Slice of Heaven Bakery

As they say, let's start at the very beginning. My name is Donna Netzer. I live in Princeton, Maine where I grew up. Now I raise a family here with my husband. I am a teacher by trade and cooking is a hobby of mine. Now, I have always liked cooking, but when COVID hit and the world shut down, including my school, I found myself teaching remotely. It was a very odd concept to teach remotely, especially considering we had such a sudden shift to this modality. That’s a whole other story. But, this is how it all began. 

Teaching remotely at first was new; we were in a pandemic, and students, teachers, and parents were navigating a jet airplane blindfolded. The expectations for our school soon became connection. So each day we would provide lessons and work, but the majority of our goals were to keep our students connected, feeling safe, and building a community to support students, teachers, and parents. We shortened classes, added in various activities to engage students and encourage participation, and added in times to connect with teachers in small groups. Although the struggle of bringing students “into” our homes was trying for some, to put it nicely, I actually loved connecting with my students in that way and letting them get to see more of who I am as not a teacher but a human being 

Jumping ahead a bit, all that led me to cooking with my students virtually (I am a math teacher so we were “mathing.”). I soon realized that the designated office hours where my students could connect with me more individually was rarely utilized and for one student led to him being called “the pasta salad boy,” by my husband since he once joined but just wanted to see me make the pasta salad I had started before he logged in. I realized that these times where I was available to students but not always needed was a great opportunity for me to cook. Soon I realized two things: I would have a chance to try all sorts of new recipes and I would have WAY too much in my house for just my family to eat. While the first thing was exciting the second realization created a dilemma. In steps my family. Although we were isolated, we perfected the art of mailbox and doorstep deliveries.  But as my love of cooking grew and new recipes led to new ideas, even my family wasn’t enough to consume my supply of ever growing cooking endeavors. Enter “the basket.”

I love to be generous. I had this new found obsession that led to an abundance of food. So, I found a picnic basket in my shed and would put it at the end of my driveway with goodies for the neighbors and encourage them to put on their “Yogi Bear” and raid my basket! Who doesn’t love free food, right? Sometimes I would get small donations, but I encouraged people to just enjoy. Both the cooking and the giving brought me joy, and it was a great success. I would post on Facebook, and people would come and enjoy whatever I had to offer. Over time the excitement waned, I wasn’t as frequent as I once was, and the basket wouldn’t empty very quickly or at all. This went on for some time, but the urge to cook just kept coming back. 

I do love cooking meals, but baking is what feeds my soul. Jump ahead again, we are back to school without restrictions, I don’t have this downtime I once did, the basket wasn’t suiting the needs, inflation hit like a wrecking ball, but yet I still wanted to bake. 

In the winter of 2022-2023 I pondered the idea of charging for my items. How would people respond? How would I decide what to charge? How could I make this a more formal set up? What would I need to do to make this work? Questions I would answer little by little. Our town has a sovereignty pact passed so individuals can sell items from their home to individuals without all the hoops to jump to get a license. I planned to get a cooler to replace the basket so items would be more temperature regulated. I came up with a sample price list after my math students helped me make a spreadsheet of ingredients with prices. I still wasn’t convinced this was more than just a crazy idea to daydream about. But, as I was going to sleep one night, I put out a fleece. If I could come up with a name that I felt spoke to me, then I would see where this could go. That is when Slice of Heaven was born.

Most people probably think that “Slice of Heaven” is a shameless brag about how amazing my food is. What not many people know is that is not the true intent of the name, although I do love that thought. The desire to be generous is still at my core. While the prices of food prohibited me from baking and giving it all away, I still wanted to bless others. So my prices and foods are a way for me to share my joy of giving and being generous in Jesus’s name. 

That is the “Slice of Heaven” I hope others get when they partake in my bakery. I want those who taste my food and engage with me and my bakery to feel loved, be blessed, and have a smile not just on their face but in their heart. God has blessed this effort. People have reacted far beyond what I could have hoped or imagined through this adventure. Noone complained about my items costing money, as I so foolishly was concerned about. I have been blessed to be able to grow in my abilities and create foods beyond my can and I give the glory to God in that.

It is my hope that Slice of Heaven will continue to bless everyone for many years to come. When people thank me for an order and I respond with, “it’s my joy,” I truly mean it. I find my joy and peace in baking. I find it therapeutic and rewarding in a different way than I find teaching, my other passion, rewarding. Thanks for coming along for this ride.