They say necessity is the mother of all inventions. That was the case, at least, for April Bridges when she was prompted to use up some extra eggs by baking cornbread and giving them to her husband to bring to work. “The guys thought it was good enough to do something with, and said I should start baking on the side,” says April.
So last August, she set up a modest little stand at the road in front of her Lydia home at 6901 Weeks Island Rd. selling cookies, loaves of sourdough bread, along with two or three skillets of cornbread. “I was still working remotely full-time for a lumber company in South Carolina, where I’m from, and traveling quite a bit,” recalls April. “When the lumber industry became volatile and the baking business blew up during the holidays, I decided to bake full time, and it’s been non-stop ever since.”
April’s passion for baking began in middle school as a way of relieving stress. “My mom would come home and there would be two dozen muffins on the counter,” she laughs. “Now I like the creative and gift-giving aspects of baking. I’m a creative person at heart, and this gives me an outlet not only on the baking end, but with branding and marketing.”
She created the Blue Dog logo, which she recently updated to better resemble her blue merle heeler, Reba, her first birthday gift from her husband, and represent how she wants the business to be portrayed.
Today, Blue Dog Farmstand offers artisan breads, cookies, cakes, cornbread, canned goods, fresh produce, butter swim biscuits (the name says it all), delicious homemade jams, and her wildly popular cinnamon rolls. New flavors include apple butter and blackberry-vanilla bourbon.
April says one of the ingredients that she thinks distinguishes her cornbread and cinnamon rolls is the preservative-free, locally sourced sugar from the mill where her husband works. ‘I’ll bring a five-gallon, food-safe bucket to the mill and fill it,” she says. April shares that one of the special ingredients in her cornbread is sour cream. “It keeps them moist and makes them a lighter color than other cornbread,” she points out. Owner of 23 nine-inch cast-iron skillets, she can meet the demand for her cornbread and cinnamon rolls, selling either full or half skillets.
Other best sellers include the banana pudding cookies, which placed second at the Lydia Cancer Association Food Fest last year – the first time a sweet entry had ever placed. The pudding cookies also placed third at this year’s bread pudding bake-off hosted by Piece of Cake Bakery. A new item this summer, Blue Dog’s pop cycles are flying out of the ice chests. Made with real fruit and a Greek yogurt base, they prove that a treat can be healthy and taste great. Oh, and be sure to try the dessert cups, in Chantilly and cheesecake flavors.
Sourcing as many local ingredients as possible, like blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries, April makes everything fresh in her home kitchen.
Although she hasn’t had much time lately, she also provides engraving on leather and wooden items. And Blue Dog also offers t-shirts in four different designs, with new shirts in the works.
At the start of this year, Blue Dog Farmstand became a vendor of the Delcambre Market. “It was the big league for us,” claims April, who recalls bringing 26 loaves of bread, which she sold out by 11:00. “Now we bring the full gamut of products,” she assures. “My favorite thing about the market is the community between the vendors; the vendor relationships are second to none. And the boats selling shrimp are so unique.” You can shop Blue Dog Farmstand products at the August market. Otherwise, on weekdays, you can visit the stand on Weeks Island Road, Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. until dark. Make sure to swing by there on “Sweet Tooth Sunday,” where customers can purchase either 8” x 8” or 9” x 13” pans of great homemade desserts, like April’s blueberry bliss cake or banana pudding brownies. They’re a great finale to a Sunday meal.
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