Hello
Here we are in yet another lockdown. It's so tedious isn't it, but at least this time there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it won't be long (she says with fingers so tightly crossed she is starting to lose all blood flow to her hands) before we can all be out and about again. And then not much longer still before we can get together with friends and family. I do wonder how we will all look back on this period in years to come. And what our children will tell their children about it...
I'm not going to moan about the challenges of juggling work with home-schooling because there are so many that have it harder than we do, and all of these efforts are absolutely worth it if it helps us get through to the other side of this horrible pandemic. But saying that it is having an inevitable impact on MMB and I wanted to write to apologise that, yet again, our hours, our offering and our methods to get you your bread have had to change. I feel like the last year has had far too much hurried messages trying to communicate new times and services to you all, week after week, and that's not helpful at all, I do realise. It's been a long old road of trial and error trying to find a healthy balance between doing the best for our customers, trying to keep everyone happy, trying to keep those shielding stocked up in bread, trying to be there for our children, trying to keep the business alive and moving forward, keeping things interesting for our customers, trying not to burn out in the process etc etc. One thing we have learnt is that we can't actually do all of the above. Obviously. That wasn't rocket science Megan!
So this time round we are keeping the baking really simple. Just a small sourdough offering and that's it. For now. We are open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11am until we sell out. This week we have sold out pretty quickly each day so if you are able to get to the shop we suggest you get there as close to 11am as possible. For those of you unable to get to us, I really do apologise. I know it's frustrating and it seems very unfair but I hope you understand.
For next week, in addition to sourdough and Rugbrød, I hope to get some Bungay Butter, Cacklebean Eggs and Baron Bigod cheese back in stock for you to pop in your tote bag along with some of the Cobble Lane Cured meats we have in. I think these little extra treats are what really help get us through each week at the moment, don't you agree?
If for any reason things change again we will, of course, continue to communicate this to you as best we can. Just stick with us if you will. We know it's far from ideal but we really appreciate how so many of you are putting up with all these changes to help us keep going. It means an awful lot.
One other thing I wanted to mention before I go is a new Instagram account I have recently launched, @minimissmegan. For a long time I have wanted to write about my MMB journey. To write about what I've learnt along the way to try to help others starting on a similar path. And to give a bit of a behind-the-scenes insight into MMB. I am really enjoying it, talking about everything from gut instinct, branding, leaving a 'real job' to go it alone, my thoughts on Business Plans (controversial) through to some more of the personal aspects of running your own business. It's a nice outlet for my ramblings so if any of this piques your interest or if you enjoy my more lengthy, blog updates then you might like to head to @minimissmegan on Instagram and see what it's all about. I'm encouraging lots of conversation on there too as I want to hear others' experiences on the topics I discuss and maybe, at some point, encourage a bit of a supportive community. It's a rough ride out there at times and it's good to know you're not alone. As I often say, we're all winging it really, aren't we?
Enjoy your weekend and we hope to see some of you at MMB again at the end of next week.
(Oh and I've just remembered... I've got an update on the Soil to Sourdough project which I need to update the project members on. I will do my very best to get this out to you at some point this week, somewhere in between fractions and subordinate conjunctions. Lord help us all).
Take care.
Megan x