For the Love of People (&๐ฅ)
#bakersagainstracism #bakeforukraine
Good morning bread friends!
It has been a while since I practiced #GratiTuesday. As I wake up early to bake bread, I'm grateful for a good night's sleep. I'm also sincerely grateful that I've found a way to balance my passion for bread-making with my other responsibilities in life. As you read this, I hope you find a moment to pause and reflect on something that you can be grateful for this morning - even if it is just that you woke up again.ย
I should start by wishing everyone a happy belated Pi Day. Did you celebrate this joyous holiday yesterday? If you've been around a while, you will recall that I wroteย a newsletter last yearย sharing the story of how I developed my love for pi.ย
This year again, Madison Chocolate Company (my favorite neighborhood spot) was honoring Pi Day with a free piece of their amazing French Silk Pie for anyone who could recite the first 15 digits of pi. Needless to say,ย I excelled at this challenge.ย But if you forgot to eat pie yesterdayโฆ you could always eat pie today!
Have you seen this story about Pavlo Servetnyk? He is the Ukrainian baker working day and night to feed his community in Kherson, which Russian soldiers currently occupy. When asked about his efforts he said, โeverybody must go about his own business. Military should fight and bakers should bake bread and help people.โ While my bakery may look very different than Pavloโs right nowโฆ hearing about his focus on using his skills to combat injustice I felt a deep sense of kinship to him. Iโd hope that Iโd have as much courage and strength as him if I were in his situation. But Iโm in my situationโฆ and even from where I sit I will continue to lean into this love for making bread and I will continue to fight for a more just world.
I was excited to see that #BakersAgainstRacism was really quick to take up the cause of baking to raise money to support peace and freedom and safety for Ukraine. The Bakers Against Racism movement in 2020 is what catapulted me into selling my sourdough bread in the first place. It is a joy to continue to be a part of their global fundraising efforts as they encourage bakers all around the world to find nonprofits to donate a portion of their proceeds in support of Ukrainians who are being attacked by Russia at this time.
As you all know, we decided to support World Central Kitchen this month. Weโre donating 100% of our profits to WCK, and Iโll be sure to share those figures with #BakersAgainstRacism if theyโre keeping a tally again for this campaign.
I started typing out a summary of World Central Kitchenโs efforts over the past few weeksโฆ and then I found this video (below) of Olena. Please watch it. Something about her mix of joy and hope in the midst of fear and exasperation is beautiful & inspiring to me. I hope that this encapsulates the spirit that has gone into the over 1M meals that have been served in the past few weeks in Ukraine.
Thank you for your support. You have a lot of options for where you could buy bread. Thank you for buying bread from me. Likewise, in a world where email inboxes are constantly fullโฆ Iโm so grateful that you choose to subscribe to this newsletter. Together we are going to make this world 1% better.
Cheers,
Mo
P.S. here is the link to order bread this week :)
