The SoWal district of Morgantown, WV—the section of restaurants, late night music venues, and co-operatives south of Walnut Street—has felt just a little bit empty since the doors at 119 Pleasant Street closed in 2016. But a European-style bakery might just change that.
Nadia Caterina is a Baltimore-born Morgantown transplant that came to the area looking for love. While relationships came and went, one thing remained constant—her love for baking. It started young in her old-school, traditional Italian household. There, she came to understand and appreciate the flavors of great homemade food and that desserts can be just as healing and necessary as any other meal.
She launched DaisyMoon Bakery in October 2016, baking éclairs, fruit tarts, cinnamon rolls, ciabatta bread, and more goodies out of borrowed kitchens at Green Arch Market and the Grind. Her online, by-delivery-only bakery quickly outgrew its shared space and needed its own brick-and-mortar location. When looking for a storefront, Nadia said that nothing kept tugging back at her heart like Pleasant Street, where the businesses complement each other from one block to the other. “The businesses there are health conscious, nature conscious, family conscious, and community conscious. There’s no better place for me to be,” says Nadia.
Health and Nature
The name DaisyMoon comes from Nadia’s other great love, nature. “The only place I’m most happy other than in front of an oven is outside in nature. I want to bring the people that I feed through my desserts back to their roots,” says Nadia.
She does this, in part, by incorporating wild edibles, like flowers, in her desserts. “Skip the step of adding Red Dye 40. Instead, add something that’s vibrant and beautiful that way naturally, something that’s as close to straight from the earth as possible.” And by sourcing quality organic and local resources, DaisyMoon ensures flavors that are beyond the average baked good.
Family and Community
Nadia’s Euro style might be a little bit different from what mom might do, but at the end of the day, she wants DaisyMoon to be more like your living room and less like an establishment. “We’ll have couches and comfy chairs where you can read the last eight chapters of your book or pluck away on your laptop,” she says. And kids will have their place, too, in the kids’ corner. “We all need that place where we can go and treat ourselves.”
Morgantown has become that place of solace for Nadia. There’s something about these mountains, these hills, these rivers, and the people who live here that make her want to give back with DaisyMoon. “I think you can always find home no matter where you are in West Virginia,” says Nadia, and she hopes for some, that home can be DaisyMoon. “I want to create a bakery that can be someone’s roots, someone’s go-to happy place.”
Support the Tasty Dream
Before it can become someone’s roots, it needs your help in planting its own. Nadia has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help DaisyMoon raise funds for necessary kitchen equipment like mixers, refrigerators, speed racks, ovens, and espresso machines before its grand opening in August 2017. “We just need that extra little bit of aide from our community, from our Morgantown, to help get the ball rolling. I know that with that, we can produce desserts that are beyond your wildest dreams in taste and appearance,” says Nadia.
She has until May 30 to raise $10,000 in an all-or-nothing campaign. As a $5 investor and for believing in the dream, you get a free cookie. The prizes only get sweeter from there! Become a backer today!
“Each day I walk into the kitchen and touch flours and butter, I am so thankful that I have been able to transform my dreams into reality.” – Nadia Caterina