Today we’d like to introduce you to Christa Wadekamper.
Hi Christa, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in the country on a hobby farm, we had a garden, chickens, rabbits and for a little while, we had a strawberry field that we sold strawberries from and we did a lot of hunting and fishing. Once I was out of the house, my husband and I spent many years moving from town to town due to job changes. I always knew I wanted to live in the country again but it just wasn’t possible until 2020. I did what I could to be a homesteader no matter where we lived. I grew in pots, small gardens, hunted, fished and cooked/baked from scratch.
In 2020 we were finally able to move to the country! I was able to plant as big of a garden as I wanted, tap maple trees to make maple syrup, get chickens (which turned into chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese!!) and start a micro bakery. I am now able to grow most of our food, raise our meat chickens (and ducks and sometimes turkey!) and as a family we fill the freezers with fish and venison! What we can’t grow or harvest ourselves, we try to find from local sources as much as possible.
My micro bakery has grown more than I could have imagined! The community has shown that they wanted a sourdough bread source and keep me busy delivering their baked goods all around town and baking for the farmers market!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Homesteading has been a journey…I was originally going to sell produce at our local farmers market but soon recognized I wasn’t as passionate about that as I was about selling baked goods! Starting my micro bakery in our house was a challenge. It soon took over our house, I burnt out our oven after baking 15+ hours, and it just wasn’t looking like a good long term plan.
To remedy that, we called in family to help build out a closet in our garage into a little bit of a larger room and make it a perfect room for my bakery! Now everything is out of the house and I was able to expand to bake more!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Barefoot Lane MN?
Barefoot Lane MN is fully run and owned by me (Christa). My speciality is sourdough bread but I also sell maple syrup, herbal tea blends, produce, and eggs! I strive to use items grown on my homestead in my baked goods…like my garlic and rosemary in my Garlic & Rosemary Sourdough Bread. All of the eggs used in my baked goods come from my ducks and chickens.
Making maple syrup is a family activity! Myself, my husband, son, and nephew help gather all of sap and spend hours upon hours of cooking it down to make delicious pure maple syrup (or liquid gold as we call it!) Not only is it a delicious product, it makes fun family memories! We also recently invited the public out to our homestead so they could learn about the maple syrup making process!
Along that line, I also strive to help educate the community on eating locally, have taught classes on sourdough, and share other local food producers. Having a connection to your food source is so important to me and helping others learn about how their food is raised, made, or grown is so fulfilling!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hotplate.com/barefootlanemn
- Instagram: barefootlane_mn
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Barefoot-Lane-MN-100075827148140/
- Other: https://www.barefootlanemn.com
