State of the House: April 2012

So the last home update involved turning our guest room into a guest room.  And a nursery.

At that point it was our only completely finished room in the house.

And at this point it is our only completely finished room in the house.  (Well the closet isn't finished in that room but that is fixed by cramming stuff into it and shutting the door.  Please do not open closed doors in my house. They are always hiding something.).    

I blame having to share my closet with the AC unit...

So we haven't digressed and made the nursery back into any kind of part project/part storage room.  I think you can call no digression, progress, right? And because of the nursery/guest room, if someone is coming over on short notice now I really only have 3 things I worry about:

1.) Kitchen-no dishes & the main prep table is cleaned off
2.) Bathroom
3.) Tidy up our nursery and if at all possible allow the majority of conversation to take place in this room.

A stylish house guest enjoying our luxurious accommodations.

And Baby Girl enjoying her luxe accommodations.

(**Extra housekeeping hint:  I also always like to leave the vacuum cleaner out and plugged in. If there is time I can clean the floor.  And if there is not time then I still get the benefit of my guest believing that I am about to clean the floor.  Which I usually do.  Or I just sit back and read the latest issue of Southern Living and tell myself I'm not a complete housewife failure because I do make poundcake from scratch and own milk glass as featured in one article of this month's issue.)

Pound cakes I made from scratch for housewife extra credit points

Anyway, we still have a long way to go.  And although the lack of any newly painted room and the still existing "Welcome-to-Shop-n'-Sav-Drop-Ceiling-Tiles, Y'all!" in the main room may speak otherwise, we have made a ton of progress overall on the house.

Still applicable photo taken last year.

Taking a clue from how we go the nursery done, we've trudged forward with the rest of the house. The first step with the nursery was to get rid of anything in the room we didn't want to keep.  The next was to simply get everything OUT.  (Then it was on to prepping for painting, etc, etc. that Reid mainly did.  I was probably watching on while eating ice cream to help contribute to the 75 pounds I gained during pregnancy).  After that the actual "work" went by fairly quickly.  And since I got to go back and start with a completely blank palette, the decorating part was so fun.  (Much, much, much more fun than decorating by trying to see how artfully you can arrange clutter and seven too many pieces of furniture in one room...)

5 pieces of furniture+8 chairs+massive sewing project+baby jumper do not fit in one corner of a home. 

So we have already hauled off a ton of clothes and gadgets that weren't too hard to part with.  We also boxed up a lot for possibly some giant yard sale in the near future.  Then we took more clothes off (mainly my clothes because half my wardrobe fell into the "I wore this in college and it will probably either never fit again and/or never be appropriate for a mother to wear again" pile.) 

Now...with just over 4 months left until Josephine's 1 Year Birthday Party (that I desperately want to have at our house...our painted house...), we are starting on the "pack it all up and get it OUT for now step.

And as soon as I finish this one last big order that I had...

177 down, 223 buns left to go...

These two little boxes are going to be joined by a lot more.

One piece of furniture cleaned out...34 left to go.

  (IMPORTANT:  Offers of babysitting will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis in order to be able to accomplish our 4 month deadline.  And if we do not meet our deadline, offers of having the party at YOUR beautiful home with gorgeous ceilings and painted walls will also gladly be considered.  Thanks!)

Taking Care of Business...

It is very hard for me to let go of things.

When I was little I asked everyone in my Sunday school class to remember my black lab who got hit by a car in prayer...every week for a year.  (Reid LOVES this story because it involves me as a very dramatic 4 year old.  Rest in peace, Frisky.)

I still have the stuffed animal dog that my dad gave me one time when I was sick even though my siblings crimped the ear and later ripped one of them off.  (Poor Frisky).

When my parents moved from my childhood home in Hoover, Alabama to Columbus, Georgia, I took pictures from every window in our house to remember what it looked like.  A week later our Welsh Corgi died. (I was 20 and felt as if my entire childhood had been lost within the span of seven days.  Again, rest in peace Frisky.  And yes, I did name every single pet "Frisky" until I was 24 years old except for a beta fish I shared with my roommate in college.  Kaitlyn-you took such good care of Fabio.)

It is also hard for me to say no to anything.  My mother is also unable to say "no" hence our insanely awesome as well as insanely busy childhood.  To me, saying "no"= opposite of super woman/lazy/not fun/boring/missing out/disappointing someone. I really, really wish that I could say "yes" all the time and had about 50 extra hours/day. But apparently that wasn't God's plan so I guess I'll have to deal with the 24 hours I've got.

So when I became my a mother I naturally continued to a) not let anything go and b) not say "no" to anything.

And when you do not let go of things AND keep on saying "yes" to everything...

...you end up being exhausted.   You end up with a life of lots of being busy and little real progress.  (And when you bring a baby, hormones and a husband who gets home late every night into the mix it apparently also ends up in lots of crying alone in your car so you don't wake up your baby.)   You end up putting the people you love the very most very last because they don't have a deadline attached.

Since Josephine was born I have wrestled so much with trying to figure out who I was now that I had a baby.  I love being a dietitian and the time I spend at the hospital.  I really love having my own little business.  And you all know that I really, really, really love my husband.  Not to even mention my amazing friends and family.  I felt like I didn't want to just be a "mom" even though my entire heart felt like it was being ripped out of me every time I wasn't with her. (Even though I have since found out it is like the HARDEST thing ever and being "just" a mom is apparently like saying "just an Olympic gold medalist"  or "just a rocket scientist.") 

I've heard myself say over and over again to Reid that "next week should be a little less hectic and I'll get to it then."  But the weeks do not get less hectic and the busier I am the further away I am from that complete peace that comes when you know you are diligently pursuing that which God has created you to do.  (And somewhere along the way I did learn that you can be working very hard and still be very much at peace!)

God promises that when I surrender everything that I think makes me who I am to Him, He will transform it into something far greater than I could ever imagine.

So, March 31st (this weekend coming up!) will technically be our last weekend being in the baking "business."  I have tried to keep things "small" since Josephine arrived but the orders keep coming and I keep saying "yes" which means saying "no" to time with my husband and baby.  Reid and I have thought a lot about what is most important to us at this phase in our life as well as looking forward to what will matter to us five, ten, and twenty years down the road.  Neither one of us want to completely give up "Southern Scratch" but neither one of us want to sacrifice a healthy and peaceful home or marriage for the business as it is.

So for now, we are going to go back to what started all of this in the first place-a chance to spend time together on Saturday mornings over good food and good coffee with people we love.  We are going to continue to set up a couple times a month at the Washington Farmer's Market with a small selection of goodies like fresh out of the oven cinnamon rolls, Sea Salt Double Chocolate Chip Cookies and Buona Caffe Artisan Roasted Coffee.  Unfortunately we are going to have to give up taking individual orders, catering, and the Locally Grown markets for now.  (Even though I LOVE my Athens & Augusta customers-you all will have to come visit us in Washington now!)

The time that I have that used to be tied up filling baking and cooking orders each day can be spent making sure I'm getting healthy meals on our own table and maybe even blogging more about how to do that in a seasonal, delicious, balanced way.  Reid even told me recently he wants me to start spending time doing something a little each day that I love, not just be working/baking/taking care of baby girl all the time. (Oh, how I love this man!).  

Although I'm obviously a little sad about giving up a part of the little business we've built together, we are so much at peace with this decision and excited about what it is making way for.  I am so incredibly thankful to all of the customers we've had and all the things we have gotten to experience together because of what we've done so far in our little business.  We wouldn't give anything for the people we have gotten to meet in all of this and are looking forward to many, many more Saturday mornings at the Washington Farmer's Market sharing a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll.

Thanks y'all and see you on Saturday morning!

Belated Blog Birth Announcement

So it has been a while since the last post...mainly because of this little girl:

Who is now over 5 months old...

So just for the sake of documentation, Josephine Fite Filipiak was born at 4:42 am on Sunday, September 4th, 2011.  7 lbs 14 oz and 20 1/4 inches.   Eventually we'll call her "Josephine" but for now we call her Baby Girl, Beauty Pie or Sugar Diapers.

Reid's Labor of Love

I have tried a bazillion times since yesterday to post a picture of our finally painted nursery...so this is in high hopes that I can post them via the blog at least! 

Below are the semi-before shots.  It's not the complete "before" picture since by this time we had already cleaned it out completely once then filled it back completely with my moving boxes.  This is also past the time I decided to start painting the guest room (notice the half primed walls in some places) then didn't get it finished by the time we had guests actually coming and had to quickly move a bed back in.  Which has since been moved to the kitchen house and was replaced with two twin beds I had.  So when these were taken a couple months ago we had a sewing project going on as well as had the printer set up in there (aka, another temporary office spot) as well as a ton of other stuff that has been moving around since we've been married.

And my favorite part of the pictures is Reid's 30 Alt 6 that is in it's "coyote hunting" strategic position (although he never actually shoots because our dogs get too close but yes the screen is cut away just for this purpose.)  Can you hear Deliverance?

Guest/sewing/coyote hunting/Kat's closet/random stuff room.  Look at that ceiling light too...

A better shot of my priming skills...no wonder Reid didn't want me involved in painting.  The twin beds are covering up the floor where I got paint from lack of any kind of prep work like laying down newspaper, plastic, etc.

So...at first we wanted to completely redo the ceiling by taking down the drop tiles and sheet rocking it.  But then we realized how good our hallway looked with the drop ceiling caulked, leveled and painted.  Plus the main thing that made the ceiling look so bad was the huge panel light that was a little too reminiscent of the grocery store.  After a couple trips to Lowe's we decided to change the ceiling lights and paint the existing ceiling.  Then the next step was getting everything prepped to paint (which Reid insists is one of the most important steps...different from my "paint now clean later" philosophy).  Finally the painting began along with wall repairs where the paneling had bowed a little, etc.  Needless to say if I had done this room it would have looked pretty sorry because I would have just painted over everything and called it a "distressed" look.

And of course the first step was clearing EVERYTHING out of the room which has been nicely decorating the dining room for the past 7 weeks.  So you can imagine how amazing it felt to come home to a room that was finally done!  Painted, ceiling, great lighting, etc, etc.  After over a year of trying to make slow but sure progress on the house (while also trying to run a business and work and get settled in the first place) we finally have a room done.  It feels amazing to have a room done.  I think we should host a dinner party in it.

Clearly, Reid removed the firearms from the baby's room.

A mattress for the crib and that's everything right?

I told Reid I am so relieved now-not completely prepared but not completely unprepared for a baby either.  And word on the street is that if for some reason you don't have a car seat (because you are overwhelmed with the 50 zillion kinds that are offered) the hospital will loan you one until you do.  So I feel like if I were to go into labor we would at least have a way for the baby to get safely home and a place to sleep when he or she gets here until my own mother can get here and take control of the "Kathryn doesn't actually know what to do with a baby" situation.  (We are still hoping of course for another ten weeks to go...but that due date seems to be getting closer and closer and closer...)

Best Use of Zucchini Bread Ever!

So I thought I was pretty clever last September when I made Reid a zucchini bread birthday cake lightly frosted with nothing more than whipped butter and a very scant amount of raw sugar.  (Zucchini bread is his favorite but I also made a chocolate cake and pecan pie just to make sure I had all bases covered for our dinner guests...and because it was my first time hosting a birthday dinner for my husband and I felt like I had to have 3 desserts.)  

But today at Athens Locally Grown, Eric showed me a picture that puts anything anyone has ever done with zucchini bread before to shame.  He cut a mini loaf of my zucchini pecan bread he had ordered last week (made with some of Thomas MacFie's organic zucchini) lengthwise and toasted it first to make the base of the "strawberry shortcake."  Then he topped it with locally grown strawberries tossed in a little turbinado sugar; dollop of fresh whipped cream and garnished with lemon zest and mint.

He was kind enough to email me the photo even though he should have known better than to torture a pregnant lady with pictures like these knowing a simple food suggestion can turn into a major craving at any moment.  (Yes, I am calling Lazy Willow Farm first thing in the morning to see if I can haggle any strawberries out of them because I now must, must have this.)

I'm going to go eat my veggies now before I give in and try to talk Reid into taking me to the kitchen where I know I have a loaf left over from baking today and then go covertly pick strawberries in the middle of the night at the LeGette's farm....

Getting Around to Getting a Menu...

I am not the most tech savvy individual.  We don't own a TV (maybe the reason I hated babysitting growing up was because I could never get anyone's TV's to work unless the remote control had less than 12 buttons); I haven't changed my voicemail in over a year from my maiden name even though it's primarily a business phone now and my camera issues have a blog post dedicated to them (but then one of the camera's screen's got all fuzzy and I never posted it which should just prove the point of the whole post).  My 12 year old niece brings her own ipod speakers to visit because I can't get the old tape player radio to work without Reid and she thinks it's too quiet in the kitchen.  Chandler as well as the dietetic interns I've had also have commented on the silence even though it doesn't bother me and I kind of enjoy the focused work and thinking I can do all by myself cooking.  (When I clean I have to have music though and was very proud of my "Cleaing Tunes" playlist I figured out how to put together on my laptop.  It starts with Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?).

Anyway, thanks to my tech savvy older brother we have a website.  And thanks to my brother in law and parents we have two new cameras which now thanks to Chandler I can actually get to take a picture most of the time.  And now thanks to advice from Eric from Athens Locally Grown (who I have asked sooo many computer questions to already) we are one step closer to having online ordering through our website http://www.southernscratch.com/ .  (Eric actually built the locally grown set up which is now used all over the country so every time I post items to the Augusta and Athens online farmer's markets it makes me think of how smart he is and also kind of how I feel like I know a celebrity.  I also know Tink Wade of http://www.tinksbeef.com/ who I think is a celebrity too.) 

So my goal for having our goodies posted online is that we can make shipping treats simpler but also local pick ups and deliveries a lot easier.  Rather than having to order at the market or calling me, you can order online and just choose local pick up.

The way things are right now we sell on Saturday mornings at the Washington Farmer's Market, online via http://www.athens.locallygrown.net/, http://www.augusta.locallygrown.net/, and then post a local pick up menu in the News-Reporter here in Washington and (when I remember!) on our Facebook page and website for local pick up twice a week and then special orders any day of the week.  Plus, for any shipping we just have worked via email or phone and done the old-fashioned "I'll mail your treats and you mail a check before or when you get them to this address." 

We also have never gotten around to ever printing out a final "menu."  Part of this is because it has taken a while to get to where I feel like I've got enough items that come out "perfect" every single time to want to put them on a definite menu.  When I eat dessert I want it to be the very best thing I've ever had.  I want it to be so good that I insist on making a fresh pot of coffee to enjoy it with- not eat some store bought cookie that was just "okay."  Other reasons we haven't gotten around to any semblance of a "standard" menu is that for a long time I never really thought about a standard menu and just kept baking whatever I wanted for the market or cooking anything that sounded good for the "Weekday Gourmet" meals. 

While just going in the kitchen and cooking whatever you feel like is kind of fun, it's (obviously) not really the best approach to having what people call a "streamlined business".  And it's especially not good if you are selling in more than one place and have no standard price list which means you end up trying to do a bunch of math in your head while talking to customers on the phone driving. 

My goal (pipedream?) is to narrow down our top treats (you know to the ones you just have to make a pot of good coffee for), breakfast goodies and cakes and have those available online and printed on cute paper on a regular basis.  Then our food items (like individual homemade rustic pizzas with locally grown/raised toppings; Tink's Grass Fed French Dip sandwich, Savannah River Farm's roasted chicken salad, side dishes, etc.) will rotate based on seasonal ingredients and availability just like they are now.  We'll also be able to do holiday specials, side dishes, etc. for families so you can order whatever you need to round out your menu.

Of course, at the Washington Farmer's Market, I still fully intend to show up with French macarons or chocolate eclairs or banana pudding with homemade vanilla wafers or a wedding cake or any other random thing that sounds like fun to make.  (But if I somehow really hit the tech jackpot maybe we can set it up where you can reserve treats online for those who don't make it to the market until closer to noon...).

Anyway-I need some help finalizing this menu for when I finish asking all the tech smart people questions and am ready to get our online ordering up and running.  Let me know what your favorite goodies, foods, etc. are so we can get this baby going! 

(And if you have any tech, online sales, photography or nursery painting related experience, remember that I am a huge fan of the bartering system and love to trade food for help in doing things I'm horrible at.  Which is also how I met Reid.  Yard work for dinner turned into marriage for us). 

Thanks so much-can't wait to finally get a real menu ready! 

-Kathryn

Southern Scratch: One Year!

Every Sunday morning before church Reid cooks grits (and sometimes eggs & bacon) for us and we get a chance to really catch up on everything.  It is easily my favorite time during the whole week.  On Friday nights when I know I'm down to my last ounce of energy, I can just think of Sunday mornings and know that everything is going to be fine.  My husband, good food, good coffee, our quiet farm, our conversation and knowing that God is to thank for it all make for complete, utter peace for me. 

Well this morning we talked about Southern Scratch.  It is probably one of the things we talk about most anyway, but today we kind of reflected a little on how much things have changed with our little business-what we've done well with, what was just a disaster (the kind you can laugh about now but probably had me in tears saying I just wanted to have a normal job and buy a TV and get our house painted instead of buying cases of butter at the time), what we should keep doing, stop doing and what we should start doing (like get better at taking/posting pictures).  We also talked about how Reid makes the most perfect grits and how lucky I am that he married me which is pretty much a direct quote of myself as soon as I have the first bite of breakfast every Sunday.  Food will do it for me every time.

So here are the best things that have come out of the past year:

1.)  Our faith.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am not an uber-organized or really business-savy person at all.  Reid and I love each other, we love good food and we like feeding people.  As far as any kind of overall business plan, that is about all we know.  So I know for certain that if I was trying to pull all this together on my own I would definitely not be writing about celebrating a year of being in business.  Constant prayer has easily turned out to be the best business plan ever.  (I'm usually starting with "Dear Lord, I really don't know what I'm doing but I know that you do....")
We know that in the whole scheme of things, this little business is not really all that important because at the end of the day it is still temporal. What is important is that we make decisions that are in line with Christ; decisions that strengthen our marriage rather than separate us and that we don't lose sight of this bigger truth in life because we are caught up in the immediacy of filling cinnamon roll orders.  (Not to underestimate the importance of a really good cinnamon roll of course...). 
I had a biology professor who would say "Pray like it's up to God, but study like it's up to you."  If you switch out "work" for "study" then you've got a pretty accurate description of what we've done the past year!

2.)  Our relationship with each other.  Things can still get a little tense but working long hours in close quarters together has definitely taught Reid and I a ton.  For my part, I've much better learned how to communicate what I need and to trust that Reid will do it without becoming a crazy, nagging wife covered in flour and butter who clearly has "snapped."  (Which may have happened a couple few, oh say half dozen times on a late Friday night...). 
Not only have we gotten to work together the stressful, long hours of starting a business but we've also gotten to celebrate it together.  The very first market I texted Reid around 8:45 saying "Darling-I've already sold $8!!!".  I was super excited about telling him and even now we always wait until we have time together to see what we sold at the market.  I tell him about every single order and he tells me how much fun it is to hear customers ask for "Better Than's" by name since he came up with it.  We're in it together and I can't imagine sharing the experience with anyone else.

3.)  Our social life.  Part of wanting to sell a few things down at the farmer's market was to get out and meet people.  I was new in town, living out in the country with no really close friends or family within a hundred miles.  I had met some great people already in Washington through showers and visiting but still felt pretty isolated out here.   Starting this business (which we didn't really know we were starting at the time) has opened the doors to so many incredible people.  Our friends Pat and John who own Buona Caffe have a logo that says "Good things happen over good coffee."  We couldn't agree more.  Yesterday, when my brother and sister-in-law were helping us in Augusta they mentioned how warm and nice everyone seemed to be.  There is always a bond that forms when people share good food and drink together. 
I'm not sure how but we have the best customers ever.  I feel like nearly every person I've sold something to I could call if I needed help.  When I don't see someone at the market Saturday morning, it's like a good friend who couldn't make it to dinner so you can't wait to catch up with them the next week.  Even though the Augusta and Athens markets are online, I've gotten to know them through email, Facebook and occassionally getting to deliver on drop off day.    I feel so blessed to know so many amazing, interesting, vibrant people who seem to like food just as much as I do.
Not only are our customers amazing, I have gotten to work with all these incredible growers and producers of food.  Spending time at the farm where you buy all your beef, knowing every family member who grows your vegetables and hanging out every Saturday morning with the people you buy jelly, tamales, pita bread, flour, eggs, and produce from is one of the best social networks to be in!

4.)  Our food.  This morning for breakfast we knew where each and every bit of our food came from and had personally met all the people who grew it.  We had grits from Freeman Mill, bacon from Savannah River Farms, eggs from our neighbor and coffee from Buona Caffe with cream from Southern Swiss Dairy.  For lunch we made sandwiches from Tink's Grass Fed Beef sirloin on Lily Bakery and Cafe sourdough with radishes and lettuce from Harvest Moon Garden farm.  Every bit of it was so good.  And even though it was just me and Reid eating, I still felt a connection with all of the people I just mentioned because when you know who grew/raised/roasted your food, you can't help but think of them. 
And also with food...practice makes perfect.  I will say if we hadn't made chocolate chip cookies several times a week or started roasting 20 pounds of chicken at a time, we couldn't have gotten our recipes to where they are.  We are always tweaking and trying to improve upon items...and one day I'll convert all my handwritten and mental notes to paper...

5.)  Our house.  Umm..we painted the hallway and Reid is putting new lights in the soon to be nursery?  Haha-one day we'll get around to really working on the house...

Wow...it still doesn't seem possible that we've had a business for a year now.   Maybe it's because we still don't really think of ourselves as "business owners" since there isn't too much pomp and circumstance around baking all night long or washing dishes.  Or because the whole thing has really been a lot of fun (until it's really hard then we get some sleep and Sunday comes and everything is fun again). 

Late last fall when we officially moved the kitchen into the Tignall house, one of my first ideas was to have a great party out there for all the incredible people we have gotten to meet (and feed!) on our "Southern Scratch 1st Anniversary."  My plan was to host this on Saturday night, which would have been last night, on the eve of our "one year" and exactly 52 weeks from our first market.  Instead of a party we were both passed out asleep from an incredibly fun but busy day at the Riverwood Localfest in Evans, GA.  And the Tignall house (or our farm/house) isn't even ready anyway.  So here's to aiming for a 2 year anniversary party?  When we have an 8 month old?

In the meantime, we are going to have to come up with something fun to celebrate all around.  Or maybe move our "1 year" to mean the day we actually decided that we should maybe "go for it" or the day we filed as an LLC or the day we moved from baking in our somewhat renovated basement to a bonafied commercial kitchen that wasn't attached to our house.  Regardless, I love a party and so one day we'll have one! 

THANK YOU for helping us reach this milestone!!!

Love,
Reid & Kathryn