Wednesday, 9 January 2013

Get your Kids to Set up & Run a Bakery from Home

Kids can run a bakery  .. with a bit of help. 

The 2013 Kitchen Garden School calendar of cookery and gardening courses is up.  It took me until 2am this morning to get most of the course dates booked in.  It's hard not clashing with my children's holidays, and although I am able to offer extra dates and be flexible I will keep the main holidays free.  That is my time with my children .. and as I have learned ..  you don't get that time back.  They are growing up fast  .. really fast.

Listening to the news it is really scary to be young and facing your future right now  The jobs that are out their and opportunities are few and far between.  With so many redundancies and cut backs the young people in our country have dropped to the bottom of the pile.  It's a catch 22.  They can't get a job, so they don't get experience,  they don't have experience so they don't get a job.

As a mother I do worry about what my children do when they grow up, but moreover I worry about what they will do whilst they are growing up.  Where are they?  Who are they hanging out with? Who is influencing them?  How are they going to achieve their dreams?   That is where a home bakery can really come in to it's own.

With a really low start up cost and a simple sourdough loaf formula we set up a pop up bakery from home really easily.  People out there want good bread, and many of my customers really love engaging with my children. We've got know our local community, neighbours have become friends, and the children love it.  It is really their bakery and the money they earn from it is a seriously good amount of pocket money.  In fact it's kind of a beautiful circle that takes place as as use Fairtrade Ndali Vanilla in the scones and biscuits and the extra they earn we send a little girl, called Collins, to school with in Uganda (Who's Dad Kato works on the Ndali estate) , so my children feel pride in their job and realise the importance of an education.  We keep friends and neighbours updated with  her letters and pictures.

The money the children earn gives they a sense of responsibility and independence, but more than that they make something that they can see, they interact with all sorts of people and their confidence in themselves has really grown.  From my little one now counting our peoples change to my son emailing everyone about their orders and my eldest working out the profit for the day and sharing the takings out, the skills and discipline they are gaining is invaluable.

We operate as a team, and yes there are days I think  .. oh I can't be bothered to get up so early.. but the truth is that aside from the my children not always mithering me for pocket money every five minutes .. it's actually really fun.  We laugh chat, bake and eat our delicious bread.  My eldest is not yet a teenager, but I am told that their demand from pocket money increases and their desire to spend time with you decreases so we will keep on running our home bakery whilst they are growing up as my teenage cure all strategy.

In the meantime I am going to give away a voucher for the course on How to Set up and Run your Own Pop Up Bakery -  based at the Juniper and Rose Kitchen Garden School in Northamptonshire.


RULES

Please see competition Rules before entering. This giveaway is open to all readers over 18 with a UK mainland address.  The winner will be chosen at random by randomizer.com.  You need to leave your e-mail address in order to comment, I am the only person that can see it. Please do not include your email in the actual comment as well.

This competition on behalf of Juniper and Rose Kitchen Garden School and they will be responsible for organizing the prize with the winner. Their decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

There is one main way to enter and there are 4 more chances to win .. . and you must leave a separate comment for each bonus entry otherwise they will not be counted. 

For a chance to win please TWEET this article and tell me why you think your children would love running a Bakery from home

For a 2nd chance to win  please follow @JuniperandRose on Twitter and comment below to tell me you have done so.

For a 3rd chance to win please like Juniper and Rose on Facebook and comment to tell me you have done so

For a 4th chance to win please comment below and tell me why you think your children would love running a Bakery from home.

For a 5th chance to enter comment on one of the blog posts on www.juniperandrose.co.uk  

For more chances of winning Tweet this article and comment below to tell me you have done so. Each comment counts and an entrance and you can have a maximum of 1 entry per day to win this break  - but you MUST comment with your twitter ID telling me you have done so!

Automated Entries are not allowed.  There is no cash or product alternative.  The invitation must be used by June 2013

Closing date of this competition is 4pm Friday 18th 2013







12 comments:

  1. I have to admit this had never crossed my mind, but I think my kids would love this because they already enjoy making bread with Daddy. It's such a joy to see them all in the kitchen up to their elbows in flour. This would be a great next step for them!

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  2. My 8 yr old daughter and I love to bake together, even if her patience hasn't quite reached my own yet. She likes to come up with ideas and new bakes. I think she would love to earn extra pocket money by baking and selling cakes and she thinks it's something Mummy should be doing already!

    Kerri Clegg x

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  3. Hi Vanessa

    Am avidly following you on Twitter and have tweeted your 'how to set up and run a pop up bakery' workshop! Will do Facebook next!
    Your courses all sound lovely but as a keen jam/jelly/chutney/drink maker I need something to go with them so the bread course is the one on my list! :)

    Jane Vincent

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  4. I use baking as a frustration release for my kids. Whenever they get antsy and fed up i knock up some dough and let them loose on it. Its amazing how light and airy the bread is once it's had seven bells knocked out of it! They would love to earn some extra pocket money and i might get to have a rest out of the kitchen for once!
    Nicky
    www.jumpingjuniper.co.uk

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  5. i have also liked on facebook x

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  6. You are great, well done and I am with you here. It won't be that long until they are off so this is the perfect venture for you and them x

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  7. As I do not have a UK address I have not chance in hell of winning this excellent competition but I know just the person and her daughter in the UK I could donate my winnings to! I think this is an excellent idea and if I did live in the Uk my children and I would be visiting Juniper and Rose Kitchen Garden for some face to face instructions! Good luck I am sure this new venture will be a hit.

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  8. What a lovely idea, but the law now makes it rather difficult because you have to have your kitchen checked & passed by your local authority if you plan to sell baked goods, I was also told this applies even if you are doing it for charity, not sure how true this is. What happened to the days when a housewife could make money from home via a cottage industry. I hate all the red tape !

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    1. Diana it's actually really straight forward to set up a bakery from home. It's 2 phone calls. The course demystifies this whole concept of rad tape and the idea that it is a hassle. Honestly it's a great thing to do and took less than 2 hours to sort.

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  9. My 2 boys are too young for baking yet but look forward to making bread with them soon!

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  10. Hi Vanessa! I love your blog and think the idea of setting up a pop up bakery with my kids would be amazing- a dream come true! We'd like to come and sample your delicious sourdough. When are you open for business? Thank you and keep up the great work! Meg

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If you are reading my blog I must warn you that I am not impartial. I want to influence you. I want to make you stop for just a moment and consider the effect of a lifetime of seemingly insignificant decisions and how making small delicious choices can change the world.

I believe that we can change the world one bite at a time.

It's a delicious revolution.