Wild Eats Adventure: Simple and Fancy: Yesteryear Baking


Wild Eats Adventure: Simple and Fancy: Yesteryear Baking
By Avery Peters

I first met Christine Fancy at the Wolfville Farmers’ Market. I usually arrive early on Wednesday to buy dinner for my family and take an evening off cooking. The aisles are clear and I see a direct line to Christine’s beautiful white booth, which sets off her baking. Her booth is very clean, simple, and approachable, just like she is. With a name like “Yesteryear,” you know there’s a story behind what she does. Christine started Yesteryear Baking with the vision to share simple and quality baked goods.

Since I’m usually rushing to and from the market before I pick up my son, and my daughter sometimes distracts me from too much conversation, I don’t always get to ask questions or stop to talk for too long. So I decided to connect with Christine outside the market and find out more about what she does and why she loves it.

She won me over with her chocolate malt cake, and it’s recipes like these that she draws her inspiration from. She found some old church recipe booklets and revives recipes from them. She also inherited collections of baking and cooking books from family and friends. It’s quality home baking and cooking that she wants to share. And as her business name speaks, it’s forgotten, simple, and wholesome recipes that she focuses on. A prime example is her old-fashioned molasses cake. This is another one of my favourites and I had to have another melt in your mouth slice of each so I could tell you all about them. And she doesn’t just bake sweets, we also enjoy her tourtieres and baked beans for dinner.

It’s been almost a year since she’s had her booth at the Wolfville Farmers’ Market and she also hosts workshops (look for upcoming Christmas Baking workshops on her Facebook page, Yesteryear Baking), so she can teach others simple baking techniques. Her love of teaching and sharing is epitomized through her volunteer work. Each week she bakes with Heather, one of the L’Arche community members. She describes how her communication with Heather isn’t always with words, but through the act of baking together. And that’s exactly what Christine shares at the market. The simplicity of her baking speaks volumes. Look a little more closely and ask a few more questions. Isn’t that what the market is all about?