We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jackie Missar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jackie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Back in January of this year I decided to take the leap and start selling my homemade and homegrown goods on a ordering platform. The idea of markets came in the Spring and before I knew it I was at the point where I had to invest in myself and this little business of mine- one that kind of happened out of nowhere, authentically and unintentionally. This meant taking the risk of buying better equipment. If I wanted to push and see where this would go I needed it; with the risk of this going nowhere and being stuck with expensive ovens and a bedroom turned into a home bakery. My husband took the leap for me because it scared the crap out of me to buy something so expensive, for myself, for a new business. Something that wasn’t on my bingo card for this year (or my future). I’ve never invested in myself like this before so it was quite scary. My new ovens- yes plural- came in May just in time for my first big market June 1st. I somehow took on to them like a champ and had zero learning curve. Going from baking 2 loaves of bread at a time to 12 was life changing! They saved my butt week after week as I started picking up more and more markets, as well as having a slow and steadily growing customer base for weekly orders. I was able to pay them off in just a few short months and am so happy with the risk I took to invest in myself. Sourdough is known to be a huge time consumer and this investment has saved me SO much time baking weekly.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have always been a creator, a “diy” person, upcycling, being resourceful etc. It runs in my family I guess you could say and it has become a core way of living for my family now that I have one of my own. Over the past 13+ years I’ve taken on the lifestyle of gardening, canning, preserving, raising chickens- you know, what’s known as homesteading today. Once you start to go down that rabbit hole of relying less on others and grocery stores for things and the food you eat, it just sort of amplifies. All of this to say I eventually took to bread making and fell in love with sourdough. It takes so much practice and patience and has become therapy for me in a sense over the past almost 5 years.

When I say I authentically started this business it’s because it was something I was already doing. Making bread for my family weekly, incorporating homemade and homegrown ingredients, connecting with my local farmers and growers. I started a little farmstand with my littles in our front yard to offer leftover produce, herbs, salves and other things we grew and made. The sourdough was just an extension of it but has slowly become a staple for our community.

I make my cookies with homemade maple syrup from maple trees on our property, homemade vanilla, eggs from our chickens. My focaccias are topped with homegrown produce when it’s available. I have seasonal jams made with fruit grown on our property. My breads start with just 3 ingredients: flour, water & salt. Trying to use minimally processed, fresh or homemade ingredients is my main goal when baking and providing fresh goods to people. I feel that everyone should be able to enjoy the perks our little farmstead.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Putting myself out there and just being me. When people come to my booth at a market its warm and welcoming. It’s decorated with homegrown flowers and homemade jams, honey, eggs and herbs. I bring a piece of me and my home with me and let my products speak for themselves. I have stuck with the same recipe since the beginning for my breads and have built on it and perfected it over the years. It makes me so happy to see people come back to my stand at a market or order week after week. The networking, and building relationships with customers is something I truly didn’t think I would love just as much as baking but it has been such a vital role in my business and the positive feedback has helped me to keep pushing myself.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I started social media way before ‘Native Soul Farmstead’ was what it is today. It started out as ‘Finding My Native Soul’, which was fitting for that period in my life where I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in the long run, I was traveling a lot, didn’t have kids yet and was figuring this whole life as an adult thing out. Like I said previously, I have always had an interest in creating so a lot of my page was just that: projects, travels, gardening, cooking, home decor etc. And it kind of turned into more of a ‘homesteading’ page several years ago. I was basically just sharing my daily life: meal prep, preserving, gardening, chicken mom life and so on and my following began to grow. I can’t remember when exactly I changed the name to Native Soul Farmstead, but I knew in that moment I felt like I found my calling. I knew this is what I was supposed to be doing in life. Helping to show others the forgotten ways of living; sustainable living. The “simple life” as some would call it- but really its anything but simple. Be your true self, regardless if your goals and interests change over time. The more authentic you are, showing the good, bad and ugly- the more people can relate and learn from you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hotplate.com/nativesoulfarmstead
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nativesoulfarmstead?igsh=MWd1bHA3aGU0NW83aA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/vGRB6iJVQ2t1kAND/?mibextid=JRoKGi

Image Credits

Jackie Missar