July

Hello dear neighbors-

Midsummer is here and walking in our backyard in the evening feels rather surreal—the lush green leaves of the maple tree riffle in the breeze, butterflies loop through the milkweed, the rascally bobolinks and lone sora out in the marsh talk a lot—but none of you are here! The picnic tables remain stacked in their winter storage arrangement, the children’s tractors usually sit idle, and Tim is keeping his surfboards in the oven house. No parties, no music, and no community joy among the flowers. We miss you!!

Most summers our business explodes into constant motion, a little bit like a chaotic yet joyful circus train climbing a ten-week-long mountain. Our two main summer goals have always been to (1) maximize our production while maintaining excellence, and (2) provide as many good jobs as possible. It’s a short busy season here, but the flurry of activity is hugely exciting and a wonderful juxtaposition to our quiet winters.

As most of you already know, this year we have decided to do things very differently due to concerns over the spread of Covid-19. We have not taken up our typical summer hours, and are basically going with a slightly expanded version of our winter schedule: bread and pastry are available on Saturdays only, and we’re making pizza for takeout on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings.

This spring, after much research, consultations, deliberations, and questions (sound familiar, anyone?), we decided to choose the safest route possible—for our family, our staff, and our community—without actually closing. The two most impactful results of this decision is that we are not allowing more than five staff members to work in the bakery space at once, and we’re not inviting guests to gather on the property. This means we’re producing far less than usual, and we’re offering take-out only.

To produce less is a hardship—financially for the bakery and our staff, and practically for all of you who rely on our products as staples in your daily meals and for fun evenings out. We are currently employing a valiant and vigilant staff of 9, rather than the typical summer team of 30+. We are making only a third of the bread and pastries that we produced last summer. And we’re making pizza only 3 out of our normal 5 nights a week.

That is A LOT less! We despise not making more food. It feels awful. But we cannot, in good conscience, crank this summer as we usually do, so this is where we have landed. We hope you all understand.

We are selling almost all our bread and pastry directly from the bakery, with the exception of a little bread and pastry at 44 North (this Island girl can’t not have a little Tinder Hearth presence down there). Many thanks to everyone who instantly got on board with mid-week online ordering and coming out here for pick-up. We’re so very, very grateful for your support.

Head’s up, now that July is here products are selling quickly online. It’s not ideal, but it’s where we’re at this summer. Our best advice to you is to set your alarms and get on the ordering as early as you can! Good luck!

We weren’t sure if take-out pizza would remain popular once other restaurants opened for dining, but it certainly has. We are starting to sell out, and ordering is difficult, to say the least. It’s kind of like a lottery for folks who are able to call us a million times. Not ideal. We know. We’re so sorry about the phone situation, and we’re working hard right now to come up with a solution. We might go to online ordering for pizza, or just get another line going so we can process orders twice as fast. Stay tuned for an update in the next week or so. But THANK YOU!!! Thank you for supporting us despite the difficulty and for your patience. Thank you.

Our hearts are in everything that we do, and we are so grateful to be in this incredibly beautiful place with all of you. There is so much to fight for, and here’s to the strength and creative power we can find anew together, here in our community. May the deep beauty of these shimmering lands and waters fill you up with mysterious forces for life and wellness. We love you and miss you—see you in the driveway!

With love,
Lydia and Tim,
with Kieran and Alva

ORGANIC SOFTSERVE!

Organic Blue Marble Ice cream is back! We are making cookie sandwiches to take with your order, rainbow sprinkles and all! The ice cream sandwiches get a stint in the deep freezer before you pick them up, so you’ve got around half an hour before they start thinking about melting. But we won’t tell if you just go for dessert first!
Love to all. . .

Take-out pizza from 4:30 to 8pm Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday! Call (207) 326-8381 to place your order!

CINNAMON BUNS + OTHER TREATS

The time has come- cinnamon buns are ready to play! Head over to our online store to order bread and treats for SATURDAY pickup!

Next week’s pizza nights are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 4:30 to 8PM; drive through/no-contact pickup.

Call to order: (207) 326-8381 and see you then!

THURSDAY PIZZA + SATURDAY CHANGES

Hey Folks! The peepers and bittern and woodcock are back in full force over here in the marshlands, making a right racket each evening; we’re so very grateful to live among such stunning beauty, and get to share it with you in these difficult days. Thank you so much for your support.

We’re continuing to shift around our schedule to try to offer all of you the best food we can while keeping things as spacious as possible within the bakery. Our staff are a bunch of rock stars, and have been working so hard and with so much love.

Take a look at our schedule changes, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions!

This week we are adding THURSDAY to our pizza schedule! And our Saturday PICK-UP time is now changed to 9:00-1:00 to accommodate more orders.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

PIZZA Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 5-8PM

BREAD & PASTRY Saturday 9:00-1:00

How to ORDER? If you’re looking for PIZZA, you must place your order by phone. We start taking orders for the whole week on Tuesday at 8AM. The line has been very busy Tuesday mornings, but with 3 nights of pizza now, calling later on means you should still be able to get a pizza this week! Check out our insta or facebook (you don’t need an account to see our facebook posts!! Just click that link!) on Tuesdays to see the menu, and we’ll make updates if/when we sell out. Sound good?

For ordering BREAD & PASTRY we are now taking all orders ONLINE! Yeah! Our online store is open each week at 8AM on WEDNESDAYS. Pickup is at the bakery on Saturday, now 9:00-1:00. Thank you!!

We are sad to announce that for the time being, we are no longer delivering to the Blue Hill Co-Op or John Edwards in Ellsworth.

This was a difficult decision for us, but as we move into the warmer months, we will not be able to expand our bread production as much as we are accustomed to in the summers past. Our bakery space is very small, and for our employees’ safety, we are going to continue to keep the number of people who must work in the bakery at any one time minimal.

Please reach out if you have any questions! tinderhearth@gmail.com is the easiest way to reach us directly.

Thank you, and sending love,

Lydia and Tim