The Story Behind the Granola

I’ve never shared the real story about how Granola Girl got started. 

I've shared the highlights-– Girl loves the outdoors. Girl makes granola. Girl starts a company. But the passion and purpose behind Granola Girl is the true origin story. 

I grew up in Washington, where the outdoors wasn't a hobby — it was the air we breathed. Mountain skylines, dense trees, wild blackberries, the crisp scent of earth after rain. I didn’t know it then, but that feeling of wonder, of freedom, of being part of something wild and untamed— would end up being the thing my soul was searching for.

For a long time, it alluded me. Because sometimes we don’t know what we’re missing until we find it.

I got divorced. I packed up my kids and moved across the country without much of a plan.

The first time I got back on a trail — mountain air, sun through the trees, that certain kind of quiet you only get when you're up high enough — I felt something awaken inside of me.

I started baking granola again. To feed my people. My kids, their teachers, my friends. 

Crafting each batch with real ingredients, learning how they fueled our bodies, playing with flavors and textures– it became part of my healing ritual. My creative act. Made with my hands in a small kitchen in the house where we finally landed.

It was never about starting a business. It was about connection. With the earth, with the community, and with myself.

My daughter is the reason it became something more. 

She has this beautiful way of seeing people and knowing what they need before they know it themselves. So when she said I should share my granola with more people, it wasn’t just a suggestion. It was an invitation.

That next summer, I set up a table at the farmer's market.

People showed up. Then they came back. They brought their friends. Their faces became familiar. And they became my community — the one I'd hoped for ever since I left everything I knew in the search for something real. 

A tent, a table, and a deep need to belong to something real again.

That's the whole story.

I’m sharing this now because something is coming. Something I've been building for a while. But before I show you what it is, I wanted you to know where it came from.

Not the business. Not the product. But the people who believed in me. The people who supported me. And the people who helped me find myself again.

This wild crew has supported me every step of the way. The excitement, the tears, the crazy hours, a kitchen that suddenly only produced granola They're my biggest fans, and my favorite people in the world.