We recently connected with Kristin Oakerson and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kristin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

My upbringing was anything but normal. My parents are musicians and artist and served as missionaries when I was a child, in Europe. I had traveled the world by age 10. One of the perks of traveling accross Europe is getting to sample the best breads the world has to offer. I ate brötchen in Augsburg, Germany and baguettes in Brussels, Belgium. This is where my passion for artisan bread was born.
My parents are creatives to their core. My father is a gifted pianist and songwriter. My mother was a dancer, singer, songwriter, photographer and most recently, a painter. They have carved out a very unique life for themselves outside all conventional boxes.
Their passionate pursuit of creativity, art and beauty was imprinted on my heart. Artisan bread making is where my love of good bread and artistic expression come together.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a mother of 7 children and grandmother of 1. That is my favorite title. I love nature, good food, music and people.
I started making sourdough bread for my son, Harley who has special needs. He is a very picky eater. He went through a phase as a child of only eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I decided, being a health nut, that I would make him the healthiest PB&J’s I possibly could. That’s why I learned to make sourdough bread. At the time, I was not able to tolerate conventional bread but found that I could tolerate homemade sourdough.
When I first started, I was churning out dense, dark bricks that no body wanted to eat. I just kept trying and learning and tweaking things until I got the hang of it. Eventually I produced a loaf my kids loved and I stopped buying bread from the store all together.
Eventually, I started seeing videos on social media of people making artisan loaves and selling them out of their kitchens! I was mesmerized by what I saw and thought, “I could do that”! I taught myself by watching videos online, how to make artisan sourdough boulès and fell in love with the process.
The timing for this new discovery was perfect! I had been in a depression for longer than I’d like to admit. At 45, Mid-life hit hard and knocked me off my horse. The next couple years would prove to be the most challenging years of my life so far. I was raising a wide age-range of kids, homeschooling, and doing difficult inner healing work. It was a great deal to tackle all at once. Making bread was a way to calm my mind and body. The creative outlet was nurturing to my soul. It got my mind off of my problems for a little while.
During this time, I saw a post on Instagram by Nutmegsbreadandbakery about how you don’t have to have it all figured out to start a micro-bakery in your home. I had honed my artisan boulé making skills and friends and family were raving about it. That post by Nutmeg’s bakery was all I needed to throw myself into starting Joy Rising Bakery. I started by putting a few loaves in a cooler at the end of my walkway with a paper sign that said “organic sourdough $10”. To my utter delight and surprise, people actually bought it! I was so happy! I couldn’t believe it!
I told a friend, Nicole, what I was doing and she immediately offered to help me. She bought me Dutch ovens, bannaton baskets, shelving, stickers and product labels. I will always be grateful to her for her support. It was just the encouragement I needed.
I have taken my time to build my business slowly so that I don’t burn out and throw in the towel. It has taken some tweaking but I think it has helped me to go the distance. I started out selling about 6 loaves a week to neighbors. A year and 7 months later, I am selling 42 loaves a week as well as 30 rolls, 2 sourdough pizzas and a few sourdough pizza doughs. I sell to various local farms and have a booth at a farmer’s market. I still sell to my neighbors and friends too. I absolutely love what I do. It truly is a joy. Having the business to focus on during a difficult season gave me hope for the future as well as something positive to focus on outside myself. It gave me great joy and confidence as I saw how much people enjoyed eating it. I love serving my community by providing organic, minimal ingredient, long-fermented bread. I love interacting with customers at markets and being active in my community. It has been quite an adventure.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Funny story. A few months after launching Joy Rising Bakery, my oven broke. My ONLY oven. I had customers and orders to fulfill and a market to show up for. I frantically scanned the kitchen, using my outside-the-box improvisation skills I inherited from my mom. That is when my eyes locked in on my toaster oven! Voila! There was my solution! For about a month, I baked only tiny, little, mini loaves and the show went on! Being a bit of a perfectionist, it was a little difficult to have to make that adjustment but my customers did not complain. I did not lose any business and eventually, I was able to buy a new oven my bread proceeds.
Since then. I have had many curve balls thrown my way. I have learned to shift and swerve right along with the curve balls in a sort of dance. It doesn’t stress me out as much as it did in those early days.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I did not have much money to fund a business. Through the kindness of my friend Nicole, I was able to get a few necessary items to get started. Beyond that, I have built slowly, purchasing new supplies as I could afford them. I have had to be patient and wait for some things. I’m still saving for a real bread oven. Thankfully, I chose a product that is relatively inexpensive to make. The value of the product comes mostly from the skill and time that goes into producing an artisan sourdough loaf.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joyrisingbakery?igsh=aWIyM21tZHZxZzY%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557471543532
• Other: https://www.hotplate.com/joyrising

Image Credits

Deby Dearman