How one woman builds a sustainable, local lifestyle & business
It’s lightly drizzling when I pull up in front of Nadia’s house on Francis Peninsula in Pender Harbour, BC. A quick hug and we get right to a tour of her garden. Her yard slopes down from the front. The path is just big enough to walk through as most of the space is filled with plants. Plants that are both food and used in her salves and salts. This is the essence of how she creates her life and business. Her homestead on the Sunshine Coast.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines homestead as, “to live frugally or self-sufficiently, especially by growing and preserving food.” Nadia does more than grow and preserve food, she has created a lifestyle that supports her financially, creatively and nutritionally.
Cycle of Life in the Garden
Nadia explains how everything is connected. The cycle is becoming more and more obvious with each passing year. The cycle of connectedness. The cycle of life and death. The cycle of growth and dormancy. She cherishes all parts of the cycle of her garden. There is a peacefulness as we wander through her garden on that cool, drizzly, November morning.
This isn’t a farmer’s field splayed out in rows. This is a beautiful intertwining of plants that she is constantly learning about. An intersection of random and expertly placed plants. With companion plants that she has discovered over the repeated cycle of growing. Some plants are still showing off their produce while others have crept back into the soil to sleep.
The back corner of her garden is home to her bunnies, chickens and 1 rooster. Who are all part of the intricate cycle of her evolving homestead. The chickens eat the scraps and produce eggs. The bunnies give back manure for the gardens.
As an intuitive gardener, she doesn’t follow a lot of books or rules around growing but she has done a deep dive into soil. She knows that great soil = great vegetables and fruits.
As we meander back up to the house she points out the rainwater collection that waters the garden. Composters with hard-working worms creating soil. The plants are happy and in communication with each other. All natural. And all without harmful, invasive critters destroying her yard or harsh chemicals.
That’s not to say that everything has grown perfectly. She was having trouble growing tomatoes until this past year, when she planted 2 tobacco plants. She calls them “the guardians of the greenhouse” (which is open at both ends so all the birds, bees and bugs can get in and out). As a result, she reaped her biggest and best crop of tomatoes. The birds did not bother the plants. She hopes the tobacco plants will keep protecting her tomatoes year after year. With this past year’s crop lasting until the middle of November.
Not only were the tobacco plants good for her tomatoes. She tried steeping the tobacco leaves like you do for tea. She then sprayed the tobacco tea on her aphid infected strawberry plants and the aphids were gone in 3 days. She loves it when she can discover natural ways to combat everyday challenges.
The garden is important for the food it provides for herself and her family. It also garnishes her focaccia breads, is part of her salts and even has a place in the salves she makes.
A New Adventure – Building a Local Business
In 2022 Nadia left her job as a private school teacher in New Westminster. She had been a teacher for 15 years. Before that a professional Puppeteer, also for 15 years. Are you noticing a pattern? She is only a few years into this new adventure, Picassoloaf, so we should be able to savour her goods for years to come : )
Nadia decided that she was going to start baking bread. Her first sourdough breads turned out really well. She continued to bake and posted images of her bread on Facebook. Someone commented, “Wow, that’s Picassoloaf” and the name stuck and her love of baking bread has only grown.
“I want my bread to be different”, Nadia insisted, “flour milled even a month ago loses much of its best qualities”. She found herself at a crossroads wondering if she should continue with bread. Then she saw a German-made flour mill in a thrift store. She knew this was her next step. She starts with milling the wheat berries. Then adds organic white flour which makes the bread better tasting and more nutrient-dense. “Good quality bread needs good quality flour.”
“Bread is so sensitive”. When she bakes she always listens to classical music. Nadia believes you send the energy of your environment and life into the bread. She wants to make sure that she creates an amazing environment so you can have amazing bread.
However, small batch baking can be hard on the body. Mixing the dough by hand, her wrists were always in pain. She was about to give up because of the amount of work she was putting into bread making was very hard on her. But then she bought herself a mixer that can handle larger quantities of dough. She is also getting a new oven at the end of the year which she is very excited about. It will allow her to keep the joy in the bread-making process. Something she feels is very important to the quality of the bread and her life.
Over the past 3 years, she has experienced lots of growth. She’s been very patient, “I don’t want to push and be overwhelmed”. She has made bread for the sandwiches at Shift and was also invited to participate in a One Straw Society long table dinner. More and more people are getting to know the deliciousness of her bread-making.
The bread starts 3 days before she takes those rustic loaves out of the oven. She needs to activate the starter as it needs to be at its peak for the best results. This one step can make or break the quality of the bread. In summer, the starter is ready a lot quicker than in winter. Interestingly, the full moon tends to speed up this activity, she notes.
On baking day she wakes at 2am. Bakes until 11am. Packs up for the market. Sets up the market. Talks with customers. Sells out of bread. The market closes at 6pm then she helps clean up and close the market. That’s a long day.
But, she has Malin. The butter to her bread. He accompanies her to the market on his day off and helps out. You can imagine it gets hard to keep up after being awake since 2am. Malin entertains customers and helps her out if she forgets a word or two. Supporting her when she needs it most.
Local Madeira Market
The Madeira Market has given Nadia a community that she loves. “It’s nice to be with others”.
Growing a small business is a lot of work and can feel lonely. Being a part of the market feels supportive like you are part of something bigger.
And boy has the market grown. Over the 2025 year it went from 8 vendors up to 22 vendors. The support from the community as they visit and purchase local means so much. She believes in community. It is her mission to support, contribute and give back to the community she lives in.
The market will start back up in February 2026. It will continue to be at the Madeira Community Centre until the renovations start and then move to the Legion.
You can continue to preorder via her Facebook or Instagram page to pick up at the market. Which is a great way to make sure you get what you want because she continues to sell out at each market.
Picassoloaf’s Products
Bulgarian yogurt – A mildly, sour-tasting yogurt, delicious probiotic food. Bulgaria is famous for its yogurt.
Water kefir – A non-dairy alternative made with sugar water. She has clients who swear by the use of her kefir and yogurt to help them with better digestion and clearer skin.
Dairy kefir – a tangy, probiotic-rich fermented dairy drink, similar to a thin yogurt.
Beet kvass – earthy, salty-sour flavour made from beets, water and salt. Beet kvass is considered a nutrient-dense superfood rich in probiotics, vitamins, and minerals.
Sourdough breads – slightly sour flavour, chewy texture, crusty exterior and the natural fermentation over the 3 days helps pre-digest some of the starches and proteins making it easier to digest.
Bulgarian banitca / traditional Bulgarian cheese pie – made with layered phyllo pastry, eggs, Bulgarian yogurt, Bulgarian feta cheese, butter.
Cinnamon Roll Sourdough Focaccia – yes, it’s everything you imagine and better.
Savoury focaccia – olive oil takes this bread to the next level. Delicate, airy texture with a unique design on each loaf. They are both beautiful to look at and divine to eat.
Salt of the ocean – Water collected from the ocean and reduced to salt via the heat from her wood stove. (A glass container of ocean water was sitting atop her stove when we were talking.)
Salt of the sea – ocean water collected and dried with layers of fermented and dried vegetables from the garden.
Salt of the earth – ocean water collected and dried with layers of fermented and dried vegetables from the garden.
Nadia is constantly looking for new ways to add natural ingredients to household products. She actually started to make her salves before her breads. Forever Young was her first. She picks her herbs and flowers at their peak then infuses them in Kalamata oil for at least 2 months in the sun. Then strains and uses the oil as the base of her salves. Next she created, Save the Sun which consists of calendula, rose hip oil, tallow, and geranium.
Save the sun+ has the same base, plus an addition of her fermented vegetable mixture which she has steeped in the calendula oil. This helps activate the volatile ingredients and preserves without adding harmful chemicals. The texture is silky and absorbs nicely without feeling greasy. The one I tried was lemongrass scented (which is a scent I love).
She doesn’t see herself stopping anytime soon. “I wish to have a cow so I would be able to make more stuff”.
She remembers her parents and grandparents had a big wooden barrel with all the vegetables they would ferment. Her grandma never threw anything out. She only ever bought olive oil, sugar and salt. Everything else she made or traded for. She had her own homestead and lived there until she was in her 90’s. The only thing Nadia remembers buying for a treat was lemonade.
Pizza Parties
A party everyone will love. Gather a group and dig into homemade pizza.
Nadia will bring her pizza oven to your home so you and all your friends can enjoy a delicious evening of pizza (without all the prep or clean up). . Your choice of toppings, Nadia’s homemade sourdough pizza dough and all your friends. She has hosted an evening with family to wedding receptions. However you slice your pizza, this is a fun time to be had by all.
What’s Next for Nadia
The homestead connects everything together. She feels like she can create freely under this umbrella. She plans to keep experimenting and growing. Her new mixer and oven are going to make baking easier and more fun through 2026.
She would love to start hosting workshops to teach others how to make bread and other items that she sells. And how others can create their own homestead. So they can use their land and environment to feed and nourish themselves and their families.
From Puppeteer to Teacher to Homesteader, Nadia continues to stay curious and aligned with her dreams and desires. Continually learning, and being in connection with her land and her community.
If you would like to get in contact with Nadia you can reach her on either Facebook or Instagram at @picassoloaferments.
Thanks Nadia, for making our tables more delicious!