BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. — Valentine's Day was extra sweet for a Weaverville baker.

Sarah Honeycutt is taking nothing for granted after a difficult year for Well-Bred Bakery. Her dream of becoming a baker at Well-Bred didn't happen overnight, but she’s known for sometime it’s what she wanted. When it finally did, the dream was taken from her a few months later by the pandemic.

She usually starts her day early at the bakery's production kitchen where all the food is made for different locations in Weaverville and Asheville. She helps deliver the food to the locations.

“Well-Bred has been the best job I have ever had,” says Honeycutt.

Before becoming a baker, she was working an office job, dreaming of baking for a living after she had her first taste for it. She made her own wedding cake, and it was the first cake she did. She absolutely loved it.

But she wasn't always in the kitchen when she started at Well-Bred. She first was at the service desk up front, gathering the treats for the customers instead of making them. Finally, she worked her way to the back of the house in the kitchen where she was meant to be.

Then COVID-19 hit, and she was laid off temporarily after the bakery had to shutdown.

“It's been a very challenging time,” says Honeycutt.

Her downtime was still spent exercising her creative ability. She’s also an artist with a knack for painting and has gifted the bakery two of her pieces.

In addition to her creative endeavors, she is also a wife and mother to three boys.

“My husband calls me the dessert queen,” says Honeycutt. “So it’s almost a requirement nightly there be dessert.”

With the help of PPP loans, the bakery was able to resume some operations, and starting from the bottom proved valuable to her and to the company.

“I was able to kind of function front end or back end,” says Honeycutt. “So, I quickly came back then and was able to serve our customers in whatever way I was required to. We all kind of added some extra hats."

But she was happy to do it if it meant living out her dream. Now, she's just grateful to work another Valentine's Day celebrating love since love is what started her journey.

“This really has my heart,” says Honeycutt of baking.

You can enjoy some of Sarah's sweets by ordering online, at Well-Bred Bakery's website.