This is my very first blog post – and I thought It might be a lovely place to say hello, introduce myself and explain a little bit about my biscuits. You might just want to buy a biscuit and think nothing more of it, which is of course, absolutely fine. But I hope if you’ve found yourself here, that you might be interested to read a bit more about the story behind the biscuits, and why it brightens up my day so much when I receive an order.

So grab a cuppa, and a biscuit (of course) and join me for ten minutes while I tell you a little bit about it…

Isn’t it funny, how sometimes the best ideas come from the most unexpected places? You spend so long hunting for a good idea, trying to think up something that will fulfil and excite and inspire you. Maybe, if you’re like me and aren’t as young as you once were (I’m 36 by the way, and not saying that I’m over the hill by any means – but you know what I mean) you might have tried a few different routes in life, dabbled in a few different careers, maybe even had your own business like I did, but there’s always been a little space in your heart that somehow isn’t quite filled up.

For me, it’s taken a really difficult journey to figure out what I’m doing here, and what I should be doing to ‘do my bit’.

 For almost 5 years, my husband and I have been fighting a battle with infertility, which we, as yet, are still losing – quite magnificently as it happens, but you don’t need to know the details!

It’s hard, goodness me, it’s so hard, but as well as testing me over and over again, it’s given me some amazing gifts, that I’m honestly thankful for every day. It’s taught me a million things about myself and it’s made me immeasurably a kinder, more thoughtful, and more compassionate person. It’s also made me realise that in our darkest days, when we feel utterly heartbroken, sad, and hopeless about a situation, whatever it might be, we should never underestimate the difference a small gesture of kindness can make. To know that someone is thinking of us, loves us and is walking alongside us, offering their support and encouragement just when we need it, is worth so much more than we often realise.

And that, is exactly what the biscuits are all about. I appreciate that some of you may be reading this and thinking, ‘its just a biscuit for cripes sake’ and that’s ok, sometimes I think that too. Then I remember the story a dear friend of mine told me about a little girl and some starfish on a beach, and I remember that the point is to do your bit to make a difference, and even if that difference only helps one person, its completely and entirely worth it.

The idea for the biscuits came to me right in the middle of the dreaded two week wait during our last round of fertility treatment, and it literally was just there one day in my head when I woke up. I had a friend going through treatment at the same time as me, and I’d been trying and trying to think of a way to tell her that I was thinking about her and I knew exactly how she felt. But I was stuck, and then, there it was! I’d send some biscuits (baking is always my favourite way of letting someone know I love them) and I’d stamp some messages of hope, and love and encouragement on them.

So I did, and she loved them, and I REALLY loved baking them for her. So I started stamping other quotes onto biscuits, other messages of inspiration, and to be honest, in a strange way, I think these ones were really part of my healing process. After we found out that our IVF hadn’t worked, and we were left a little bit shattered, and tired, and in serious need of some words of encouragement ourselves, I found making biscuits and finding quotes that offered words of hope and inspiration to stamp on them really therapeutic and soothing. Once I’d started I couldn’t stop!

Already, the biscuits are so much more than that. Don’t get me wrong, I love making a biscuit to ask someone to be a Godmother, or to say Thank You, or Congratulations, or ‘Will you marry me’ (that’s a fib, I haven’t made one of those yet – but I’d really love to if you know anyone thinking of proposing!) but my absolute favourite biscuits to send, the ones that warm my heart and make me feel like this isn’t just about making biscuits, are the ones that are sent with the intention of lifting someone up, of brightening their day, and letting them know how loved they are. Those biscuits are the whole reason The Kitsch Hen exists, and I so hope that alongside the rest of the business, we’ll reach out to more and more people with biscuits that offer edible inspiration and words of kindness.

So, that’s it, a little delve into why I’m here and what my hopes and dreams are for my business. I hope I haven’t overshared – infertility is one of those things that people still shy away from talking about, but believe me, when you’re in the middle of it, and are feeling terribly lost and overwhelmed, there’s nothing more comforting than knowing someone else is navigating the same rough old seas as you, and so I try to be as open about it as I can in the hope that it might help someone feel that they aren’t alone in it.

Thanks so much for reading, I’ll be trying to blog regularly when I think I have anything half interesting to say, sometimes it will be biscuit and baking related, and sometimes it might just be me chatting about what’s been going on in my life, and offering some inspiration of my own, but I hope you’ll join me in my mission to help us all to spread a little edible inspiration among each other.