I’m here. It’s the first post. And I have a confession to make.

I bake for fun.

Okay, that’s not much of a confession. In fact, if you’ve stumbled upon this humble site (I’m also a poet!), and read the title, you can probably guess that I do more than a little bit of casual baking. So I’d like to introduce myself and a little bit about what I do, and then get started with some, y’know, actual recipes and journey writing and whatnot.

For starters, I’m a high school teacher located in the mountains of North Carolina, in one of the “crunchiest” towns one can possibly live in, at least in this neck of the country. I live here with my husband and a cat. In fact, I’m starting this blog because we’re at a pretty excellent place in our lives to document: we have just bought a house with half an acre of usable land, and are currently in the planning stages of permaculture design. So, this blog will partially document our journey into basically making our yard do what it was meant to do: feed us while we feed the land back. Let the fun begin!

I say “partially document,” because this will also be a food blog and, as the name implies, a crunchy food blog. This means yes, there will be literal crunchy foods in here, like crusty breads and granola and crackers, but also crunchy in the sense of using as many local, in-season, and sustainable ingredients and methods as possible. I’m still learning to do this well, however, so you’ll see my process along with me. Mistakes and successes abound!

So, without further rambling, welcome to The Crunchy Baker! I hope you enjoy your stay.