Meet Melli Of Make It With Melli
Sometimes the best things grow from the most unexpected beginnings.
Make It With Melli didn’t begin with a business plan.
It began with a shoulder replacement.
While recovering, Melli started making sourdough as a way to exercise and strengthen her shoulder. What started as part of her recovery slowly became something much bigger. She began selling what she made, became licensed, and before long, Make It With Melli was growing into a business of its own.
Today, step up to her farm stand and you'll find a little bit of everything.
From homemade sour breads, cookies and baked goods, candies and candied fruits, jams, infused honey, flavored sugars, granola, overnight oats and more.
But what really makes Make It With Melli special isn't how much she makes.
Made the Slow Way
Melli's focus is on homemade food made from scratch without all the unnecessary chemicals and additives found in so many mass-produced foods.
And homemade really does mean homemade.
Her bread alone can take roughly two days from beginning to end—mixing the dough, allowing it to ferment, cold-proofing it and finally baking it.
It's something that's easy to forget when we're standing in a grocery store comparing prices.
When you buy from a local baker or maker, you're not just paying for flour, sugar, or a loaf of bread.
You're paying for someone's ingredients, rising supply costs, equipment, licensing—and hours of their time.
You're buying something somebody actually made for you.
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From Her Kitchen to the Community
What started during Melli's recovery now reaches customers through her own farm stand, around the Gettysburg area, and at Dottie's Family Market in Dover, where she stocks products on Mondays and Fridays.
And that's exactly the kind of story Kale Yeah was created to share.
Because sometimes supporting locals doesn't require doing something huge.
Sometimes it's pulling into the little farm stand you've driven past a hundred times.
It's grabbing a jar of jam instead of automatically reaching for one at the grocery store.
It's trying the bread somebody spent two days making.
And most importantly, it's knowing who made your food.
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Melli's story is a pretty great reminder that small businesses don't always begin with some perfectly mapped-out plan
Sometimes they begin with a shoulder replacement, a loaf of sourdough and someone willing to see where it goes.
And we're pretty glad this one did. 💜
Growing Farms, Foods & Friendships.
Kale Yeah, Let's Grow