Mother and daughter baking team Cookie Cloward of Loysville and Sherri Cloward-McGeary of Marysville, understand what a really good artisan bread experience must entail: a crusty exterior, airy innards, a heady aroma and a really good chew.
Sherri, a long-time bread-making enthusiast, last October baked several loaves of multi-grain country bread to accompany the soup served as part of an open farm event at Central PA Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) legend Spiral Path Farm. At the time, Sherri was working at SpiralPath canning some of the produce grown there. She was pleasantly surprised by the number of people asking how they could purchase one of her loaves to take home. There were several loaves on offer that day, but they sold out quickly. To Sherri, that was encouragement enough. And thus, the starter for the Lark Rise Farm Artisan Bread CSA began to ferment.
For the next two months, Sherri and Cookie attended belly-up restaurant auctions to acquire the heavy duty bread oven (it bakes a dozen loaves at once), stainless steel tables, three-tub sink and metal racks necessary to kit out the garage of Cookie’s English country style farmhouse as a commercial kitchen. In between auctions, they perfected recipes for the artisan breads they’d offer to CSA customers as their staple fare, all of which were to be made from locally milled grain purchased from HR Wentzel Sons, a Mill in Landisburg that resells high-quality flours milled at Snavely’s Mill in Lititz.
The Lark Rise Farm CSA started supplying bread to customers weekly in early January 2011. CSA shareholders choose from a selection of naturally leavened sourdough rounds; three-grain rustic loaves comprising whole wheat flour, wheat berries and flax seed; classic French baguettes; apple cider breads; Italian Ciabattas; and, garlic herb fougasse. Lark Rise also offers several types of dinner rolls.
Each loaf costs $5, a fee which is paid up front at the beginning of a season in accordance with general CSA operational practices. A small share comprises one loaf per week; a medium share has two, and a large share, three. If any customer needs to increase the amount of bread in any given week, they just call or email the bakers by Tuesday of the week they desire delivery.
All loaves are delivered on Thursday to designated drop points in Mechanicsburg, Carlisle, Enola, Harrisburg, Camp Hill and Newport. Sherri explains that while the whole grain bread freezes particularly well, all of the Lark Rise Bread will hold up well in the freezer for up to three months.
The Lark Rise Farm’s 16-week winter CSA season is currently underway. New members are being welcomed daily on a pro-rated fee scale. The farm is also accepting applications for its upcoming Spring/Summer season, which spans a total of 26 weeks from May through November, on its Web site at http://www.larkrisefarm.com/csa-membership.htmlor by calling 717-385-7381.
Lark Rise Farm has participated in the winter markets held at Dickinson College and hopes to become a permanent vendor in the Farmers on the Square market on Wednesday afternoons in Carlisle when it opens for the season in May. Sherri says she and her mother are interested in supplying bread to local restaurants and is pursuing partnerships along those lines.
On May 14, the bakers will be selling their bread as part of an “Artful Digs Day on The Farm” event they are sponsoring from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Lark Rise Farm located at 3933 Sherman’s Valley Road, Loysville. Also for sale at that event will be antiques, folk art, potted posies, and garden art.
When asked if they had plans to open a retail bakery, Sherri’s eyes lit up and she countered my question with one of her own. “Have you ever been to Tartine in San Francisco?” Owning a place like that particular bakery -- which has collected every culinary accolade imaginable – is the end game for this baking duo. They both admit that is a long-term goal, but it is the one they plan to work toward, one loaf of bread at a time.
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