Meet Megan Starr | Baker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Megan Starr and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Megan, how do you think about risk?
Very differently than I have for most of my life.

I am one of those people who struggles with decisions, whether its about what I should be doing financially or which shirt to buy. I think, and overthink, about every detail. Up until the last few years, that meant acting cautiously and conservatively if I had any doubt. And I always had doubt. But sometimes life has plans that are bigger than your risk comfort level.

Thank goodness.

I had never considered opening a bakery so, until it just happened, I hadn’t struggled with the decision. I also hadn’t planned and prepared. I certainly hadn’t assessed the risks. I thought I would just offer a few holiday tarts for sale and that would be that. I could never have believed what happened next. Phones ringing, emails received, and the lines at pop-ups and markets were unimaginable. I was completely swept up before I had the chance to take a breath.

When the craziness of the holiday season slowed down a bit, I realized my little bakery wasn’t. That was the moment I had to make a decision about where this was going. If you had asked me a couple of months before, I would have said I would never start a bakery. It’s too risky. But, when that moment came, all I could think was it’s scarier not to.

Suddenly, the fear I felt in taking risks was nothing compared to the fear of not taking the chance to do something I loved. I already knew that launching a bakery was going to take every bit of my time, effort, and finances, but I just couldn’t go back. It was all or nothing and, for the first time in my life, my heart chose all in without skipping a beat.

The fear in risk is a fear of failing. But, the truth is, you can’t fail if you give your all. You can only learn and gain experience. It may not always lead to the place you expect but if you don’t take the risk, it’ll never lead anywhere, and you’ll never grow into the person you could be. It turns out, spending decades of my life avoiding risk was the biggest risk of all.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Nothing worth doing comes easy, certainly not turning your life upside down to follow a dream.

A few short, and long, years ago Mr. Amazing and I were putting the finishing touches on our dream house. We hunted for it, spent every dime we had, and then had ripped it down the studs and spent three years making it everything we ever wanted. It was going to be our forever. Our happily ever after. Before we could finish hanging pictures and window curtains, I looked outside and saw a hazy, glowing red sky. I opened the door and felt the smoke fill my lungs. And we both knew we couldn’t waste any time, we had to decide how to get our animals and livestock out before we were evacuated. We lived in a wildfire zone, and it was the second time in three years that firefighters contained a fire within one finger’s width on a map from us. That was when we knew, our plans for forever were changing. We didn’t know what the future would hold, but it was time to find it.

I cried the day we listed our home for sale, and many days after that. I still do, every time I think about the kitchen cabinets Mr. Amazing built custom for every piece of my kitchen, or the deck he built because he knew I loved to sit in the filtered sun of my favorite tree. Not because of the things, per say, but because he built them with such care for us and our life, It was like closing the door and walking away from a huge piece of us. We had been very lucky all the years we were building a life in the little town we had met in high school, but we knew we were risking more than wood and nails.

We drove around the country looking for the perfect new home. A small town, like what we grew up in, with friendly people. When we decided on middle Tennessee, we wrote seven offers on houses all around the area. When we were running out of time and hope, we found this old house on the internet and wrote an offer, site unseen, from 2500 miles away. When we arrived weeks later, it was the middle of the night. The power and water had been turned off, and we were trying to find our way around a new place by feel. The 150 year old floors were creaky, and the night shadows were strange and unfamiliar. We were so nervous, about so many new things. We decided to blow up an air mattress and try to sleep in the old soda shop building. When the morning light finally came up, we took our first walk through our new home in complete disbelief. We were standing in wood walls over a century old, being held by hand-hewn beams and square nails, and walking up a staircase that was built shortly after the Civil War. It was incredible. We were filled with history and hope. We knew, from that moment, that life would never be the same. We were going to build an amazing future that honored this place we were lucky enough to be standing in.

When we opened the bakery a couple of years later, we started doing things in a traditional and very unfamiliar way to the status quo. As more and more people have come to enjoy the house and a treat, we have continued to bake every bread and pastry in a small batch, handmade, artisan process. We source trusted, organic, regenerative, and incredible quality ingredients. Whenever possible, from other small artisans and farmers. We bake with intention, to great our guests with a selection of breads and pastries, and sell out every day. Never creating the waste or day-old products that increase the cost and decrease the quality and value to our customers. We bring people into this beautiful old house, setting up bakery cases under ceilings with hand-hewn beams and next to old stone fireplaces, to immerse everyone in the heritage that inspires us. We open these doors every day wanting to share everything we love, from history to pastry, with the wonderful people in our community.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend were visiting I would make sure she came during the seasonal Sparta Green Market. I look very forward to it, every year.

It’s not often enough we get handed a fresh, vibrantly ripe peach from the hands that picked it. Or get to listen to the grower tell us all the things that can be made with his freshly harvested, stunningly fringed lion’s mane mushroom. Or even enjoy a perfectly sweetened, refreshing glass of real lemonade just squeezed from the hands of Sparta’s youngest lemonade expert. Every third Friday of the month, from May to October, over 40 local vendors gather to bring their best produce, wood working, flowers, plants, pastas, meat, lemonade, bread, pastry, and even local craft beer directly to all of us. It’s like the most amazing, fresh, locally sourced store you could imagine…but so much better. There’s just nothing like it.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I wouldn’t be able to have a single day in this bakery without my husband, Rob Starr.

He encouraged me to list the first tart for sale. He stayed up all night with me, on so many occasions, to fill orders. He learned to bake bagels and scones when I was stretched too thin. When I made mistakes and ran out of budget for ingredients he stepped in and helped. When I tried something new and failed, or lost track of an oven timer, and questioned whether I should be doing this, he lifted me up. He built cases when I needed places to put product, He installed piece after piece of equipment in my ever-growing kitchen needs. When I had to bake more and more, and couldn’t be up front to help customers he became the face that welcomed people. And when we were both completely exhausted, he never let us give up on this crazy dream.

He has invested an incredible amount of effort into sourcing, inventing, and building every bit of this bakery dream as it has grown. All to help me live my dream. Without him, none of this would be possible. He has been my everything from the first moment, my Mr. Amazing.

Website: https://TheBakeryat1871.com

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