ABOUT

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Who we are.
Athens leads Ohio.
The farmers we work with.
A developing food system.
Projects at the bakery.

IT'S WHO WE ARE

We are a bakery in Athens, Ohio.
Our menu will always reflect what's in season around Southeast OH, so you will taste a connection to the farms around us no matter when you visit.

The resilient food and energy economy is underway, and Athens is leading the charge in Ohio!​ 

It's been more than a baker's dozen years since we opened our doors. In that short time we've seen more and more people make the connections between food, water, energy, social justice and the health of our local and global communities. We are so proud to be a part of the local network of businesses, citizens and organizations that contribute to this progress.

Our commitment to bringing you the freshest, most delicious sustainably grown ingredients has never waned. Our menu will always reflect what's in season in Southeast Ohio, so you will taste a connection to the farms around us no matter when you visit. As demand for good, clean, and fair food increases, our ability to find new sources to meet our need also grows. If you are a local grower or food producer using sustainable methods, please get in touch — we add new suppliers every year. We are even beginning to grow some of our own food, with restoration agriculture practices close to the bakery, to learn from the land and strengthen our food security. We hope to share this learning opportunity with many in our region.

With knowledge comes responsibility, and the more we learn about our culture's extractive status quo, the harder we strive to replace that destructive model with conservation based food and energy systems. As much as our food system is changing for the good, so too our energy system must be redesigned to reflect what we now know about climate change and our warming planet. We won't solve our current challenges by exploring for and burning more fossil fuels, so we'd better skip ahead quickly.

Solar, wind, sustainable wood, and geothermal energy are the sources that we support, and we are determined to be free of fossil fuels for our business' electricity and heating and cooling needs.

We have worked with four local businesses: Third Sun Solar, AirClaws (geothermal), local sustainable firewood, Fox Natural Builders (wood-fired oven and sustainable building); plus Pear (wind) Energy, to be able to confidently claim to be "Powered by the Wind, Soil and Sun, for Generations to Come!"

​It's an exciting time to be in business, to help show a way forward, and watch what a community can do when we make local food and energy work, together.

Yours truly,
Christine and Bob

FARMERS & PARTNERS

Creekside Farm / supervised browsing

Green Edge Gardens / planting

Our local suppliers include:

• Bulk Foods Depot
• Cherry Orchard
• Creekside Farm
• Crumbs Bakery​
• Green Edge Gardens
• Herbal Sage Tea Co.
• High Bottom Farm
• Homecoming Farm
• Integration Acres
• King Family Farm
• Laurel Valley Creamery
• Mushroom Harvest
• Rich Gardens
• Ridge Runner Coffee
• Sassafras Farm
• Shade River Farm
• Shagbark Seed and Mill​
• Shew’s Orchard
• Snowville Creamery
• Starline Organics
• Sticky Pete’s Maple Syrup
• Yankee Street Farm

A DEVELOPING FOOD SYSTEM

We are especially fortunate to be a part of a developing complex sustainable food system, which includes:

Local Initiatives

• CFI—including community gardens and donation station
• Athens Healthy Community Coalition
• Rural Action
• Ohio Foodshed
• Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association
• ACEnet

​National Organizations

• Slow Food USA
• Food Alliance
• 350.org

Projects

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Parking Lot

Phase 1 by Josha Tree Lawn and Landscape

We were asked by the Village Bakery to replace a damaged section of asphalt at the rear entrance of their parking lot.

We used antique street pavers for this project to encourage water percolation into the ground. This permeable pavement is an aesthetically pleasing functional work of art!

​We are happy to have contributed to the bakery's mission of earth-first.

— Joshua Tree Lawn & Landscape

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Phase 2 by Wood & Stone

For the plant installations, we agreed upon long blooming native pollinator favorites, such as Bee Balm, Echinacea, Cardinal Flower and more. We also decided to build a rampart style, sandstone foundation block wall in the Della Zona lot to match our previous installation in front of Village, install porous pavers, which allow water to infiltrate into our water table instead of being flushed away to the nearest storm drain, and more. Finally, and perhaps most excitingly, Bob and Christine had gathered up an impressive sum of historic brick to pave two large sections of the lot. Going local means supporting bioregional eco-systems and restoring native bird and pollinator habitat too! 

​— Wood & Stone

Wood-Fired Oven

Our Ovencrafters wood-fired bread oven was built in 2010 by Chris Fox of Fox Natural Building.

View more photos of wood-fired oven: