For Ava Truckey, owner of Butter Moon Bake Co. in Denver, Colorado, baking and writing have been a catharsis for getting through major changes in her life. Her blog and baking, which she dove into after she had a miscarriage in 2019, served as a way to heal and consequently, led to a successful business that regularly sells out of baked goods on a daily basis.
“My blog and baking are a way for me to understand what I’m going through,” she said. “That’s how I cope, that’s how I learn. It’s healing to me, my own personal therapy.”
Truckey continued to write and bake – biscuits are her specialty – at the beginning of the pandemic, when she became pregnant again with her son, Maddox.
Photo by Nari Ro
“Butter Moon had always been a pipe dream, something I wanted to focus on,” she said. “Being a stay-at-home mom and what that embodies and means to my family is extremely important. When I asked for a separation from my partner in October of 2020, that was the catalyst. Butter Moon didn’t have the opportunity to just dip its toe in. If I was going to do this, I was going to have to commit to it.”
Truckey hosted a bake sale on her front lawn in November of 2020, selling out of all 218 items in two hours. From there, she knew she had a business.
What began as cottage baking at her home morphed to operating out of a commercial space in January 2021, enabling her to incorporate more things on the menu and giving her the opportunity to eventually wholesale and ship.
Photo by Nari Ro
As for what to expect: Think homey goodness. She specializes in scones, buttermilk biscuits and hand pies, with all of her recipes built on trial and error. One of her most popular hand pies, the Megan, consists of warm spinach and artichoke dip in a savory crust. Another popular item is the Lady Grey Scone, made with blueberries, lemon and Earl Grey tea. “I try to do things that are playful without overcomplicating it. That’s what my brand is: Playful, sexy and elevated,’ she said. I try to recreate that in things as often as I can.”
What makes Truckey’s business and mission significant is her focus on giving back and lifting up historically disenfranchised groups. She collaborates with her community directly, giving gift boxes to individuals, hiring women of color and buying products from female and non-binary owned businesses.
“In my opinion, this is the bare minimum,” she said. “At the absolute least this is what I can be doing as a business owner. We don’t need more scones. We don’t need another bakery. The point is to give back in meaningful ways. It’s to call in the white community and say: ‘This is the kind of thing that is meaningful, and you should be thinking about.’ That’s why I do what I do.”
AUTHOR
Victoria Pardo is a practicing historic preservationist for FEMA with a dual interest in food and architecture. She earned her master’s in Historic Preservation from Columbia University, and enjoys consulting with historic sites and house museums, finding ever-changing ways to interpret food history. She has worked in the restaurant industry since the age of 16. She spends most of her time between Nantucket Island, MA, and Maine, working on her website, Food and Architecture, sharing stories, recipes and travel recommendations.
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This article is amazing. Ava is a special lady and proves it every day!