What if your favorite cookie came with a side of mental health advocacy, dark humour, and queer joy?

I’m Ash (she/they), the baker behind Screaming Willow Bakes — a one-person show mixing small-batch cookies with big-hearted purpose. I'm not just baking for a living — I’m baking to stay alive, and to help others feel a little less alone while I do it.

The Story:

Screaming Willow Bakes started in my tiny kitchen — a lifeline during depression, a creative escape when everything felt impossible. Baking became my way of coping, connecting, and expressing when words failed. Now, it’s growing into something bigger: a queer-owned, community-driven baking business with a mission rooted in mental health, resilience, and radical care.

This year, I brought Screaming Willow Bakes out into the world with our first-ever farmers market season — and it was wild in the best way. I met so many of you who shared stories, laughter, and cookies under my little tent. It was proof that this dream can work — that people really do care about community, queerness, and conversations around mental health.

But now, the markets are done for the season, and I’m facing the hardest part: surviving the winter. Without steady market income, things get tight fast. Ingredients, rent, insurance — all the boring but essential stuff that keeps the ovens on — still need paying, even when the weather says “hibernate.”

That’s where you come in.

If you’ve ever found comfort in a cookie, if you’ve seen yourself in my story, or if you just want to help a small queer baker stay afloat — your support means the world. Every bit helps me make it through these slower months so Screaming Willow Bakes can come back stronger next spring, with more cookies, more chaos, and more community.

You’re not just keeping a business alive — you’re backing one that:

Thank you for believing in this dream — and for helping me keep the oven on through the storm.

Ash

Founder, Screaming Willow Bakes

For transparency:

Allocation of funds:

• Kitchen fees

• Bakery insurance

• Ingredient invoices

• Any over this will be for marketing (samples) to help grow our business