I bake treats and prepare snacks for two groups as of the beginning of 2025 (with plans to add more this year). The People’s Store PDX is a group of volunteers who distribute supplies and food to unhoused folks twice a month. Milk Crate Kitchen provides family meals to those in need, no questions asked.

I’ve been doing this work on and off since 2020, and at some point I realized I could be the most consistent and reliable if I focused on making food to get to the people who would do the work of distributing it—in this way, I’m responsible for only a part of the full effort it takes to help. And it’s the part that I know (from having lived with myself for four decades) that I will easily find energy for, even on a hard week.

Keeping my responsibilities narrow in this way is also what’s giving me space to tend to the work of now and consider how I can grow it thoughtfully.

I currently offer baked goods directly to anyone who wants to purchase them, available for pick-up in the Woodstock neighborhood of Portland.

I’m also sharing samples of my baked goods with a handful of coffee shops that are especially precious to me and who I’d love to work with in time. If you know of a spot that has room on its menu for treats (think granola and granola bars, cookies, scones, quick bread), let me know!

How to use the sliding scale: At checkout, use the code SLIDE15 or SLIDE 30 to get 15% or 30% off your order price, respectively.

I anticipate and hope that those who are able to will pay full price for baked goods, understanding that this is helping fund the free food that sits at the heart of The Plum Baker. But I also want to make these treats available for anyone who would enjoy them—flexible pricing feels right.

I’ll maintain sliding scale pricing as long as I’m able to cover the cost of running The Plum Baker, including the food I make to donate. If I ever need to move away from this approach, I’ll let everyone know the when and why of it all.

Each state has its own relationship and regulations for domestic kitchens—you can read about Oregon’s guidelines.

I lived in Tennessee and had a domestic kitchen fifteen years ago (The Plum Baker’s first life!), and now I’ve established a domestic kitchen in my home in Portland. I’ve found the designation to be a careful and thoughtful balance: the home baker is permitted to prepare certain types of goods (those that present low food safety risks), and they agree to follow standard health and safety procedures to further minimize those risks.

Some of the ways I maintain my kitchen:

• I only prepare Plum Baker goods between “domestic” kitchen tasks (like making my breakfast or cleaning my personal dishes).

• I have a cat! Her name is Fig! This is permitted under Oregon regulations as long as I keep Fig out of the kitchen while I’m doing Plum Baker things.

• I follow specific guidelines for cleaning and sanitizing my tools after each use.

• I have a separate fridge, freezer, and pantry space for my Plum Baker ingredients.

Long story short, any money that comes in to The Plum Baker goes right back into baking, especially for the food I give away.

I’m lucky to have freelance editing work that provides a flexible schedule and helps me pay the bills. For as long as that’s true, I don’t want to draw money from The Plum Baker that I could otherwise use to pay for ingredients and tools that may make the work easier.

Ultimately, I would love The Plum Baker to be my “job” (though I don’t imagine it would feel like a job, you know?). If the day comes that The Plum Baker grows big enough (and squeezes out time for freelance work), I’ll start to pay myself a wage. And I’d let y’all know, of course.

Get ready for a little story, folks. Thank you.

The Plum Baker was originally a traditional business way back when during its first life in Knoxville, Tenn. (more than 15 years ago!). It was one of the best things I did for myself, following a dream to be a baker and my own boss.

Eventually, a move away from Tennessee had me closing shop and going back to editing and design work.

In 2020, at the height of the pandemic and protests that I supported, I knew I wanted to do something to directly and consistently contribute. That’s also when I became aware of the free fridges around Portland, and it didn’t take too long for me to realize food is where I could put my energy. “Make food, feed people” is a phrase that’s been rattling around my brain for years.

Shortly after I started baking food to give away, I thought about it as a second life for The Plum Baker.

Baking food and giving it away has been part of my life since, and my daydreamy mind thought about how nice it would be to turn over more and more of myself to the work. “What if this effort could sustain itself?” It’s a question I’ve been considering for years.

Could you please get to the “why a business part”?

This is one of those “two things are true” moments: I hate that we have to work to get money to pay bills. We also have to: work to get money to pay bills. And we have to pay money to eat food and get clean water and have shelter and and and.

In this world we live in, we also tend to think of providing for others as a thing we do over there. We categorize helping/contributing in this way as a separate exercise that we do for reasons (I think those reasons may be different for everyone).

I wanted it to feel like the most natural choice, to help get food to people who could use it. So a business makes sense to me. Because all you’re doing is buying a cookie or granola from me. It’s just The Most Typical Thing You Could Do.

And yet. That little purchase will help me make food that’s donated. You might not even notice you’re helping (distracted by the best granola you’ve ever had; I will brag about it just a little).