About Me
Hi, my name is Brittney Hoverson. I am a Stay-At-Home Mom to three beautiful children ages 6, 4, and 3. I have a passion for baking and love making sourdough!
I owe a HUGE THANK YOU to my wonderful husband who has believed in this journey from the start.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
We moved in August 2022 from Brooks Harbor in West Fargo to a farm in the middle of nowhere ND! Why, you ask? Well it’s really a combination of a few things… so here goes…
My husband and I purchased land near his parents’ farm in 2016 with the anticipation that we would help farm. It has always been a dream of ours to live out on the farm, however, my husband had one condition… NO GRAVEL ROADS!! So that meant, the land that we had purchased would never hold our forever home.
I was in ZERO hurry to move out to the farm. I love Fargo. I wanted to raise our kids in Fargo and be close to my Dad! I was REALLY close to my Dad! His favorite band was Van Halen. The song that got him through his first cancer at just 18 years old was “Jump by Van Halen”. The first words to the song are “I get up, and nothing gets me down.” That song has carried me through life along with the good Lord above!
So when he got diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer in 2020, I was devastated. As a student who studied nursing, I knew Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer was life threatening and he would not be able to defeat it. I had to get all the time I could get with him before he passed. He was strong and didn’t let cancer stop him from fighting!
I gave birth to my second born in December of 2020 and my Dad passed away the day before my 30th birthday in March of 2021. I was an absolute wreck. But I remembered his words of encouragement and favorite song… “I get up, and nothing gets me down.” I listened to all the Van Halen albums on repeat for months.
Driving past his shop on Sheyenne Street everyday was torture. Seeing his place of work along the interstate was incredibly sad. I couldn’t go anywhere without tears in my eyes.
I looked at my husband and said we need to move. Like Yesterday.
My husband and I talked about moving to Florida. He has cousins and extended family there… it’s warm, and they have great schools! Then, the hurricane happened! NOPE! Not for us!! 😅 We talked about the farm. All the talking led his Aunt and Uncle (who actually snowbird from Florida to the farm every year) to call us up and let us know we could buy their house… 15 minutes from our land next to his parents’ farm…. AND ON THE HIGHWAY. You know what that means?!?! NO GRAVEL ROADS!!! God was sending us a message.
We called up a family friend who was a realtor and asked what our next steps should be. We were moving!!!
Fast forward to August 2022 – the coolest part about living here is that we are the fourth generation of Hoverson’s to live here. This house was built in 1908 and STILL has the same kitchen table that my husband grew up making gingerbread houses at.
I know my Dad can see us here. He always wanted to come see the farm. I often wonder if he ever thought we’d end up living out here!
Living on a farm has sparked something in me that I didn’t know was there. I actually ENJOY baking. While there isn’t Crumbl cookie in the nearest town, I had to learn how to master my own cookie recipes. That and having to actually plan for grocery trips and bring coolers that take up the entire trunk has made me appreciate ingredients that are better for you and I know my fellow community members are nodding their heads right now! There’s not McDonalds in our town or Chick-Fil-A. So I’ve gotten used to cooking most everything from scratch. It’s been 3 years on the farm. And in that three years, we have obtained 50 chickens that provide the most delicious farm fresh eggs. Being next to the fields that our family farms has allowed us to fully understand the hard work that goes into farming and producing the grains that we put into our bodies.
With that being said, Sourdough had been on my radar since we moved. After extensive research, a sourdough class, and an encouraging husband, I made my first loaf. And then I made my first triple batch. And then I made 6 at once. And then I tried inclusions. And then I made 12 at once! When I gave my bread to friends and family, it didn’t stop there! People I didn’t even know were asking “How do I order?”, “Can you bring some to church?”, “Can I get another loaf?” I thought jeeze, EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!
Then, I got asked to teach a class at our local library and another at a local bakery.
I felt a little guilty using someone else’s recipe, which is how we all learn, so I’ve spent hours researching and experimenting on how to make this my own incredible bread. With the help of the online sourdough community and my local friends and family, I have crafted over 15 different flavors of bread with fresh ingredients from our local grocery store, nearest one-stop-shop, and King Arthur varieties of flour.
My next challenge will be milling our own flour from the wheat we grow on our family farm!
In addition, I can’t wait to make bulk batches of rhubarb sourdough with the rhubarb grown right in yard! I’m also excited to add Pumpkin Sourdough to the menu! AND IT’S APPLE SEASON!! I’ll use apples from the apple tree in our yard to create something special for you!
I’m excited to see where this journey takes me and I hope you enjoy it all as much as we do!!
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