A.K. Square Cookie Man (The Final Year) Part 4

The end of Baking but the beginning of Writing

2010 was unequivocally the hardest year I have had thus far. Pascha took it easy recovering from surgery.

As Pascha slowly recovered around the time the Thursday Farmers' Market finally closed its doors for good which led to new trials and hardships.

I was tired, between family arguments, baking, and everything that happened in that year. By the time 2011 started most passion I had for the art of baking was gone and Pascha's surgery near autumn worked well enough that she could walk, stand, and lay without excessive pain relievers.

We no longer had any Farmers' Markets booked as we entered 2011 but we did had a couple baking events throughout the year. We were partaking in a mini-market created for a seniors home in Barrhead set up once every couple/few months and our grand finale, the Westlock Winter Market in November.

With so few events I spent most of my time working on school work, writing/editing my first book, figuring out how I wanted it printed.

Allergies Strike Back

Pascha after a bad allergic reaction

In 2010 we concluded so long as Pascha didn't eat anything with gluten it didn't affect her well being. Doesn't mean she couldn't work with it though.

While baking for one of these final events I made some Sticky Bun dough. Pascha was in the kitchen rolling out the dough. When the dough hit the floured counter top it rose to her face, inhaling, it hit her lungs. Five minutes later she was doubled over on the couch coughing furiously and her stomach cramping intensely. We were standing around her unsure what to do as she coughed furiously. Bizarrely enough this was the first time she ever lost her voice to her gluten allergy and it wouldn't make a return in our lives until lockdowns opened up 2022. Nearly 10 years later.

Around that time I noticed I was starting to get spontaneous nose bleeds. All I would have to do is touch the tip of my nose. (One time I was laughing at what happened on TV. While sitting on the couch and I threw my hands over my face that was enough to trigger me to run to the washroom and bleed. Even completely asleep in bed and I would feel it starting and have to run into the bathroom.)

Pascha decorating a Gingerbread House

Westlock Winter Market

In 2011 we did our final baking market in November. Hands down this was our Grand Finale. I don't think we've ever done that much baking for a single market before.

It was all hands on deck as we pushed ourselves to the limit. We accomplished so much baking, thinking back, and looking at the table display I find it hard to believe how much we did. I couldn't have done it without Pascha, Granny, and Granddad.

We spend the entire week leading up to that Sunday making/baking and preparing for that day. The only other time we pushed ourselves to this sort of limit was that last stand at the Darrwell Market or Alberta Beach but even the amount of work for those days could never compare to the enormous quantity we had that day. What you see on these two huge tables was also only a display as we had so much more behind our table in long white containers. Also these long white containers were double stacked. with a makeshift wooden stand/dividers so we could fit two layers of baking while keeping it from getting crushed.

On top of having a vast variety and quantity my first book The Silent Reality was released. Five years after writing the first poem back in the Alberta Beach Farmers' Market years. The final seal in the transition from Baking to Books. This is why when anyone asks, “What would you be doing if you weren't doing books?” I say, “I don't know.”

Growing up I recall hearing the advice that you need a back-up career just encase your passion job falls through. This is my back-up career. This is the safety net to cushion the blow. Once a novel idea is now all I have. There's nothing to go back to.

The Great Divide

Not only did we know that this was our last time we would ever bake for markets being the end of an era but my first book The Silent Reality had been released and this was also my first book signing creating a transition into an all new career. (A couple months later our first picture book Green Pea, Not a Home For Me!" was released. For anyone else keeping track of the time I turned 18 two months prior and was graduating in the new year, 2012.If you had noticed through this series Alex had appeared a couple times. I had a legal name change from Alex Gregory Kusch to Greg Chance Hansen when I turned 18 adding to this dramatic split in my life. One year later I also quit doing Farmers' Markets as unlike having baking it's a one time purchase and people don't necessarily purchase the same book twice.

This is why I find that there was such a sharp polarizing divide in my life.

There's one thing I found really disappointing about the end of my baking career. Back when I was still baking at Alberta Beach Farmers' Market I had a goal to keep baking until I was 20. I wanted to be able to say, "I've been baking for half my life." 2 years shy from being able to make that claim. I was so close to the accomplishment but it wasn't meant to happen. Yehovah had other intentions for my life.

Memories in the Kitchen

There's a funny thing that would happen every once in a while while we were working in the bakery. On a rare occasion someone would show up for a visit. One time we were busy baking and my homeschool facilitator would come in to make sure I was learning what I needed to be learning. I remember someone showing up as I finished a batch of cookies followed by another in the other room. They appeared surprised that I was actually busy working in the other room. You know It's something that I think should be brought up is that sometimes we can believe something is real but when you see it first hand it can hit home a lot more.

Another time I recall baking and we would purchase some stuff from Bulk at Superstore. Turns out whoever was supposed to be doing their job mistook Powdered Sugar for Baking Powder. (It wasn't us!) Didn't know until our green Mint Chip cookie dough was combined until we caught their mix-up. (Mint Chip cookies were one of the few recipes that used powdered sugar so nothing else had to be destroyed.)

There were a few favorite albums we would listen to like Much Dance 2011 and a few 80s compilations, Shrek soundtrack, STEREOS and a few 2010 era CDs come to mind. Other times we would play the radio back then our favorite station was 104.9 EZ Rock followed by 103.9 CISN Country. It's easy for us to Remember when EZ Rock's unfortunate ending and the Start of 102.3 Now Radio as the transition happened along with baking.

Present day.

I started going back to Alberta Beach Farmers' Market with our books and the first book signing hit hard. Every single vendor I knew growing up was gone. Perceptively every customer was new. I was a stranger in a building that watched me grow from a toddler into a young man.

Even popping in and doing the markets in 2015 to 2019 I was viewed as a new vendor. It was a surreal feeling.

If you were to ask me, "Do I miss baking?" I would say, I miss the memories from it and I also miss the feeling of accomplishment from it. Yes, having so many books has a similar feeling but the difference is with books you are doing the long game with patience, determination and drive whereas with baking it's fast visual spectacle on the table.

Thank you for your time

Chance Hansen

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