Meet Agatha Chibili. I almost didn't. She was new to the farmers market last week, sitting so quietly at a simple booth way off to the side. Yet, I strolled over to say hello and I'm so glad I did! Turns out Agatha owns the only 100% USDA Certified Organic baby food manufacturing company in Georgia. Yummy Spoonfuls Baby Food is made from natural ingredients grown without chemical pesticides, nitrates, growth hormones or other unwanted extras and produced without artificial additives or processing chemicals. But the biggie? Yummy Spoonfuls baby food is not heat-treated. It is fresh-frozen to lock in nutrients.
Agatha's story is one of those eye-openers where you shake your head and say, "Of course!" When she was pregnant with her first baby, she noticed that the baby food available commercially (including organic baby food) had expiration dates up to two years later. The food her unborn baby would eat at ten months old was currently on the supermarket shelves! Having grown up in Cameroon, an English and French-speaking African country, Agatha was used to fresh produce and couldn't imagine feeding her baby these little jars of old, highly-preserved food. So, she did what so many other enterprising moms have done--she made her own baby food, which is really quite a lot of work when you do it for every meal, every day. So she realized that perhaps other moms could use her help. In true Baby Boom /Diane Keaton-style, Agatha's desire to feed her baby healthy food from the first spoonful exploded into a full-blown business.
Yummy Spoonfuls' products for three different stages of your baby's early life include a long list of options, including some refreshing choices such as pureed organic papaya, mashed organic blueberry and millet cereal, and organic adzuki beans and sweet potato porridge. What's more, look for new, seasonal recipes as Agatha connects more with local farmers.
Yummy Spoonfuls is available in the freezer section of numerous natural supermarkets, plus you can order online or at farmers markets around town. Agatha is the quietly patient woman wearing the apron with the friendly Yummy Spoonfuls logo. Say hello. You'll be glad you did.
UPDATE: Agatha tells me she's now buying potatoes wholesale from D & A Farms (she met the farmers at the Spruill Farmers Market) and she is hoping to continue making these local farmer connections for her baby food ingredients, when possible