Wildflour Crumb Company

Today I'm talking with Ashley at Wildflour Crumb Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to a tiny homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Ashley at Wildflower Crumb Company in Jordan, Minnesota where I used to live. Good morning, Ashley. How are you? Good morning. I'm fantastic. How are you? I'm good. How's Jordan doing this morning? It is slow and sunny  and beautiful. 00:26 Just how I like it. Mm-hmm.  I am half an hour southwest of you in Le Sueur, Minnesota,  and it is sunny and it is not freaking hotter than the Hades this morning, which is really nice. Right. It is beautiful. The windows are open. have my oven on while it's been on the past two days.  But having the cooler weather has really helped my house not get  so hot. 00:52 Yeah, it's been miserable up until yesterday. It's been pretty gross for the second week of June. Yeah, just a little bit. We should not have weather like this this soon in the season. I'm very, very disappointed in Mother Nature this week. Okay, so I, this is going to seem really weird. You are hyper local to me. I used to live in Jordan. I lived there for 20 years. 01:17 And part of the reason that we moved is because we knew that a whole bunch of things were going to be happening. Like 169 was no longer to have the scary stoplight where people get in car accidents all the time. We knew that they were going to put in a bunch of roundabouts and we just knew all this stuff was coming down the pike. How is it any better than it was? 01:42 I mean, the construction sucks.  That's, you know, nine months out of the year, sometimes 11 if we don't have snow. ah But I think that once  the 169 area is done, I think it's going to  be fantastic just because of it's going to reduce  all of the accidents that occur at that stoplight. ah But as far as all of 02:12 the extra roundabouts going on. I'm not a fan of roundabouts, ah only because,  and it might just be because it was Jordan. It's a small town, but for quite a while with the roundabout that was by Radamachers, a lot of ah the older generation were, they were going the wrong way.  Oh no. ah But that, that has stopped for the most part. Now you just have, you know, your typical teenage driving. 02:41 of being crazy, not being safe. But for me personally, I'm not a fan of the ones by the schools, only during school time, just because those two separate times from like 7.45 to 8.15 and then you're all about, again, 2.45 to 3.15 ish, it backs up bad. 03:09 just because of how they have things set up  with pickups, drop-offs. ah The high school, it used to be before the roundabout was there, that if you were coming out of the high school, you were only supposed to take a right,  which that helped dramatically. Just  so you didn't have to worry about kids crossing, ah waiting to turn left,  all that stuff, it made it easier.  But now with the buses, 03:37 The buses get stuck  in all of that traffic because of  the pickup lines that are long for the elementary school and  things like that. So, I mean, I'm not a fan of those during school time,  but summertime  they're just fine as far as there's no backups, things like that.  It does get people to slow down a little bit more than they used to,  not a whole lot. So in terms of speed wise, there wasn't much change. ah 04:07 And one thing that I was furious with by the elementary school,  there used to be a crosswalk that would go from the school side to  a street called Timber Ridge Court. And they took that away.  I had tried talking to the city, know, hey, why did you take this away?  First, they wouldn't respond. And finally, somebody had said because it's a mid cross. 04:35 side cross and I was like well I don't understand because you have lots of other crosswalks throughout the city that go from a mid-block meaning that it's in the middle of  a city block versus having it be end to end  so lots of them from mid-block to  another street and they couldn't respond to that they just said nope just go all the way down to the roundabout and then come back and I'm like well I'm not gonna do that 05:04 There's, know, I'm not,  that's ridiculous. The crosswalk never should have been taken away.  Um, but it all had to do with a little girl got hit,  uh, because somebody wasn't paying attention. And I had asked for, you know, those blinking yellow lights by sidewalks. Yep.  I asked for one of those. said, Nope, city turned it down. It was too expensive.  Um, but then, uh 05:32 But then they spent all the money for the roundabouts. Yes.  So that's the only part that's made me mad. Otherwise, the rest of it will be fine. think 169 is actually going to be a lot better. um But it's just, you know, waiting the three years for all of it to get done. That's the sucky part.  Sure is. And I have I have one thing to say about roundabouts. I grew up in New England. 05:58 Roundabouts are an important part of traffic in New England because there are lots of places where five or six roads will intersect. That's what roundabouts are actually for. And I feel like Minnesota has seen it as a trend, a fashion trend for traffic. uh Yes, I can see that.  And just a PSA for anybody who doesn't understand about roundabouts. Roundabouts 06:27 you come into them slowly, you make sure you're paying attention to the other cars coming into them, and you follow the directions. And I think I remember in the driver's manual for Minnesota for the test, there's a section on roundabouts.  If you have kids going for their driver's licenses and you live in Minnesota, make sure they read that and they learn how to do it.  That's my PSA about roundabouts.  now  after all that, 06:54 I would love to hear about you and what you do. Perfect. So I, let's see, I've been in Minnesota since, oh, let's see, when did I leave Wisconsin? Go Pat, go. I thought I heard some Skonsy in there. Oh yeah, you did. Let's see, since 2006, I came here for school. 07:20 And a funny story with my husband is that I had told one of my really good friends I had told her is like if this date doesn't work out. I'm moving to Texas  I'm gonna be a police officer and that's gonna be it. We're gonna be good Well, apparently the date worked out because I'm still here 20 years later ah But no, it's been it's been great. um I started 07:45 with school. I have always wanted to be a police officer. did the crossing guard in third grade. ah just everything about it screamed. Yes, that's what I want to do. I wanted to help people. wanted to protect people.  And I went to school to try and do that. And then as things went  on, I became more interested in forensic science. 08:09 And I was one of, you know, the few before CSI came out to do their wonderful effect on people. knew you couldn't swipe screens in midair. ah But how cool would it be if you could?  Oh, my God, that fantastic things would go so much faster. Things would be so much smoother.  But I think we're quite a few years away from, you know, having screens in midair like Iron Man and all of that. It'd be great. Oh. 08:39 man, would it be great, even just for life in general. ah But, you I  went to do all of that, started with, you know, security positions that I would do either in the city for an apartment complex. And then I went to work for  the Federal Bureau of Prisons.  And I absolutely loved my job.  I loved  that. 09:06 People  felt comfortable enough to come to me with questions. They wanted advice. I loved being able to  do all of that.  And I had one incident when  I was pregnant and  I wasn't protected by the people I worked for. And I said, nope,  I'm done. I'm not going to put my... 09:31 baby's life in danger anymore and I looked for a new job. I tried to stay with the federal government and I went to do federal background investigations. So anytime somebody who's going to enter the federal workforce, you have to get a background check done of 10 years or your 18th birthday, whichever one is there first. And so I did that for about 10 years. And when we were told that 10:00 Everybody needed to go back to the office five days a week, no more remote unless it was, you know, something came up and you could work a half day, whatever the case may be. And I cried. I got excited. I got scared. All of the emotions going through because I have a son who has type one diabetes and I needed to 10:30 think about him  before  me,  being that he is younger. And I was like, nope, I'm going to take this package that they're offering. I'm going to resign from my position so I can be home.  Because, you know, it's two kids for two grandparents is way too much. It's, you know, it's not their responsibility to raise my kids. That's my job. Right. So  I... 11:00 resigned from my position and I was like, you know what, I'm,  I'm going to do something.  Um, so I took a couple of months, you know, of my quote unquote vacation, uh, to be with my kids, do stuff after school, do things with them on the weekend. felt  grateful that I was able to be able to do that.  And I was like, I'm going to start a bakery. I, you know, have celiac. I've had celiac for 13 years now and. 11:29 What I was finding, whether it was other bakers or stuff in the grocery store, the freezer section,  it was not  anywhere  near what I wanted to eat. Yeah, I've heard that from lots of people. Yep. When I was first diagnosed, the one thing that I remember is the doctor had said to me, know, you are going to waste a lot of money in the beginning. 11:58 you are going to be throwing away a lot of food in the beginning until you find what works for you.  And that was  100 % true. And I hated it. I hated that I wasted so much.  I got frustrated over things that I tried to make that didn't turn out.  I got frustrated at paying so much for one product to get something so tiny in return. A good example is bread. 12:27 So they've gotten better with bread now as far as size wise ah for some companies,  but you would buy that bread, you take a couple slices out and you have this egg size hole right in the middle through the rest of the pieces. And you're like, well, I just paid all of this money for this tiny one tiny piece of bread. 12:54 and then to have a huge hole that probably takes away half the bread. was like, I can't, no, no, this isn't,  this isn't working. So I stopped buying a lot of stuff. It's unacceptable. Yes. Yes. Yes. And I mean, you could contact the company  and they would say, Oh, I'm sorry. Here's a coupon for another one. You buy that other one. It happens again. You're like, you know what? Don't send me another coupon. I'm just done buying it.  And so 13:22 May of last year, I came up with a name. I was sitting in my computer room. I had a couple glasses of wine. I won't lie. I was scared. This is a huge move.  And bouncing names off of my husband and I was like, you know what? I was like, I want my items to be good. 13:45 down to the last crumb. I don't want people to leave half of it and be like, well, that was okay. That was good for gluten-free.  I wanted it to be damn, that was good. And a take with wildflower is that it's not wheat. These are, have, there's so many different mixtures to make one thing, to make it even close to being like it was full of gluten. 14:13 And I was like, this is wild. I was like, I'm going to do flour because I have to use so many flowers instead of the plant version. So I was like wildflower crumco. And of course, with names, you got to look up to see, there anybody else that has it? If so, where are they located? How many people have it? And I found maybe a wildflower bakery or nothing. That was what I wanted. You were nothing that was gluten free. 14:43 Um, nothing that had to do with crumb co things like that. And I was like, this is it. I'm doing it. I, you know, I put it in, I started my Facebook page and I was like, this is it. I did it. I hit submit. I was like, I can't take it back now. Cause people are going to see it. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. That was it. And here we are today. That is a fabulous story. And I'm to tell you right now, I am so proud of you. 15:12 for trying  to  pursue being a police officer. Because not only is it a uh difficult profession for any human being, but it's really hard for women to get into it. So I'm really proud of you.  I'm also really proud of you for knowing who you are and thinking through your decisions and making the right decisions for you. Because that's also something that's hard for women to do. 15:43 No, tears. All right. Yes.  I'm  sorry.  No, you're good. There's  so much that's expected of  mothers that it's hard when we  want to do something for ourselves, we end up feeling, you know, there's a slight guilt of, well, shoot, I could have did this instead, or 16:08 We're expected to do the job, to do the kids, to do the housework, to do the cooking. And I've been lucky that my husband helps with all of that. But it's just, those expectations that are  put in your mind that every decision you make, it's like, well, am I doing this for me? Am I doing this for my kids? Am I doing this for my husband? What can I do? 16:38 for me that I'm also going to benefit other people and trying to make all those decisions at once, it's no wonder we're all exhausted. And insane most of the time.  Yeah. So I just, every time I hear a story like yours, I just want to say I'm proud of you guys or you gals as it were, because  it's  hard. And I 17:05 I have so many things I could have been, but the thing that I really wanted to be was a mom.  Now I'm going to cry. And I didn't want my kids to be in daycare. I wanted to raise them.  So I raised four kids and they're all functioning adults who are good people. Proudest dad in his life. And then the youngest one decided he was going to move out and I was like, oh my God, I need a project because I can't do... 17:35 Empty nest without a project. I will just be miserable and I started a podcast so worked out Well, I'm proud of you for doing that. That is amazing work.  I Freaking love it. It's so fun And I don't know if you're talking about raising the four functional adults or the podcast or both, but I love I loved Raising the kids and I love the podcast. So 18:00 I don't know how intentional any of it was except for starting the podcast because I needed a project. But  just please keep doing what you're doing in the way that you're doing it because you are being intentional about your decisions  and your life and your family and that's so important. Okay, so let's stop psychology 101 now and switch to you.  You do gluten free exclusively. 18:26 I do because I have celiac. So that is the autoimmune disorder where  if I ingest any size of gluten, it could be the size of a pinhead, um my intestines will be like, hey, that's foreign. And they start to attack itself.  And when that happens, the villi that are in your small intestine,  it's the finger-like extensions that 18:54 grab onto vitamins, minerals, things like that for your body, ah they die.  And so there's nothing to grab a hold  of  what your body needs to  put it where it needs to go.  And so you end up with deficiencies in vitamins. You can have  the dry skin, the gut issues, bruises, brain fog. mean, you know, every 19:23 a symptom that goes along with every other existing issue in the world. uh So  trying to nail down, well, when do I feel this?  And it happened every time I ate. So  going to the doctor, first we did a blood test, which is what you can do. And because my levels, I believe it's the IGA, my levels were so high. 19:52 that my doctor had said if you would like to do an endoscopy to confirm, you can. Otherwise, you don't have to because of how high your number is. And I was like, well,  I'll just skip that. Thank you. I don't want to stick a tube down my throat. Yeah. So no, I skipped all of that.  And so trying to be gluten free, at least for sure in my house. uh 20:18 The only gluten that's in my house, there's a few snacks for my kids, but they stay in the garage just because I don't want,  I don't want to have that issue one for me because it sucks. And two, I don't want, you know, say my kids had a snack on the counter where I bake.  I don't want that to end up in somebody else's food and then they get sick because I couldn't see that crumb because it was so small. I mean, that's all it takes for. 20:48 a lot of people to get sick.  I, know, gluten, gluten free, that's it. When you mix something, a lot of that flour goes into the air. So a lot of the times like for people who have celiac, we can't go into bakeries. Well, we shouldn't at least, at least the back part. um People that make their own pizza dough, because that flour 21:15 raises up in the air and then it lands everywhere.  It doesn't just land, it doesn't just go straight up and straight down because you've got people moving, ah ovens with their air, fans, breathing, and it goes everywhere and then it lands and it stays there for 24 hours. Yeah. Yeah, you don't want to cross contaminate. Yeah. So that's, know, and for some reason, 21:41 why I still don't understand even in a 700 degree pizza oven, that gluten does not get burned off. does not die. It just stays and it can fall onto that. Say I order a pizza, that gluten can fall onto my pizza and then that's it. Then I'm done. like, well, that's great. Next.  I have a pretty good understanding of some of this because I have 22:10 I get migraines and one of the triggers for migraines for me is MSG.  I have to read every freaking label on every freaking pre-made thing that I debate eating because if I eat two Doritos chips, my head pounds for two days. Doritos have been off the menu for over 15,  maybe 20 years now and I loved Doritos.  Cannot eat them. And so I get it. 22:39 It's a real thing if you know that if you ingest something and you know the results of that and they're bad, it is such a hard shift to make. So again, proud of you. 100%. 100%. To mend you for knowing your limits, but also trying to help other people who have the same thing. Yeah, and reading labels is such... 23:05 pain because you could read one product, you go to the grocery store, read one product, they go, okay, I can have this. But you go to the store again, they could change their entire ingredient list. They don't have to say anything. You go buy it, you get sick, you're like, well, I had this last time. Why can't I have it now? And you look at the ingredient list again, you're like, oh, they changed it. That's why.  but you find out the hard way before you realize that's the part that sucks. 23:31 Okay, so do you make just breads or do you make cakes and cookies or what do you make? What are the goodies you make? Everything. ah I have bread right now in the oven.  I've made chocolate chip cookies. I've made a pistachio cake. I make a great,  amazing,  and dare I say it, moist chocolate cake. If you hear moist and chocolate cake and gluten-free all in the same sentence. 24:01 Normally it's like a hockey puck or it's dry, but not mine. I don't like chocolate cake. I don't like chocolate ice cream. I'm really strange, but I love chocolate chip cookies. I scarfed down a chocolate cupcake that I had made because I made an extra. have to batch test, of course. Of course. Yes. It's one of the benefits of the job. Right. And no, I scarfed it down. was like, I hate chocolate, but that was amazing. 24:31 cinnamon rolls, ah you name it, brownies, lemon bars. um I've done Twix bars, well, quote unquote Twix bars.  Brownie cookies, I've did rocky road brownie cookies.  Anything that is in a normal bakery, a normal recipe book, you want it, I can make it. That is 24:59 Fabulous. So tell me again how long you've been you've been doing this So baking for business since last May so May of 2025 Otherwise making all of my stuff  for 13 years  So you've been perfecting this for quite a while  it  it's so gluten-free baking is 100 % Science and not art like a lot of baking is with wheat flour  because you have to have 25:28 the correct amount of between your fats, your liquids and your dries. You can't be like, oh, I'm just going to toss in a little extra sugar or take out sugar because I don't want so much. And what a lot of people don't get is that reaction between the sugars and the fats  are what make your gluten free item taste  amazing, taste like, you know, you would think you're eating gluten.  I've had some people 25:58 message me after they've had something and be like, are you sure this was gluten free?  And I'm like, 100%.  You are a magician too. It's it is 100 % magic. It's  you could do  the recipe  one day, it turns out just how it's supposed to.  And you try it again the next day and you  miss 20 grams of flour, it's gonna flop. And it's 26:26 You have to be precise each and every time with gluten-free baking.  Yes. And I'm going to tell you, I tried making gluten-free bread maybe three, four years ago  and it tasted really good. And I don't remember the recipe, so don't ask me. I have no idea how I did it,  but it was so  dense.  Yes.  And I was like, yeah, gluten, gluten-free bakery. 26:56 stuff is probably not going to be my thing. I'm going to leave it to the experts.  Yeah, with my bread, you can leave it on the counter for up to four days and just like fresh bakery bread, that's when it's going to start to get stale and then start to mold because I don't use any preservatives in my food. But for somebody to have a soft sandwich without toasting the bread first is what I wanted people to experience. 27:24 because that's what I missed was, know, growing up, I would have  the bologna cheese and Doritos sandwich or the  ham and Lay's chip sandwich. So I wanted people to be able to have that memory again, that soft sandwich that they've been craving because that's what I liked to eat. And I know I can't be the only one. So I wanted, you know, that soft bread. um 27:51 So it's trying different things to see, okay, well, what can I use instead of this? Can I sub this for this in case somebody can't have that? It's trying the different things back and forth and then be like, holy crap, that worked.  It's a beautiful thing when a plan comes together. uh So do you sell at farmers markets? Do you sell online? Where do you sell your goods? 28:18 through my house, if somebody sends a message or there's a referral and I get an email, a text, a phone call.  I also, at least right now, I am at the All Wheel Wednesdays in Belle Plaine. um Every Wednesday except for July 15th because of their barbecue days. ah That's so far right now. I know I have  an event in Chaska. It's,  oh. 28:47 what is it called? Let's see, I have it on my calendar. At least I hope I do.  Let Freedom Ride. ah It's a car show in Chaska on July 25th.  And  it's  somebody that organizes these to um get  donations and things like that for women who have gone through stillbirths and miscarriages and things like that. 29:14 And they're doing a special one for America's 250th.  So I will be there.  And then there's just, you know, a few things that pop up along the way that are like, Oh, do you have a gluten free vendor? um Or, you know, I've had, there's an art show, not an art show, but like an art class that's actually in Lesour. um I'm doing some things for that, which is 29:44 Tomorrow? No, today's Friday. Yes, tomorrow. ah So I mean, it's just, it's little things like that that you can,  if you're participating in that and signed up, get to, you know, try some of my goodies through there. Otherwise, a lot of it is the word of mouth, posting on Facebook, ah doing things like that and hoping that the one person that did try it tells their friend. 30:12 ah or says, hey, I know this person will be here. I know you're gluten-free, things like that. But I want it to be more than just people who need to be gluten-free to find me because my food, and I hate tooting my own horn,  but I keep getting told that I need to because of how good my stuff is. That I don't want it just to be gluten-free people that find me. want anybody who wants something delicious to find me. ah 30:41 And I think that's really important for  me to be able to  help people like that that want something good that has, you know, good ingredients in it  and that they can feel good about eating and not be like, oh, I just, you know, I ate all of this crap. ah I don't, I don't want any of that. want to be like, oh, that was really good. I feel good about that. She has, you know, quality ingredients, things like that. Yes. 31:11 Reframe it from tooting your own horn to telling your own truth. Yes Because telling your own truth is is a much more positive framework for your brain to accept Yes So so people can find you a wildflower crumb company on Facebook any anywhere else they can find you online Gmail added to that if they want to email otherwise finding me in Belle Plaine on Wednesdays or 31:40 Uh, other random events I've,  I've tried making a website and I've been out of the, apparently I've been out of the computer game like that for way too long because even with help like frames and you know,  Oh, here's a, you know, take this and you can, you know, just change the wording.  I am not having any luck getting that finished in the slightest. 32:10 Do you own your domain name? I do not. Okay. I don't even know how to do that. Okay. Well, I know a little bit about websites. So if you want to pick my brain, you are welcome to do that when we're done recording. I would love to. Okay. So it's wildflower. It's W-I-L-D-F-L-O-U-R. Yep. Chrome, C-R-U-M-B. 32:35 company, C-O-M-P-A-N-Y on Facebook. I want people to be able to find you and find out where you're gonna be this summer. So that's why I said it that way.  Ashley, so proud of you. So glad you're doing what you're doing. And number one, you helped yourself, which is really cool. And then you took all that knowledge and you're helping other people, which is, uh I'm applauding you. Thank you. I appreciate it.  It's nice to hear, you know, feedback. 33:05 Um, like that just because you don't hear it a lot if at all, um, you know, getting the feedback of man, that was really good or that's the best cake I've had. You know, those are all awesome to hear. And it makes me  smile bigger than anybody, you know, could see or know, but just to, you know, have somebody say, I'm proud of you. Like that's a totally different. 33:34 phrase that has a different effect  on your heart. Yes,  absolutely.  And that's why I say it to people I'm proud of because you guys need to hear it because I don't hear it very often either. And when I hear it, I'm like,  aw,  So I get it. All right. So thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it and keep doing the good work. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. All right. Thank you. Have a good day. You too.