Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
When she was a little girl, Autumn Warder worked for her Pap and Gran at Meck’s Bakery. The granddaughter of James and Karen Meck, her most vivid memories are of helping at the bakery and learning how to bake.
“Pap was the person I learned from because he was more hands on,” she said. “Gran would do what was behind the scenes. He did the studies and the creativity of the recipe tweaking.”
Warder kept up her baking hobby after the bakery closed in 2008 and was encouraged by the need for baked goods to start her own business this year called Meck’s Legacy Bakery.
“I’ve always liked baking,” she said. “People were always saying, ‘hey, you should make me this, you should make me that.’ It’s just progressed from there.”
Warder moved to Green Bank after marrying Drake Warder. Between Green Bank and her job at Snowshoe, she grew a fan base to the point where she now supplies baked goods for The Snowshoe Hare, in Slaty Fork; Cass Trading Post and Homegrown Harvest in Green Bank.
Carrying on the work of her Pap, Warder uses a lot of the family recipes to bake breads, cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, pepperoni rolls and more. She has also done some tweaking of her own for customers who have food allergies.
“Long fermented sourdough is gluten free friendly,” she said. “You can make anything with sourdough starter. You can long ferment it where it breaks down [the gluten]. Some people don’t like that or want it just because they’re still scared of it, but I have all sorts of friends who have allergies and they’re fine with it.
“I just make sure that once it’s fermented, I don’t reintroduce gluten,” she added. “It’s kind of a cool science.”
Warder said she gets requests a lot to find ways around allergy causing ingredients and is happy to oblige.
In addition to providing goodies for businesses to sell, Warder also collaborates with local businesses to make holiday bundles – the most popular of which is Valentine’s Day.
“Simply Sweet in Durbin – we partner to do Valentine’s packages,” she said. “[Marka Kane] will do the coffee, and somebody will do flowers, and I’ll do the sweets.”
Currently, Warder is operating from home and baking when she’s not at her job at Citizens Bank of West Virginia in Slaty Fork, but she hopes to one day have her own store front and make baking a full-time job.
“You’ve got to be able to find a happy medium – if you’re just in Green Bank, you’re not getting Marlinton,” she said. “If you’re just in Marlinton, you’re not getting Green Bank. It’s trying to find that marketing middle where you get to serve both. I’ve seen a couple opportunities that I’m looking into.”
For now, Warder is happy filling orders for local businesses and friends.
“Right now, I’m playing the juggle game,” she said.
It helps that she has the support of her family and the community.
“It’s been a nice little thing to carry on,” she said.
