From Clay Ovens to Content Creation
Mayola Northup didn’t grow up dreaming of SEO or blog traffic she grew up in a tiny farmhouse kitchen in northern Vermont, kneading dough beside her grandmother and watching yeast work its quiet magic. Long before The Peace Baker came to life, Mayola was known in her small community for her rustic breads, slow bakes, and a tendency to talk about food like it was poetry. She studied liberal arts at a local college but never quite settled into the traditional job market. Instead, she moved between farmers’ markets, baking collectives, and even a short stint running a roadside pie stand just outside Montpelier.
A Winding Path Through Flour and Life
Professionally, Mayola wore many aprons. She worked part time as a recipe tester for a regional food magazine, helped teach weekend baking classes at a co-op kitchen, and spent five years running a micro bakery out of her converted garage.
Though not formally trained in culinary arts, she has taken numerous community and online baking courses, often blending those lessons with her own rural know-how. Her approach to baking leans less on perfection and more on peace baking as a rhythm, a reset, and a real connection to the senses.
The Birth of The Peace Baker
In 2025, as life slowed down post pandemic and her cottage business took a pause, Mayola turned to writing. The Peace Baker emerged from her desire to share not just recipes, but clarity. The blog was built around answering questions she’d heard again and again: Why does bread fall flat? How do you choose the right flour? What’s the science behind sourdough?
Rather than rush to trend driven content, Mayola focuses on timeless techniques and problem solving for home bakers of all levels. Each post carries the same quiet intention that defines her baking simple, centered, and grounded in real life.
A Voice Rooted in Practice
Mayola lives just outside Brattleboro now, in a modest home with a big kitchen and even bigger cookbook collection. Her writing reflects the life she’s built introspective, lightly humorous, and deeply practical. She’s kept its tone honest and uncluttered. There are no product pushes or empty clickbait just real insights from someone who has failed (and floured) many countertops on her way to understanding what makes baking truly peaceful.