Dear Breadfriends (6/17/2014). Thank yous. Apologies. Exciting things.

Dear Breadfriends and Crustfund Members,

Summer is here, and we're staying warm by the oven. Nothing quite like it.

I wanted first of all to say Thank You! Specifically, in response to our query about a car for Hope, we received all manner of offers, tips, and recommendations, all of which we are now sorting through. Thank you so much for your fabulous generosity and care. Not to be corny, but it is heartwarming.

And.. I wanted to apologize for allowing myself to devolve into discourse approaching spam the other week! I have resolved to refrain from emailing while exhausted. Thank you for being patient with me.

Now.. you might wonder why I was so tired, and why I was so excited at the moment I was writing that flurry of spammish notes. Well, there are a few good reasons. After long hours baking, we were preparing for a short-handed week. I was on my way to a week-long retreat at pastry school, and then, the very moment I would return, we would be firing up our baking class. The plate was full to overflowing.

So now.. I'm back from pastry school, full of new ideas, formulas, and skills, and I'm tingling to get them out of the brain and into the oven. If you stop by the Tburg Farmer's Market you can start getting a taste, and we'll also be slipping them into the Friday distribution down at Ithaca Made. And of course, you are all welcome to come to that distribution and get extras or pastries or pasta or what have you.

And now some news.. about which we are VERY excited. We are aiming to go 100% solar by the end of the year! We're working with Renovus, and we will be in the site assessment stage as of tomorrow morning! We're aiming to get the panels up and running before the year is out. I can hardly tell you how much this thrills us. With sunlight falling all around us it just seems crazy to be sucking down the power from our coal-fired grid. We'll keep you up to date as the project proceeds. Yes!

A note for new members: Welcome! As you get your crustfund going, do take time to read over the notes about how it works, to explore your account page and the "hold" widget, and to learn how to interpret the notes from our bot. As always, if you have questions, send them on and we'll do our best to answer them.

And finally.. we have just opened up a new distribution location, and it's here, at the bakery. Note, though, that the bakery is not really a great place to pickup. We're so busy that we can't give you as much attention as we'd like or you deserve. We usually have our hands full at the oven, and that makes conversation near impossible. But.. if you live nearby, or if for some other reason you think the bakery would be the ideal place to pick up, you're welcome to change to the bakery pickup. If you ALREADY pickup at the bakery--you know who you are--it would be great if you would change your listed pickup site to the bakery.

And there it is.

With great affection and appreciation,

Stef