Meet Paige Young | Pastry chef and gardener

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paige Young and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paige, what do you think makes you most happy? Why?
Honestly, what makes me happy is simply being in our garden and having a farm store available for our local community to visit. We have tried a corn maze here on our farm and that just didn’t work due to lack of interest. So we decided to scrap that idea and we now have a 8,000 square foot flower garden! It is a lot of work, but I just love being able to plant flowers and hopefully have folks come by our farm and pick a beautiful arrangement for their homes. We have our farm store here that offers our jams, jellies, salsas, breads, and treats, and so rewarding when a customer comes back for more . We also started an art studio and offer classes ranging from pottery to gourd art. We’ve had a few classes so far and it is great to see the participants enjoying themself as they create their own unique art pieces . I just love being outside and it makes me so happy that we have created options for our local community to enjoy it too.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I began pottery many years ago. That has continued to today and I just love created faces, figurines, and decorative bowls. I also began creating art using gourds in the past few years. We grow the gourds and then I can turn those into purses, bowls, baskets, bird houses, bird feeder and decorative art pieces. It is such a fun way to express my creativity! What sets me apart is that all of my art is unique and they are never the same. And since my career began in marine biology, it has been a fun ride to see where I have ended up.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Albion is a small town but growing. During the summer, I would definitely take my best friend to the bandshell in town for our free concerts. Those concerts are put on by Swingin’ at the Shell. I would also have to take someone to our small downtown to visit some of our local businesses. After Albion, the next stop would have to be Marshall. Another small town in our local area but has so many things to see to include antique shops, restaurants, and on Saturdays the local Farmer’s Market. We also have our jams, jellies, salsas, and treats at the Market but it is such a fun spot.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First and foremost, I would like to thank my husband Steve. He is always so supportive of me and my crazy ideas around our farm an helps in any way possible to maintain our farm! Also, my brother Aaron who has become our mechanic and gives us so much advice on how to maintain our equipment on our farm. Last but not least, my parents. They are no longer with us but my father gave me the “farmer” gene and my mother was always my rock and my inspiration.

Website: https://www.ebmyfarm.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EBMYFarm