News
Real Bread Week Celebration
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On February 24, 2024 we hosted a FREE community event at the beautiful Kettle Falls Library to celebrate the end of Real Bread Week, a yearly event sponsored by the Real Bread Campaign, a UK based charity that champions and supports Real Bread, bread made without chemical raising agents or additives.
BREAD Encounters collaborated with Tamara Smith, Owner pf the Newport, WA Small Batch SOURdough bakery who is the only baker in the area to supply the community with real additive free bread.
Our lecture included a brief introduction to the works of the Real Bread Campaign, a brief flour education as well as reading and interpreting of store bought bread labels and a bread breaking/tasting event to show case the flavor differences in sourdough bread based on the length of fermentation time.
We also had a table set up for a community flour drawing with the topic "What does bread mean to you?" (based on the Bread Houses Network bread therapy "Theater of Crumbs) method)
It was a well attended event with much interaction by the participants.
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BreadHaus and Tradional Crafts Mill coming to Kettle Falls, WA
It is finally happening! The merging of 2 separate but very related visions come together in the creation of a future community space we call "BreadHaus and Traditional Crafts Mill", thanks to generous arrangement with the owners of Red Bridge Farm, Bekah and Brad Murphy.
It will be located at the corner of Meyer street and Third Avenue In Kettle Falls, WA and will be a safe space for community members to reconnect to their heritage and engage with others in hands-on traditional activities like collective bread making and bread art therapy, leather crafting and blacksmithing. It will also be the future home of the 1804 community youth group under the leadership of Charles Lamica, owner of Boulder Creek Rustics.
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We hope to start teaching classes in our new space starting January 2024 and are currently crowdfunding to help with renovation costs.
MY STORY
Bread Across Borders
August 21
On Sunday, August 1, 2022 we spread kindness across borders in the form of 60 loaves of community home baked bread which was distributed to refugees and asylum seekers attending The Border Church / La Iglesia Fronteriza Sunday Service. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect people on both sides of the border in a gesture of shared bread. This was a 2-day event with people on the US side coming together the day before to bake bread. You can read more about it here
Scholarship Awarded!
December 3, 2021
Our founder Sibyl Leon was awarded a scholarship by the Sourdough School UK for a Diploma Course in NUTRITION & DIGESTIBILITY OF BREAD!!! The Sourdough School is a Centre for Research and Education in Nutrition and Digestibility of Bread and the Gut Mircobiome.
Our recent adventure with, and determination to educate elementary school children about the benefits of nutritious bread was one of the reasons Sibyl was chosen for the scholarship. You can read her humorous blog post here
Pan Y Paz Bread Market
November 10, 2021
BREAD Encounters was invited to participate in an all female bread baker collaborative for a bread market at Mujeres Brew House which is housed in the Bread & Salt Building in Barrio Logan. Our inaugural market launched on November 10. Currently the market takes place on the second and 4th Wednesday of the month from 5-8pm. The initial marketeers included Pan Del Barrio owner Amanda Estrella, Elisa Sabatini of the Nonprofit Via International and Bery Forman, community placemaker and bread baker.
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You can find a variety of freshly baked breads at the market as well as other delectable items to pair up with bread, like marinated feta and beets or Mexicali honey.
A Bread Encounter with 3rd Graders
November 5th, 2021
Slodo, our sourdough sloth and I had the wonderful opportunity to teach 3rd Graders at Blossom Valley Elementary about the benefits of baking your own bread, what a natural leaven is and why long slow fermentation is better for your tummy. They also learned about the makeup of a wheat kernel and got to grind their own flour with a Mockmill flour mill. Click on the link to read our humorous blog post about this adventure.
Dias De Los Muertos in Paradise Hills
November 1, 2021
For the second consecutive year in a row, BREAD Encounters was invited to bake the 'pan de muerto" for the Dia De Los Muertos community altar and help with the set up of the altar in Paradise Hills. Dia De Los Muertos is a special Mexican holiday which celebrates those loved ones who have passed on.
Paradise Hills Kindness Initiative
"Share The Loaf"
June 6, 2021
The Paradise Hills Foundation (PHF) invited BREAD Encounters to lead the first part of their 6-month "Kindness Challenge" to promote kindness in the 92139 zip code. Bread Encounters kicked of the month with a workshop at the lovely home of Stacia Roesler, PHF President to share how easy it is to bake a delicious and wholesome loaf of bread and spread kindness to others.  We also collaborated with 6 Grados Cafe's owner Eduardo to set up a basket with bread mixes complete with recipe and professional looking bread bag for those who wished to participate in the initiative. The winner of a $50 gift card for the most impactful bake will be chosen at the beginning of next month,
San Diego Library How-To Festival
April 29,2021
BREAD Encounters is going to be one of the virtual presenters of this year's San Diego Library How-To Festival. Here is an Instagram link to the teaser for the video we submitted...
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Community Bread Bake for Olivewood Gardens
February 25, 2021
This week was worldwide REAL bread week and we were able to deliver 45 loaves of handcrafted real bread laoves without preservatives but lots of love! The recipient was another local nonprofit organization Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center in National City for their Thursday produce stand which provides fresh locally grown and affordable produce (and bread) on a pay-what-you can basis. Our awesome volunteer included a Paradise Hills mural artist, a real estate lady and chicken owner, a mother of 5 children, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as well as a retired Navy Commander. Some baked breads using our BREAD Encounters bread mix, others baked sourdough loaves. All of them baked a difference in their community!
Collaboration with Cast-Your-Bread San Diego
January 26, 2025
We are please to announce that we will be collaborating with Cast-Your-Bread San Diego (CYBSD) which unites bakers all over the county for regular community bakes to help people in need. This collaboration originated in a talk I had with the originator of the program Cast_Your-Bread Los Angeles, Guy Frenkel, who is an awesome bread artist and humanitarian. BREAD Encounters will be sponsoring their first community bread bake in February in collabration with CYBSD to benefit Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center.
King Arthur Baking Company LOVES our mission!
December 15, 20120
We are super-excited to announce that one of the oldest and most reputable suppliers of flour and baking goods declared the following: "We love your mission and are excited to support you!" That's BREAD Encounters they are talking about!!!
King Arthur Baking Company is an employee owned company, that believes in using business as a force for good, and we are honored to have been chosen as a recipient of their donation program.
BREAD Encounters bakes at ECTLC
December 12, 2020
We were granted permission to bake bread in the commercial ovens at East County Transitional LIving Center (ECTLC) today. Sabine had prepared 20 loaves of BREAD Encounters special bread mix breads and Sibyl brought two sourdough loaves to test the ovens. We were able to break fresh bread right out of the oven with a few of the ECTLC residents and had us a nice "bread encounter"
Community Bake for Transitional Housing Center
November 16, 2020
BREAD Encounters collaborated with the women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Chula Vista 1st Ward) to provide 55 loaves of delicious real, preservative free bread to residents of a local transitional housing center (ECTLC). "Feeding His sheep" has never been so tasty...
Dias De Los Muertos
November 1, 2020
BREAD Encounter was invited to participate in the Paradise Hills Community Altar for Dios De Los Muertos by baking the "panes de Muertos" for the altar offering. We collaborated with the President of the Lao American Coalition, Sandy Spackman, who is also a resident of Paradise Hills and an avid baker.  It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with the community while at the same time researching the tradtions of my own heritage for a very meaningful bake.
ECTLC Baking with Kids
October 24, 2020
On Saturday October 24, 2020 we had two BREAD Encounters events at the East County Transitional Housing Center in El Cajon. Both activities were a great hit with the children and we received requests for future activities. Head over to our blog to read about our historic bread encounters with the children from ECTLC.
BREAD Encounters in the Bread Therapy news!
October 5, 2020
We are featured in the News section of the Bread Therapy website! It sure is nice to hear that we are an "inspiring organization" which brings meaningful change into society.
Head on over to Bread Therapy News to read my letter to Dr. Nadezhda Savova, founder of BREAD Houses Network.
BREAD Encounter in Sedona, AZ
September 25-27
Last weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Sedona with my best friend to visit our very dear friend Teresa Ray who has been a great supporter (fiancial and otherwise) of BREAD Encounters since Day 1. Teresa requested that we bring 10 of our special BREAD Encounters bread mixes, so that she might "share the loaf" with her friends in Sedona. Although a novice bread baker, Teresa nailed it following the easy instructions which come with the bread mix! And best of all, for every bread mix she received, BREAD Encounters will bake an additonal loaf for someone in need with my friend's name on the packaged loaf!
My dear friend has been spreading the word about BREAD Encounters all over Sedona. Maybe there will be a community bake in Sedona's future?
Sourdough September Celebration
September 20, 2020
We had a wonderful Zoom session to celebrate Sourdough September along with the Real Campaign.  Representative Mary Buckingham of the Carl Griffith 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough website spoke to us about the history of the sourdough starter. Three speakers shared their sourdough journeys and how sourdough has impacted and/or changed their lives: Ret. Navy Commander and Point Loma Rotary President Tim McCully, Nurse Emily Roberts from Kentucky, and Cafe Virtuoso Barista and local artist Mary Jhun. We shared some tips and tricks on sourdough baking, briefly touched on the nutritional benefits of sourdough, had a drawing, and simply enjoyed and hour and a half with fellow sourdough enthusiasts.
New Partnership with ECTLC
January 1, 2025
We are currently in the process of working out a partnership with East County Transitional Living Center. ECTLC is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit corporation whose mission is to provide transitional housing and restore lives to families who were once living on the streets.
ECTLC's Director of Family Services James Merino, was very interested to learn more about BREAD Encounters programs and is looking forward to a partnership. Our initial meeting with James and his delightful wife Claudia, who is in charge of program development, culminated in a bread encounter with a still warm sourdough loaf baked by Sibyl and fresh home made goat cheese by board member Sabine Friedrichs. Â
BREAD Encounters unique bread activities, which foster inclusion and creativity, as well as bread baking training for current residents, are program options we are currently discussing with ECTLC. We are particulary interested in working with the children at ECTLC...
This is your News section closing paragraph. Remind readers that this list is regularly updated, so check back often for the latest headlines and press coverage.
Youth Wilderness Survival Group Bread Encounter
May 14, 2022
On Saturday May 14, 2022 we had a special bread encounter with kids from the 1804 Club in Kettle Falls, WA, a youth program for 12 through 17-year olds focusing on skills used by Lewis & Clark on their expedition around 1804.
Workshop participants had the opportunity to learn about bread and nutrition and had the unique opportunity to knead dough in a community dough trough which had been hand carved by the founder of the 1804 Club for just this occasion. You can read about it here
