About the Kitchen Garden
Our History
Established in 1988, the Kitchen Garden at 268 Baldwinville Road in Templeton, Massachusetts began as a family run roadside stand, Henshaw Farm & Gardens, with a goal to provide fresh, local produce, flowers, eggs, baked goods, and more in a relaxing country atmosphere. Our farming background, New England heritage, Finnish roots, and love of the area are evident in the array of foods, books, and gifts found at the store.
My great grandparents, Lempi and Samuel Aho, emigrated from Finland and eventually settled in Templeton, Mass. My mother remembered her grandmother, Lempi, making Finnish coffee bread, kahvileipa, with no recipe. Just a handful of this and some more of that.
I remember my grandmother, Ilmi, always having baked goods and coffee for her guests. She learned to bake from her mother and as a young woman went to the Fanny Farmer School in Boston.
My mother, Lorna, taught me to make Finnish coffee bread. After peeling the seeds from the pods, we would grind the cardomon in the same mortar and pestle that my great grandmother used.
Now I bake Finnish coffee bread six days a week in my bakery. I no longer use the mortar and pestle, but an electric spice grinder. I only know a few words in Finnish. But, the bread I bake is what my mother made and many generations before her. It makes people happy when they taste it and remember their mothers and grandmothers. For over 30 years, we've continued this tradition of family values.
Kiitos Lempi, Ilmi and Lorna!
And thank you to my customers for buying our bread!
Joyce
We welcome you to experience the freshness and friendliness of Henshaws' Kitchen Garden.