<p>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}309_24698371246_8174_n.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 188px; float: right;" />Although incredibly difficult to do, if I were to sum up my Au Sable experience in a few sentences, it would be this:&nbsp; Stewardship for creation was fostered in me through day-to-day living as a student and an intern at Au Sable.&nbsp; Then as I was head cook, stewardship and sustainability became a passion to instill in the kitchen, and inevitably getting intertwined with food, became a tremendous part of my earthly responsibility and passions.&nbsp; So through my experience, I learned to see the glory of God in nature, and eventually found that what was on my dinner plate reflected how serious (or not serious) I was about being a steward of his created world.</p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}11535_550397198106_1919287_n.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 168px; float: left;" />Then there was Melinda Cook... who became another one of my passions when she came to Au Sable to work in the kitchen. It turned out that we embraced this same feeling towards sustainable living and its importance when it comes to the food we eat.&nbsp; Eventually, she became my wife.&nbsp; After Au Sable we moved to Traverse City to work at a small bakery called <a href="http://www.pleasantonbakery.com/">Pleasanton</a>. Their high regard for sustainability is what attracted us there through baking organic natural-leavened breads in a wood-fired brick oven - never throwing away a single loaf.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	Over the next two years, Melinda and I found our niche and soon realized that even when we moved away from Traverse City, we would still be bread bakers, as it became a true passion of ours.&nbsp; Then our search began for a home in Pennsylvania where Melinda was born and raised. &nbsp;After a year and a half of searching, we finally settled on a property where we can live and build a bakery just this last July.</p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}260373_630667984806_1137044_n.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 167px; float: right; " />So here we are. Ready to build our bakehouse, yet without sufficient funds. For the past year and a half we have been unofficially baking on a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=169681263101935&amp;set=a.169681259768602.38777.152144908188904&amp;type=1&amp;theater">little patio oven</a> which can bake up to 70 loaves per bake day, and that oven is beginning to fade. We know our community is hungry for this <a href="http://mcgrathsbakehouse.com/mcgraths-bakehouse-true-artisan-bread/">true artisan bread</a>, and we know we cannot supply them with it for much longer without launching our official bakehouse.&nbsp; Time and time again, we hear people saying that they cannot find REAL bread like ours anywhere in the area.</p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}261523_630668049676_8191715_n(1).jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 134px; float: left;" />That is why we launched our <a href="http://indiegogo.com/bakehouse">indiegogo campaign found here</a>. Please take a look at it and our incentives for giving. We have been so thankful for every dollar that comes in.&nbsp; Thanks so much for checking it out!&nbsp;</p>
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	Find more information at <a href="http://www.mcgrathsbakehouse.com/">www.mcgrathsbakehouse.com</a> and <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/bakehouse">www.indiegogo.com/bakehouse</a></p>
