first year we applied to three farmers markets and were accepted into all three. We were thrilled, until we realized it takes at least 2 days to prepare for a market and we had no employees! So that meant we were working seven days a week without any time for rest! Even now, with several employees, two markets a week, a weekly pick up on the farm, and delivery, we still have a hard time finding a good balance between work and rest. Also, small farms typically struggle to be profitable. But, if we want to have a resilient, local food system, we need small farms to be financially sustainable. We’ve put a lot of creative energy into finding ways to make it more profitable, such as using our produce to make prepared foods like soups, salad kits, and flatbreads. We get a little more for the produce this way and also have a use for imperfect produce that we wouldn’t be able to sell otherwise.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Bold Love Farm & Bakery?
We began the business with a mission to serve our community, and to do it through food. We have come to learn this is no small thing. Our industrial food system produces food that is often not good for our health and comes with a great cost to our environment and wildlife habitat. To grow food organically, use high quality ingredients, and source things as locally as possible, means we are not only providing our community with great tasting food, but we’re offering something that is fresher, less traveled, more nutritious, and far better for our local ecosystem than anything at the grocery store. We aim to serve customers at all economic levels. We got approved to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) payments, Carroll County Food Sunday (CCFS) vouchers, and started a Food Pantry Program in partnership with our local farmers market and food bank.
We’ve been awed and inspired by the incredible response from our community in support of what we are doing. Week after week, people forgo the convenience of the grocery store to buy produce, prepared foods, breads and bakery items from us. They are all part of building a more resilient, sustainable, and healthy food system.
We also welcome people to be a part of our community beyond just purchasing food. We have had many volunteer days on the farm and have hosted lots of workshops, farm tours, field trips and even a wassailing event! We love to invite people to join us on the farm and share in this special place.
How do you define success?
This is a great question! It can be easy to focus on the numbers when measuring success. This is especially true for Kim, a former financial advisor who loves spreadsheets and analyzing data. Revenue and profit can be tempting ways to define how we are doing. While not unimportant, focusing on those measurements alone is what brought about industrialized farming, wide spread use of high fructose corn syrup, and a host of other problems with our food system in the first place. We use a system called the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to help keep us focused on our core values and true mission which are to care for each other and the Earth, to be a healing place and to foster and serve our community. If we are doing that, we are succeeding!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://boldlovebakery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boldlovefarm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boldlovefarms
