Yeah, ok, it has a few hours to run, but without a bizarre sort of miracle thing happening I'm never reaching that target. I'm sad, dissapointed, of course! who likes failing? But overall gratitude is my feeling.
Gratuitude that people took time to read and think, some people backed my project, they believed the thing I was trying to say. I'm grateful, for the chance to make that video and talk to all those people about bread, for the new connections I've made.
This afternoon I made bread, loaves of twisted tree branch sourdough country bread. Then I took two cartons of creme fraiche and churned them into slightly tangy, rich butter. I used the buttermilk for a cake for our visitors tommorow. These are the things that make me happy, they have always made me happy and I really hope that someday I'll have a chance to share that with other people.
This is not the end, just knocked back and ready for a second rise!
Friday 8 March 2013
Thursday 7 March 2013
The family meal
I was sitting in the car today, waiting for the squid (appropriately enough having a nice swim) and thinking and reading.
And I thought, I love cooking, I love taking care of people, how can I do more of that stuff? So, I've come up with this concept, The family meal. I want to host a meal, once a month for four people to come join us for dinner, nothing fancy and it's free, but it will be a family meal. I'm actually quite excited. I want to start by experimenting on folks I know then cast the net further!
Friday 1 March 2013
Gumtree and giant push!
Oh, eight days to do!! ok, so now (thank you supporters) 5% of the way, I still need 709 people to pledge £10 each, but I'm still not giving up! Today I posted a featured advert on Gumtree, you can see it here. my next plan is to contact some local radio stations/businesses.
Even if you cant pledge, please do tweet, retweet, blog and post on facebook, if my page on indiegogo gets enough movement on it they will feature it on the front page of their website (massively boosting my visibility!), this is based on my GOGO factor! which sounds fun, like perhaps it should be wearing pink fluffy boots.
Wednesday 27 February 2013
aargh, 10 days to go!
Please commence flailing around now.
No, I'm kidding I'm totallyfreaked out and panicked by calm and at ease with emailing and cold calling as many people as I can possibly think of. With ten days to run I'm 4% of the way there with funding, which is good, but it isn't enough, of course not. With all or nothing funding I'm starting to fear this could be nothing.
But even if it doesn't work I am completely determined to make this work. This is too important to just give up on, real bread is for everybody!
No, I'm kidding I'm totally
But even if it doesn't work I am completely determined to make this work. This is too important to just give up on, real bread is for everybody!
Wednesday 6 February 2013
Day two!
Plan for tommorow? a trip to Edinburgh to posterise as many places as I can find! oh, and bake some bread, sometimes it's nice to remember exactly why I love this so much.
Tuesday 5 February 2013
Indiegogo!! it lives
I have created a monster!! yep, my campaign is now live on indiegogo the crowd sourcing platform... feel free to share, distribute and disseminate this link far and wide!
I'm nervous, I'm chilly, I'm about to learn to make tear off posters!
I'll leave you with some bread porn, mmm... bread.
I'm nervous, I'm chilly, I'm about to learn to make tear off posters!
I'll leave you with some bread porn, mmm... bread.
Saturday 2 February 2013
video!
Phew! what a learning curve that was, I'm definitely a baker not a film maker. That said it's actually been a lot of fun.
The idea to make the video using signs was born one night when sleep wouldn't come quietly, so I sat with my notebook and tried to figure out how to get my idea out of my head and onto the internet. The next morning I headed to freecycle and got my first models. Freecycle upped my confidence and I started asking folks on the street, mostly I had very positive reactions. Everyone likes bread, almost all the folks in the video had a story to tell of a bakery, a loaf of bread, their mum or gran baking... they spoke of missing real bread, that the smells and flavours for them evoke good memories (something a plastic wrapped supermarket pretender could never hope to do) and feelings. I'm so grateful to everybody who participated, it's great to know that something as basic as bread can touch so many lives and that so many people are willing to stop and share something of their experiences around it.
The text on the signs reads....
Hi, I'm Connor. I'm a community baker, I bake real bread.
what is real bread?
real bread is flour, water, salt and yeast
or some sourdough starter
it is also time, care, skill & nurture
it is not processing aids, enzymes, additives, pesticide residues or misleading labels
bread over time has inspired...
love
civil unrest
poetry
acts of kindness
and prayers
bread, made by hands that care
nurtures more than the body...
when communities own their own bakery
trust becomes part of the transaction
it is good for the community as a whole
growers, producers, consumers working together
to create a more humane way of doing things
when we break bread with our family
we invite the world into our homes
community supported bakeries are on a mission
to get more of this
to people who need it
because
real bread loves everybody!
it is for you, me, your neighbours, old people, kids and everybody else
choosing real bread creates a ripple effect
that touches lives beyond the immediately obvious
real bread can
start a conversation
build self esteem
grow communities
and jump economic lines
break down social barriers
and create real jobs
not bad eh? (it also tastes good)
I'm on a mission too
I want to go and meet other community bakers
to find out how they are engaging with their communities
how they defined those communities
and what creative ways they have found
to get real bread into new places
and meet the needs of their customers
because small is beautiful
and all communities have individual needs and strengths
community supported bakeries are responsive to those needs
they are in and of their community
and when I get back
I want to start a community bakery and bake real bread
for people I care about
like you!
Apart from making a video I feel like this experience taught me a lot about what makes a community, it is much more complex than the obvious geographical entity. Communities can be many groups intersecting and coming togther to explore a common theme, they can be open, closed, welcoming (or not) and sometimes surprising! I'm really looking forward to talking to other people to find out more of their thoughts on this. When starting a bakery how exactly do you decide who your community are? and once decided how do you make sure that it is also open and welcoming to people from outside that community?
The idea to make the video using signs was born one night when sleep wouldn't come quietly, so I sat with my notebook and tried to figure out how to get my idea out of my head and onto the internet. The next morning I headed to freecycle and got my first models. Freecycle upped my confidence and I started asking folks on the street, mostly I had very positive reactions. Everyone likes bread, almost all the folks in the video had a story to tell of a bakery, a loaf of bread, their mum or gran baking... they spoke of missing real bread, that the smells and flavours for them evoke good memories (something a plastic wrapped supermarket pretender could never hope to do) and feelings. I'm so grateful to everybody who participated, it's great to know that something as basic as bread can touch so many lives and that so many people are willing to stop and share something of their experiences around it.
The text on the signs reads....
Hi, I'm Connor. I'm a community baker, I bake real bread.
what is real bread?
real bread is flour, water, salt and yeast
or some sourdough starter
it is also time, care, skill & nurture
it is not processing aids, enzymes, additives, pesticide residues or misleading labels
bread over time has inspired...
love
civil unrest
poetry
acts of kindness
and prayers
bread, made by hands that care
nurtures more than the body...
when communities own their own bakery
trust becomes part of the transaction
it is good for the community as a whole
growers, producers, consumers working together
to create a more humane way of doing things
when we break bread with our family
we invite the world into our homes
community supported bakeries are on a mission
to get more of this
to people who need it
because
real bread loves everybody!
it is for you, me, your neighbours, old people, kids and everybody else
choosing real bread creates a ripple effect
that touches lives beyond the immediately obvious
real bread can
start a conversation
build self esteem
grow communities
and jump economic lines
break down social barriers
and create real jobs
not bad eh? (it also tastes good)
I'm on a mission too
I want to go and meet other community bakers
to find out how they are engaging with their communities
how they defined those communities
and what creative ways they have found
to get real bread into new places
and meet the needs of their customers
because small is beautiful
and all communities have individual needs and strengths
community supported bakeries are responsive to those needs
they are in and of their community
and when I get back
I want to start a community bakery and bake real bread
for people I care about
like you!
Apart from making a video I feel like this experience taught me a lot about what makes a community, it is much more complex than the obvious geographical entity. Communities can be many groups intersecting and coming togther to explore a common theme, they can be open, closed, welcoming (or not) and sometimes surprising! I'm really looking forward to talking to other people to find out more of their thoughts on this. When starting a bakery how exactly do you decide who your community are? and once decided how do you make sure that it is also open and welcoming to people from outside that community?
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