Suite Judy Blue Eyes-An Ode To Cosmic Charlie

I’ve got an answer…
I’m going to fly away…
What have I got to lose?…
Will you come see me…
Thursdays and Saturdays…
What have you got to lose…
(Suite Judy Blue Eyes-Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)

Ok…I have been revisiting many of my favorite pieces of vinyl, this week. In times of stress, or extreme busy days, weeks, months, it grounds me, calms me, to flip through my vinyl collection.

I have put one of my favorites on play, all week long. Deja Vu by CSN&Y…go, now, grab your copy, pull up your playlist, download it…soul changing, earth moving, love connecting…

It’s a dreary Saturday morning, I have loaves of breads, rolls, goodness all cooling in the kitchen, and I am preparing to leave for my shop, downtown.

I was up, before the dawn, as usual. One of my favorite times of the day is the early morning when I bake. My colorful kitchen greets me, coffee brews, and I begin the process of assembling the different varieties of dough that will become beautiful loaves of breads for my customers, my shop, this market, the restaurants where I am featured…it fills me with such pride and happiness to have this as my morning routine. My ritual of love. My passion for local, the scene, the people, the producers, the markets, the food.

My days are so busy, so packed with meetings, planning committees, managing markets, running my shop, carving out time for my circle of friends, launching yet another business, that this early morning of baking, coffee drinking, music listening, in the soft, quiet light of my kitchen, is what connects my soul back to myself. Baking my breads is humbling, passionate, rewarding, and is a reflection of all things that are me. The way that I bake, the ingredients that I use, the fact that I am a vegan baker…they reflect me, the person, as well as the hippie girl who wears many, many hats.

When you become part of my Bread World, you become a Bread Head. Modeled after my years and years of following the Grateful Dead…when I was/still am a Dead Head.

In my little hippie way of life, and in my baking, I hope to bring love to everyone. I like to think that with my clean food, local food, seasonal/organic when not in season, belief, will help to change the world. Or my community. Or even just one person.

When you step into my shop, you are stepping into a sensory filled, colorful, music fueled adventure. You get my breads, all lined up in their bags on my shelves. You get an array of local products from local vendors of this market. You get colorful threads that are a mixture of vintage and hippie clothes. You get the faint essence of patchouli. The music reflects my eclectic musical taste. There are prints hanging all over, of rock star icons, black and white collages of 60s and 70s models/band muses, and colorful streamers, dancing bears, and a window that has become the talk of the downtown for it’s lighted whimsy.

My shop, my breads, my threads, this market, all wrapped up in a colorful kaleidoscope package, to reflect me, the hippie, the bakestress, the shop girl, the market manager…and my love that is this local community. My passions all coming at you…ready or not, in this quest to bring more and more local to the front and center.

My earliest description of my first breads, 7 years ago, was this…

Cosmic Charlie Baking and Bread…Made with love in my heart and a song in my head…Reflecting my devotion to The Grateful Dead..

And there you have it…the bakestress, the girl about town, your market manager…and one hippie’s quest for the best of the best in local love…

Peace, Love, Good Vibes…
Cosmic Pam