When I was 13 I always liked looking at cookbooks and all the odd and funny stuff in cookbooks
I would see something on TV and think that I could make it better or prettier or whatever
so I just started practicing with little recipes and stuff out of the Betty Crocker books.
When I was 15 I was so interested in doing cakes and decorating cakes that I started
making money doing cakes for family members and all their friends and everything and had
a little cake business going when I was in school.
My name is Gretchen May Gersner and I'm the baker at Elmer's store.
I'm relatively new to Ashfield.
I grew up in Canandaigua New York and my kids are all still there and they're old and moved
out a long time ago.
I have kids in their late 20s.
I lived there for 44 years before I moved to Ashfield.
My friend Eric Hoffner told one of my other friends that Elmer's store was looking for
a baker.
I decided to come in for an interview and so I came in for the interview and decided
that I wanted to stay in Bake at Elmer's.
It's just a real friendly welcoming community and I really like the feeling of a family.
It's kind of like a family community and it feels good and I like it here.
I make all of your toast and all of your sandwich bread for your sandwiches for lunch.
I make all the pastries for the bakery case and I make all the cookies, pies and breads
and muffins and scones and all sorts of any bakery item that I really feel like making.
I try to fill the big case and have staples in it but also a variety of all sorts of different
stuff like focaccia bread or little quiches or lots of fun stuff.
Being the only baker of the pastries, I like to try to have recipes that I can do multiple
things at the same time.
So it has to be efficient and I know most of the recipes so they're in my head so that
I can do five things at the same time instead of making one batch of cookies and then getting
that done and making another. I usually have stuff in every mixing bowl and in the oven
and rising and going at the same time so I can fill the big case fast.
When I'm not doing baking and I'm at my house I make the product called a hillbilly lip
balm and hillbilly lip crap and I also on my farm I had a bunch of goats so I make goat's
milk soap and I also sell that here at Elmer's. I sell the lip balm, I make it with my partner
Bill Vieira and we sell it in nine stores around here and so it's getting pretty popular
amongst everyone and all of the vacationers.
Elmer's is an absolute gathering place for a lot of the people in the community of Ashefield.
I like to try to do my part by making them feel happy about coming down to Elmer's and
getting something really good to eat to start their day off or a snack in the afternoon
to keep them going or maybe they stop here after work and get some stuff to take home
to their family when they're done working and I like my participation in that and it's
nice to see the customers come back and like the stuff that you make and so that makes
me happy and I love being here at Elmer's and making lots of stuff and being the soul
baker here in town.
