This past year has been one of our hardest years yet as a small business. It seems to be a theme among other small business owners I’ve talked to.
And yet… when I look back on the past year it is filled with so many highs. I started making a list of all the things I was grateful for this year and I quickly had more than 20.
More and more, I find that life’s most enjoyable moments are when my phone is put away and I’m fully present, not producing content for a recipe post or reel. Since I haven’t done as much sharing in real time, I thought—Why not dust off this old newsletter and share them with you all in one go?
Now, onto the best of 2023.
James Beard Nomination for The Miller’s Daughter
This one has to go first because it was the highlight of all highlights in 2023. My cookbook was nominated for a James Beard Award. My husband Brian was my plus one for the big event in Chicago and along with calming my nerves, he dutifully clapped for four(!!!) hours straight for people he’d never heard of from a very niche industry. If that isn’t love!
My book didn’t win. But the whole experience was just so fun I honestly have forgotten that small detail.
Tucson Festival of Books
In March, I was invited to do a book signing and give a cooking demonstration at the Tucson Festival of Books. I had never been to the festival before so I had no idea what to expect. I was blown away! It was so well organized (not always a given with these things) and the cooking tent was packed with an engaged audience. And huge bonus, I got to meet fellow cookbook authors Tara Jensen and Anna Voloshyna. And of course I bought so many books. The book lover energy was infectious and I loved being with “my people.”
Planting & Harvesting Test Plots
Seed development has always been an important aspect of what we do at Hayden Flour Mills, but we haven’t done much of it in the past few years. It was so fun to get back to our roots, so to speak. We worked with a local farmer to grow a few test plots of heritage wheats. Test plots are usually just one or two rows of a field. They are too small to be harvested with a combine, so they have to be hand harvested with scythes and scissors, being extra careful not to leave a single head of precious wheat behind. We borrowed a field thresher, a gorgeous old piece of equipment that separated the wheat stalks from the seeds.
By the time these plots were ready to harvest, it was brutally hot here in Phoenix and we could only spend a few hours harvesting in the early morning before needing to retreat inside. Even so it was so energizing to get back to the seed saving mission of our mill.
New Offices/Warehouse/Commercial Kitchen
We have not had a physical office for many years, so this was a big step for us and huge undertaking. (Did I mention my family was also moving houses at the same time? Do not recommend.) When we first walked through the new space, it had flickery, fluorescent lighting and was filled with piles of broken equipment from the previous tenants. I was skeptical. It was also located in the back of a nondescript business park, rather than in an on-brand renovated barn. My dad did a ton of work on the space. We threw some new paint on the walls, moved in and got back to work. The space has grown on me in a very hidden-suburban-gem kind of way. If you come visit us you’ll see what I mean.
Barrio Bread comes to Phoenix
I don’t even know if I can write about this highlight yet. It falls into the “too good to be true” category, so there is still a huge risk of jinxing it. Don Guerra of Barrio Bread agreed to open a satellite bakery in our new space, starting one day a week!! We worked all summer to get the bakery space ready at the new Mill and Don’s first bake was in October. Don often sells out all his bread within an hour of opening!
Sonoran Pasta Company Moves In
Another long time customer and friend joined us our new space in November—Sonoran Pasta Company. They make fresh pasta and insanely good sauces. This one makes me particularly teary-eyed. And while good food can make me emotional, that’s not why I’m crying.
It’s that having a baker and a pasta maker in a shared space with Hayden Flour Mills, using local flour is THE LOCAL GRAIN ECONOMY. This is what we set out to create when we started our mill 12 years ago: an eco-system that could thrive on the revitalization of the local grain supply chain. These collaborations feel like the culmination of that vision, something to stop and take in and be extremely grateful for. It makes me reflect on all the many people that helped to make it happen, the harvest of a true community effort. I maintain that even though this business has not made me wealthy, I am beyond rich in the health, friends and good food that this business provides.
An Amazing Team at Hayden Flour Mills
Hayden Flour Mills has always been blessed with amazing, hardworking staff and employees. This summer we made big operational changes that took a lot of teamwork and everyone pulled so much weight to make a smooth transition into new business goals. I am always so appreciative of the team at HFM, but this year in particular their commitment and creativity was above and beyond. They are the hands and feet of making this big grain vision come true every day.
IACP Nomination
In September my cookbook was nominated for another award. This time by the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). I was really sentimental about this nomination because my Nana was very involved in the local IACP chapter and I would have loved to have shared this news with her.
Of course, I just had to go to New York for the awards event (a.k.a. a weekend break from the kids...)
I even squeezed in a pop-up event with Nora Allen of Mel the Bakery and Maurizio Leo at the Pop-Up Grocer.
Maine Grains Visits
We got to strengthen our friendship with our fellow millers in Maine. In January, the team from Maine Grains came to visit us. Then in July, I had the chance to attend Maine Grains’ annual bread conference- The Kneading Conference. I taught a Pasta Workshop to a very engaged group.
First of all, summer in Maine is a total dream. And on top of that the Kneading Conference is glorious. You will never be able to eat a conference breakfast after being spoiled by the Kneading Conference’s spread of homemade yogurt and wholegrain pastries. It’s always confirmation for me of my career switch from academia when I think about how I could have been at a tedious science conference eating a sad bagel. But really it’s the people that make this conference so good; salt-of-the-earth home bakers devoted to improving their craft.
Bulk Days Kick-Off
Our marketing genius Debbie Labell launched a new initiative this year that proved to be a huge success—Bulk Days. We open up the mill warehouse for people to purchase flour in larger quantities at a discount. We hope to have many more of these in 2024.
New Pieces of Equipment
We added two new pieces of equipment to our operation this year. And the most unusual thing was that they were brand new! Most of our equipment is bought at auction for as little as possible, so this was a big deal for us. We acquired a giant mixer so we could make larger batches of pancake mix, and an industrial scale German oat flaker so we could turn our oats into these.
We published so many good recipes on our website this year, like this Purple Barley Swirl Loaf contributed by Patti Mars, a long time customer and cottage baker from Ajo, Arizona.
Barrio Bagels
This summer, Don Guerra launched Barrio Bagels, made with 100% stoneground White Sonora Flour. This is unheard of in the industry. Stone milled heritage flours are still quite expensive and it’s typical for bakers to use a flour blend to keep costs down for a product like this. But Don had set out to create the first Sonoran Style bagel, so cutting corners wasn’t an option. Don also developed the recipe so it doesn’t have any oils or added sugar. It’s a huge milestone for the heritage grain movement to have a product like this on the market. Unfortunately it’s created a problem for me personally, as I have developed a Barrio Bagel addiction. But is it really even a problem??
Pasta Perfection
In January, we re-launched our dried pasta line. Perfecting a dried pasta made from stoneground heritage pasta wheat has been a challenge. Even after 7 years of tinkering, we were still having issues with the pasta falling apart when cooked. Finally, we unlocked the secret to the perfect pasta. We even brought back my favorite shape— the flower (or wheel). When cooked to al dente, the spokes of the wheel become crunchy perfection.
This one means very little if you’re not an Arizonan, but Arizona Highways is an iconic AZ publication. In November, they ran a feature story on me! We’ve had a lot of articles written about the business, but this was the first one that focused on me as a business owner. At first I was uncomfortable with the more personal spotlight, but with a little distance I've come to appreciate how special it was to be featured. I loved how the photography by David Zickl turned out. David had a vision to create a multigenerational kitchen scene, which turned out beautifully.
Attending the AZ Good Food Forum & Expo
The local Arizona food conference was extra inspiring this year. We’ve been going to iterations of this conference since it started 12 years ago, and this year the expo floor was massive! It was truly proof that we’ve arrived at the local food economy 2.0. I was so encouraged by all the OG local food businesses that have enabled a whole new crop of local food businesses. I had never been more proud to be part of this AZ food scene.
My favorite booth was Mark Bookhammer’s of Nice Buns. No signs. Just a mountain of delicious bread. Let the work speak for itself. I might have stopped by several times for a sample.
Launch of our Mini Store and In-Store Pick-Up
We have had many versions of a Mill Store over the years. For a while we had a very cute Mill store out on the farm, but we never had the foot traffic to really justify the rent of the building. So we closed it in 2021.
When we moved into our new office space, we realized that we could turn the entry vestibule into a mini-store with self checkout. Customers can also order online and just swing by and pick up their order. Being able to interact with customers that drop by our store has been a huge highlight of the year for me.
A local videographer Stronz Vanderploeg did a beautiful video featuring our company. The real star of this video is my dad, who says he doesn’t like to be on camera. See if you can make it to min 13:59 without tearing up. Granted I have a very low threshold for waterworks when it comes to the mention of my children.
On the Local News
This was a fun one. A local news station asked me on to talk about my Cookbook at their studio. I demoed a White Sonora grain salad. I was so nervous and had forgotten some basic things like spoons and mixing bowls. Luckily the segment was over before it started that I didn’t even have time to start sweating.
Getting into National Whole Foods Distribution
In April, we launched our products in Whole Foods Markets across the country. Our products have been carried in a handful of Whole Foods stores for several years, but never nationally. This was a huge undertaking, investment and stretch for us. But the whole team came together to get these giant orders out the door.
Shadowbox Gingerbread
This project has been on my list for a long time. Instead of making a traditional gingerbread house, I’ve always wanted to make a layered shadowbox instead, using the colors of the different grains to make each layer. I did end up posting photos and videos for Instagram, but this very much felt like a just-for-me creative project. So refreshing!
Purple Barley
If there was a Spotify wrap for flour, mine would say something like you used gazillion pounds of purple barley flour this year. Purple Barley Flour was the flour of the year! We had a beautiful bumper crop and we brought our famous Purple Barley Pancakes back into stock. It reminded me how much I love the malty, cereal taste of this flour. I made so many purple barley chocolate chip cookies using this recipe.
Last but not least…YOU!
Thank you for supporting our mill. Baking with our flours, stopping by our store, buying my book. I am so grateful for you.
I am blown away by this. I too am a cook. I even have a fake cooking show, that has never really taken off (but was not intended to: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8DVX8jw55Mvp0UEs4yaCSQ for reasons explained on my stack. But now I have a serious idea for a cookbook, and I have even created a GPT of all the recipes that I can offer, as well as a printed version and/or a substack or something that will raise money to feed the poor here. I started this feeding project here with Pizza: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nepalihipph but now I want to go hog wild, make my own pizza recipes for free delivery (instead of buying from PepsiCo), as well as some home-cooked recipes from Grandma and the old country, in Nepal! I use all Nepali ingredients for a twist, and have stories... lots of stories... but I have no clue on how to publish a book these days - one thing I do know, if you publish here first, NYT and others like them will not help you one lick. So, as they say here, ke garne (what to do, with a shoulder shrug and sigh).