Heather Lynne of The Wild Fern Plants Roots and Thrives in a Tiny Town
August 31, 2020
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Heather Lynne is a baker, musician, and café owner doing what she loves.
Lynne owns The Wild Fern on Route 100 in Stockbridge. She spends part of her week baking and filling to-go orders for sourdough bread, sesame bagels, locally sourced beef burgers, and pesto pizza. On other days, she’s lining up musicians for drive-in concerts at the café’s outdoor pop-up stage, or playing bass with her band, Rick Redington & The Luv.
Lynne, who grew up in Ohio, moved to Stockbridge after seeing a Grateful Dead concert in Highgate, Vermont in the 1990s. She got married, gave birth to her daughter Zoe, and worked for many years as a hairstylist and bartender. After her divorce, she learned to play bass with her partner and fellow band member, Rick Redington.
She opened The Wild Fern—named after Zoe’s middle name—eight years ago, not long after Tropical Storm Irene upended the state and caused widespread damage to many Route 100 towns. After the August 2011 storm, Lynne realized that Stockbridge, located 12 miles north of Killington, lacked a community gathering place. She wanted to create a “heart center.”
Fast forward to 2020, and Lynne’s bread and bagel business has quadrupled during the pandemic. Her drive-in concerts, available by reservation only, are also drawing new customers.
“The Wild Fern is attracting good humans, and I am super lucky,” she says.
You can learn more about The Wild Fern, as well as regular updates about food and music offerings on The Wild Fern’s Facebook page.
Happy Vermont Podcast: The Wild Fern
In this episode of Happy Vermont, Heather Lynn of The Wild Fern talks about creating a community space in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene, persevering, and why she loves her life in Vermont.
You can find this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Play, and Stitcher.
As always, thanks for listening. Please email ideas, comments, or feedback to [email protected].
-Special thanks to Pluck for podcast editing and post-production.
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