Dear Diary, March 4, 2025

I spent the morning thinking about generational trauma. As one does in the morning before 8 consecutive hours of toddler-free time. It’s been 13 days since the last time I had a stretch this long.

But now I’ve had a cup of tea, a chocolate & peanut butter cream cheese muffin (my son and I made them yesterday afternoon), played the tin whistle, and got a fire going in the wood stove. So, I can now sit and write what will be my first community-shared diary post.

Black Market Bakery (from here on out, known as BMB) is founded in storytelling. The true and fictional stories that shape us. So, how do I tell the story of my family - first generation farm-owners in New Jersey - through food? This is the question that I’ve been asking myself for a long time. And I think, on February 15th, 2025 I figured it out. The answer? By sharing my diary.

BMB is supposed to tell the story of a matriarchal farm. One founded by a woman who has become a mother. One of the items that I will make and sell is Irish brown bread (Irish: arán donn). I make soda bread because it’s the perfect family recipe. It’s quick, uncomplicated, and filling. It’s likely a food that my ancestor Anastasia Hennessy made for her family and friends during famine in Ireland. Not the same recipe, though. The beautiful thing about brown bread is that ingredients can easily be swapped based on what is available. So I’ve created a recipe adapted to American ingredients.

Soda bread is simple. It’s made traditionally by mothers, sisters, and brothers (I’m including those in religious orders when I say this). Not really by chefs - at least not in America. It’s not glamorous. It’s austere. It has no notions. It’s fucking delicious with butter and jam. Or dipped in some stew.

I can’t help but speculate that shame over its humble beginnings and the fact that it’s generally made in homes by women (excluding the religious Brothers from this), is part of the reason that it’s so under-appreciated.

So what’s the Irish soda bread version of storytelling? The diary entry.

Today, orders open for our first Saturday Bake Sale, which will take place on March 15th from 10am until 3pm at Timberline Farms. Orders close Wednesday March 12th at 8pm. You can place an order here.

And so, today I post my first diary entry. I’ll be posting diary entries going back to February 15th and forward. These are hand-written diary entries that have been translated onto the internet and edited for clarity (and ya know - some privacy).

And remember - diarists are unreliable narrators at their core.

Xo,

Ma