From Failed Starter to “Breadie Money”: My Sourdough Journey at Our Finger Lakes Bed and Breakfast

For Christmas 2025, Chris surprised me with a sourdough starter kit. We were just beginning to dream about running a bed and breakfast in the Finger Lakes, so the timing felt perfect.

I tried. I really did. I set the jar in what I thought was the ideal warm spot, but this was in Richmond, Virginia—a place where I’m pretty sure I didn’t belong forever. Anyway, life got hectic. The starter was ignored, and two months later I was tossing out a sad, forgotten jar of goo. I should have known it was doomed the moment I didn’t give it a name.

Fast-forward to taking ownership of the Manor, our historic inn in the heart of the Finger Lakes. One of the first things I did was buy another kit. “Why not make fresh bread for our guests at our New York B&B?” I thought. This time, I was determined.

Enter Breadie Money—named after the hilarious night Chris thought he was going to a Billy Joel and Elton John concert and ended up at an Eddie Money show instead. (Still one of our favorite stories.)

I’ve always loved cooking, but baking? That was new territory. Baking demands science, precision, and patience—three things my free-spirited self wasn’t naturally great at. Yet something about the hospitality of it all pulled me in. There’s a special kind of pride in pulling a warm loaf from the oven at our Finger Lakes bed and breakfast, knowing our guests will wake up to that homemade sourdough breakfast smell and a fresh slice with their morning meal.

This beautiful old Manor is changing me in ways I never expected. It’s deepening my relationship with Chris, shifting how I see the world, and teaching me to slow down and pay attention to the small, nurturing details at our Finger Lakes inn. I could easily write twenty blogs about all the ways this New York B&B is transforming me—my cooking, my creativity, my connection to people.

But this felt like the perfect place to start.

Have you ever tried (and failed at) sourdough? What’s your go-to comfort bake? Drop a comment below—I’d love to hear your stories. And if you’d like to taste Breadie Money’s latest creation in person at our Finger Lakes bed and breakfast, we’d love to host you.