Baby Cakes Bakery & Savage Girls Salads: Honoring family and cultural traditions

By Andrea Busche

Delilah Savage, a junior at Fond du Lac Ojibwe School in Cloquet, first earned the nickname “Baby Cakes” as a child, and it stuck. In addition to it being her moniker, it was coincidentally the perfect name for the business she opened, and co-owns, with her mother, Leah Savage: Baby Cakes Bakery.

This Indigenous mother-daughter duo, along with help from Leah’s 18-year-old niece, Alyza Savage, and 10-year-old nephew, Daicin Savage, operate both Baby Cakes Bakery — a year-round business — and Savage Girls Salads, which is open during the veggie-growing season.

Their mascot, Mullie the rat terrier mix, is never far behind.

“She’s our property manager wherever we go,” Delilah said with a laugh. “She loves the gardens.”

Baby Cakes Bakery focuses on baked goods such as cakes, cupcakes and frostings, which are made with milled wild rice flour and maple syrup. Occasionally, tacos and breakfast meals are available, too. And Savage Girls Salads are just that: fresh summer salads, homemade dressings, fresh chicken, boiled eggs and more. Everything is made from scratch, and most items are grown organically. No preservatives are used in their creations.

Cousins Delilah Savage and Alyza Savage, co-owners of Baby Cakes Wild Rice Bakery/ Savage Sisters Salads, serve garden-picked salads with a pomegranate salad dressing that Delilah made for the American Indian Community Housing Organization’s “Blessing of the Gardens” event last June.

Leah and Delilah, who are both enrolled members of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, follow many of the traditional ways of growing and harvesting, in large part to honor their heritage.

“Maple syrup and wild rice have allowed our ancestors to survive for thousands of years,” Leah said. “We’re proud and humble to be able to grow and harvest these items, as well as to make offerings to our ancestors.”

The women

Leah Savage works full time as a cultural resource assistant at the Fond du Lac reservation and possesses a master’s degree in tribal administration and governance. While Delilah is still in high school, she is also enrolled in the postsecondary enrollment program at Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College, pursuing an associate’s degree with an emphasis in business. She also earned her certified nursing assistant credentials last year.

About five or six years ago, the women opened their businesses and began selling cupcakes and salads.

“Delilah started the business,” Leah said. “She was known as the ‘salad girl.’”

While today the women co-own the businesses, Delilah will assume leadership soon.

“When Delilah turns 18, she will take over and be the owner,” Leah said. “I’ll still be involved, but more with managing, taking orders and handling the finances.”

Eventually Delilah also has big dreams of possibly opening a bakery or operating a food truck.

Lessons from family

Much of what the women know about growing and harvesting was learned from their elders, including Leah’s parents, Jeff and Sandra Savage.

“My dad has been a ‘ricer’ for 55 years,” Leah said. “And my mom has been producing food items for a long time, too. She’s also an avid bead artist. And, my uncle, Bruce Savage, owns Spirit Lake Native Products and taught us about growing and operating a business.”

When they aren’t busy with work or school, Delilah and Leah enjoy spending their free time together, often creating cultural art items. They both enjoy beading moccasins, making and beading velvet bags, making ribbon skirts, and harvesting birch bark to be used in the creation of baskets and jewelry.

Products

Leah and Delilah grow and harvest in a variety of locations on the Fond du Lac reservation.

“We have a few spots,” Leah said. “On my father’s property, we have our maple sugar bush, chickens (which are used for meat and eggs), and a nice, big greenhouse, with three additional garden plots. We also have a high tunnel — a big greenhouse with sides that roll up.

“Then, Fond du Lac started a food producer program about four years ago. We’ve been in that program since the beginning. There are about 1.5 acres of tribal land that our family can use.

“And then on my property, which is about 1/8th of an acre,” Leah added. “We grow herbs and smaller things like our Ojibwe medicine. This includes sweet grass, sage and tobacco.”

At the garden plots and in the greenhouses, the Savage family grows a wide variety of fruits and veggies, including tomatoes, peppers, corn, zucchini, lettuce, potatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, eggplant, beets, carrots, sweet peas, cucumbers, onions, garlic, artichokes, squash and pumpkins. They typically tap about 200 trees and produce 70-100 gallons of maple syrup annually.

Additionally, the women use four or five “rice lakes” on the reservation to grow and harvest wild rice, which ripens in August.

“Wild rice is probably the heart of our family,” Leah said. “Back in the day, our family would make their own birch bark canoes. But today we use store-bought canoes. It takes two people to harvest — one in the back of the canoe, knocking the rice in, and one in the front, pulling the canoe around the lake. Wild rice — known in Ojibwe as ‘Manoomin’ — is part of our history. Our ancestors have been ricing for thousands of years.”

Between being sold raw and milled into flour for their baked goods, the family sells about 4,000-5,000 pounds of wild rice per year.

Where to buy

While the ingredients and products are grown and baked from their own homes and gardens, the Savages must sell their items elsewhere, due to a variety of laws and regulations. Their items are available for purchase at Fond du Lac Gas & Grocery, and found at events held through the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO). Additionally, online orders are accepted and local delivery is available.

To view their current offerings or place an order, visit the Baby Cakes Bakery Facebook page.

Rewarding endeavor

For these women, who share a close bond, there are many rewarding aspects to their businesses.

“I enjoy seeing my entire family together in the sugar bush, on the rice lakes or in the gardens,” Leah said. “Seeing the joy and fulfillment on my parents’ faces as we do these cultural activities — that they have taught us — is very rewarding.”

“I love being able to keep our ancestors’ traditions alive,” Delilah added. “And we do it with a smile, knowing we can help feed our family and our community. I enjoy seeing the memories we create through our traditions.” D empathy who care so deeply about the feelings of others. I see the tough women who make everyone around them stand at attention as they stroll through the land of men, exuding confidence and strength as they move. No matter where they are, women are so powerful.

Now, beauty is as beauty does, and it is not the most important thing when it comes to being a woman; however, I love relishing in my femininity and playing with beauty. Whether it's hair or makeup, there are certain ways that I style myself that give me that insane confidence when I walk into a room. For this issue, I wanted to share with you some hairstyles that always make me feel like a sexy, powerful and fierce woman.

One of my biggest tips with hair care and styling is to use the products selected for you by a trusted stylist or play with products yourself. Using a volumizing mousse or volumizing powder for fine hair like mine makes a huge difference, as well as blow drying it with a round brush. I also encourage everyone to use a heat protectant and high-quality shampoos and conditioners, as that will make your hair easier to manipulate and healthier in the long run.

I wish I could have timestamped these photos as it only took me about 15 minutes to have every style done and photographed because my hair was properly prepped. When you start with a good base of workable hair that is ready for heat and styling, it makes it so much easier. D

Last but certainly not least, in honor of women empowerment, I had to recreate my own “Rosie The Riveter” look. I stayed true to the original picture with the blue denim shirt but rather than the traditional red polka dot, I incorporated a rainbow silk scarf that features a cause near and dear to my heart, autism awareness. I also adorned a smile as I couldn't stop cracking up trying to recreate the original stone cold look.

Thank you dear readers! I hope this inspires you to play with some of these styles, stay warm, stay healthy and stay happy and remember: “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” ~ Hal

Borland