While Tammy Gillaspy has always baked, she didn’t start baking professionally until last fall. She already knew how to make a tasty crust, but in September of last year, she began experimenting with pie decor, cut-outs and painting, after she’d seen something on social media.
The artwork developed quickly for her. She was soon making lattice work and flowers for pies in a creative process that just unfolded. Then she was making pies she never had before, like peach, triple-berry and cherry — the latter of which she doesn’t even personally care for ironically.
After posting a few photos of her pie creations on Facebook, people wanted them. Last Thanksgiving she sold more than 50 pies. Christmas was a bit slower, but she sold 15-20 pies then. In the meantime, she’s donated her work for fundraisers in the community and has continued to fill orders for birthdays and more.
Gillaspy uses specific ingredients, only Red Rose Flour from Cortez. She likes it because it’s cleaner and doesn’t contain the pesticides that other processing plants have.
Already, Mesa Rose Bakery in Norwood is carrying her pies and some of her farmhouse bread too, the bacon-cheddar-jalepeno bread.
And, she makes old-fashioned cakes: chocolate-mayonnaise, Mandarin orange, spice cake, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and chocolate zucchini. She also makes a “Do Nothing Cake,” a pineapple cake, with a coconut and pecan topping, that has been a hit at a hunting camp she bakes for.
Her cakes are simple, baked in 9x13 pans, not fancy looking, but very moist and sometimes don’t even require frosting.
She also makes biscuits, like the ones her aunt used to make out in Paradox in the old days. They’re baking powder biscuits that her mom taught her to prepare. Now she’s making a new biscuit too, a Denver biscuit, which is a cross between a roll and a biscuit. Those can be frozen and are easy for folks to buy and bake when they’re ready to eat.
But her son, Cory Colombo, loves her farmhouse bread. He says it makes the best French toast every single time.
Not even a year after beginning a business she never knew she’d start, Gillaspy is now figuring out what’s next for Tammy’s Farmhouse Pies and Baked Goods. She’s operating under the Cottage Act at home, carefully following food-handling guidelines, but unable to prepare coconut cream or certain other pies due to the law. At some point, she might have another baking space where she can prepare 10-12 pies at a time more easily.
It does take her about two hours to make a single pie, before she even bakes it.
Some might know that Gillapsy is raising her granddaughter, Aniyah, who also bakes little 5-inch pies. The child does sell her own baked goods too, and the funds are put into her savings account for the future.
Part of Gillaspy’s inspiration for continuing her professional baking is her granddaughter. She wants to save money to get the little girl raised, and she hopes maybe one day Aniyah might want to take her baking business over.
“I’m hoping it turns into something for her,” she told the Forum. “She loves baking.”
Gillapsy invites the community to follow her on Facebook at “Tammy’s Farmhouse Pies." She’s working on a promotional flyer too, in preparation for Thanksgiving.
She wants the community to know that her pies keep frozen well for about three months, and the take-and-bake option can simplify the holidays, providing a locally-made, locally-sourced, freshly-baked pie Thanksgiving morning.
“And it makes the house smell so good,” she said.
For her, the pie creations are also providing a therapeutic element in her life. Gillapsy said even if she’s having a challenging day, the pie baking helps to take her mind off things.
“It’s very relaxing,” she said.
