Gabby Johnson straitens up the display case where their bread is sold.
PRESTON – While gardeners sell their home-grown produce to make a little extra cash, Gabby and Rusty Johnson in Preston are selling baked goods from their front yard in a similar fashion. Gabby’s Bakery is located at 21 S. 100 East in Preston.
They built a self-serve cabinet with glass doors so people could get a close-up look at several different types of breads, rolls, fudge and cookies. The cashbox looks like a tiny oven with a stove stop where people can pay for their goods.
“We first started selling from our front porch and it grew to the point we built a display case near the sidewalk so people could get a closer look at what they are buying,” she said. “We start cooking at 6 a.m. and finish about 2 p.m. Sometimes we’ll go until 5 p.m.”
Rusty has health concerns that prevent him from working around other people.
“We were on a vacation to Zion’s National Park and my husband contracted hantavirus,” she said. “After his exposure to the disease we tried to work traditional 9-to-5 jobs in the Boise area and Rusty kept getting sick with the flu and other illnesses.”
Hantavirus is normally transmitted to humans from contaminated rodents. People-to-people hantavirus infections are very unlikely. This particular virus can be life-threatening and linger for years and it has a 50-percent mortality rate.
“We were contacted by the Center for Disease Control to help us,” she said. “We moved back to Preston so he could work away from others on the family farm.”
The Johnsons are hoping Rusty will return to good health after five years. It’s been four-and-a-half years since he was exposed.
“Moving back to Preston and working on his father’s farm has been good for us,” Gabby said. “He works outside and he is not around other people and so far it is working, he is feeling better.”
The Johnsons tried selling baked goods to take care of their needs and not be a burden on Rusty’s parents while living in their home, she said.
“It’s been good for us, we always wanted to work together; so far it has been good.”
The Johnsons started their curbside bakery in January of 2021 and it continues to attract customers.
“Some days we bake up to 40 loaves of bread and up to 18 dozen rolls,” Gabby added.
The cookies are also popular and so are thumb prints with raspberry, apricot and pineapple jams. They use store-bought raspberry and pineapple, but the apricot comes from the farm.
“The business has definitely grown over the last year, especially with our yummy treats at a low cost in our community,” she said. “It’s fun to see change and crumpled up dollar bills left by children who come buy treats.”
They have people from Bear Lake, Rexburg and Boise buy their fresh baked items and one family bought 30 loaves of cinnamon bread to send to families in Washington state for Christmas.
Neither Gabby nor her husband have had any special training or schooling, they just used family recipes and made up some of their own.
“It has been fun for all of us to work together,” she said. “We wanted to work together when we first got married and that’s what we are doing. We are making a final push to get him better, not worry about him being sick all the time and getting him back into the workforce.”