Our History
Our Journey
Sadly, we had gotten lazy and had been relying quite a bit on many refined convenience foods. As I began learning the principles of nourishing traditions, I started making everything from scratch. I had a culinary arts school background, so getting back to homemade was not too difficult. I had forgotten how rewarding it was to serve something delicious and nutritious to my family.
Time For a Change!
One of the first things to go from our diet was soda pop! We started brewing kombucha tea in 2004, and began selling it to private customers in 2005. In 2006, we decided to add a state-certified kitchen in our home so we could legally sell our products to the public. We got our license in August of 2006.
Another food item that we love is sauerkraut! I could never stand it growing up, and on a trip to Germany in the 1980's I tasted some kraut that was delicious. I came home from Germany, tried canned sauerkraut again, and still couldn't stand it. Then I discovered lacto-fermentation, and there it was, the delicious sauerkraut that I had tried in Europe! We eat it at least two times a day and sometimes three (depending on what we are having - it doesn't go so well with pancakes and maple syrup).
I began studying zymology with a fervor! I wanted to know the science behind the fermentation. I experimented with different vegetables and recipes. I love coming up with new things to ferment and am always trying new things.
We began sprouting, drying, and grinding our wheat berries for breads and pastries. It was during this process that I laughingly came up with the name Little Red Hen for our company. Since that time, two of us in our family have gone gluten-free, so we have discontinued the sprouted wheat line so that we could maintain a gluten-free kitchen.
We then began studying herbs and essential oils for health. Our daughter suffered from severe eczema for years, and we spent a long tome trying to discover something that would help her skin without adding toxic chemicals to her already-challenged system. We developed our new line of salves using only olive oil and beeswax as the base, and then enhanced with infusions of herbs and essential oils.
The next leg of our journey began in 2017: finishing our home schooling, downsizing, closing our state-certified kitchen, and offering our knowledge to you through hands-on classes.
And the latest: Trim Healthy Mama Coaching! After years of healthy eating, I was still overweight. But in 2016, after praying to God that He would help me lose weight and get all the glory for it, He led me to Trim Healthy Mama. My journey of healthy eating continued, but with THM tweaks that helped me drop 30 pounds and keep them off. When THM offered coaching certification, I knew this was something I wanted to do.
