Our Story

A small bakery with a simple idea: use good ingredients, take your time, and share what you make.

How it started

Foxglove Bakery started in 2019 when Elena Marsh left her job as a pastry chef in Boston and moved to Ashfield. She had been baking sourdough for friends on weekends for years. When the space behind the post office came up for rent, she signed the lease the same day.

The first week, she baked 30 loaves of sourdough and sold them from a folding table by the door. By the second month, she was selling out before noon. Five years later, the folding table is gone, but the sourdough recipe hasn't changed.

What we believe

Good bread takes time. Our sourdough ferments for 24 hours. Our croissants are laminated over three days. We don't use dough conditioners, artificial flavors, or preservatives. If you can't pronounce an ingredient, we don't use it.

We buy from local farms whenever possible. Our eggs come from Pine Hill Farm in Colrain. Our butter comes from Mapleline Farm in Hadley. Our flour is milled at Four Star Farms in Northfield. Supporting the people around us isn't a marketing strategy. It's how we want to run a business.

The team

EM

Elena Marsh

Founder & Head Baker

Former pastry chef at Flour Bakery in Boston. Sourdough obsessive. Can't stop adopting cats.

SO

Sam Otieno

Baker

Joined in 2021. Pastry school graduate from Johnson & Wales. Makes the best croissants in Western Mass.

DP

Dia Patel

Front of House

Knows every regular's order by heart. Part-time student at UMass Amherst. Makes a perfect latte.

T

Thyme

Shop Cat

Adopted 2020. Sleeps on the flour bags. Not technically an employee but acts like one.