Behindthe Scenes

Story & Photos: Janice Barniak

Auntie Em's Jams & Bakery

Substitute teacher and Owensville resident Emilynne Ramsey realized student lunches were burdening local families when she was covering an Owensville Community School teacher’s class, and another adult popped in to ask her to talk to a student.

“It’s only five weeks into the school year, and this kid is $60 behind on his lunch account, so he’s tried to pack his lunch. Today he only bought a bag of chips. Could you tell him he can get in line, that he’s not going to be denied?”

Ramsey said at a certain age students start to realize when their accounts are behind, and that’s embarrassing to them.

She decided to use her small business, Auntie Em’s Homemade Jam & Bakery, to sell families takeand-bake meals with the proceeds benefiting South Gibson lunch programs.

She advertised them through her small business’s Facebook page, which she’d normally used to take orders for bread, danishes, jams, extracts and more,

While the proceeds went to the lunch program, she said the fundraiser opened her eyes to another need for families—affordable homemade to-go meals. It inspired a business expansion, and she’s currently building a commercial kitchen next to her home.

Right now, as the upgrade finishes, she pulls stored stock out of her basement, from apple pie jam, to relish, to pineapple upside down jam, vanilla bean extracts, and more. The basement of her house stores a rainbow of jams that, when held to the light, shine like stained glass windows.

She pioneered flavors like mango tango, roasted garlic and onion jam, and blueberry lemonade, bourbon cinnamon vanilla extract with whole vanilla pods included, danishes and tangy homemade breads.

She’s also managed to go completely dyefree with her products.

That doesn’t mean every experiment works.

Cotton Candy Grapes didn’t hold on to their flavor, and the sweet tea and coffee jams are still being developed.

Her big canning pot can make 14 jars of jam at a time and this year her business ran through 33 cases of Mason jars.

She thought of taking the business to a bigger town, but she said she feels Owensville needs more businesses, and she enjoys selling to her neighbors. Moreover, she said families around her are hardworking, with many adults working more than one job, especially bus drivers, cafeteria workers and more.

Her plan for a future take-and-bake business will help families save time and serve healthy food, with a kitchen storefront.

“It still kind of weighs on me a bit, making sure some of the kids are getting what they need,” she said. “I think about them a lot.”

Watch for Auntie Em’s at the Owensville market June 17th.

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