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Big heart, Little Bird

A close-up on the new bakery’s leading lady
Written by Maggie Canty-Shafer, a Little Bird Barista
Photos by Rachel Robichaux
Friday, 8 May 2011

For those that know the soft speech and quiet kindness of Loveland native Amy Wyatt, it may be hard to imagine her fitting into the streets of New York City.

And in a sense they might be right. She didn’t fit. She thrived.

As the pastry chef at Brooklyn’s The Chocolate Room, Wyatt had grown to be a part of the city, living out her childhood dream as a professional baker and finding herself quite good at it.

But she never forgot where she came from.

Weaving her way through the endless crowds of people packed like cigarettes, Wyatt would regularly find her way to an oasis among the cold buildings and big business. Not towards the theater or museum or fine dining. But to fruit.

NYC’s farmer’s market was a place of comfort. There she would wander through stand after stand of colorful produce, roots soil stained and free from plastic wrapping, offered to her from hands stained with the same soil, hands that tilled the land that bore them. The face behind her food.

“When you know where your food is coming from and have a personal connection with those that have brought it to you, there’s something about it,” she said. “There’s something romantic about being part of a community, both food-wise and otherwise.”

This intimate connection to the land and the people that secured its harvest is one that Wyatt clung to in her time spent in the city, shaping her passion for pastries, the ingredients they’re composed of and most importantly, the people that eat them.

The same passion that brought Wyatt back littlebirdowner home to Colorado, to open a bakery of her own.

After months of working out loan details, going through a name change and creating a kitchen out of a furniture store, Wyatt’s dream became Little Bird Bakeshop and opened it’s doors to the public last December.

Since then, it’s rare she’s not there, unmistakable in her x-small chef’s coat and polka dot bandana. Currently Little Bird’s only pastry chef, the cookies, pies, tarts, custards, scones, croissants, artisan breads and cakes that fill the case each morning are all her doing, aided only by her father and an occasional assistant.

“I don’t think I really realized how much work it was,” she said of her often 80 hour work week. “I felt confident about the kitchen side of things but now realize I didn’t even know how much work that would be.”

But when reminded of her early mornings and long days, she recalls her interview at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Art in Vancouver, B.C, where she received a diploma in Baking and Pastry Arts in 2005.

“They told me that I’d leave the school either loving or hating baking. There are long hours and small pay,” she said. “There’s no other reason to do it unless you love it.”

And it’s a good thing for Fort Collins she does.

When the Coal Creek certified baristas and counter help show up at 6:30 am, Wyatt is long into her work day, humming along to her favorite Norah Jones song and delicately rolling and folding croissants, powdering the tops of the canelles and making flawless three layer cake frosting look like child’s play. But after years of schooling and working with some of New York’s greatest pastry chef’s at both The Chocolate Room and Craft Restaurant, quality and precision come naturally. littlebirdpastries

As one of Wyatt’s employees, I’ve been given the opportunity to watch her in her natural habitat, elegantly managing floured fingers, hot ovens, kitchen timers and overwhelming numbers of impressed people hoping to meet her, extend advise, or request a special item. She graciously listens to each one and I have yet to see her patience break.

But it’s not all for show. Wyatt is a woman who is good even when no one’s watching.

The claim that she uses natural ingredients and bakes seasonally and sustainably isn’t an attempt to keep up with the “go green” fad. For Wyatt, this is not a publicity stunt, it is a way of life. Hidden back in the kitchen, her shelves are lined with recycled jelly and jam jars, now used as spice containers. Leftover cake crumbs don’t go in the trash but get mixed with brandy and dipped in chocolate to become truffles. Day old baked goods are donated. Nothing goes to waste.

“We are what we eat,” she said. “When we pay attention and care about what we put in our bodies and where it comes from, it affects who we are. It reaches deeper than just feeding the body. It feeds the soul.”

Despite the overwhelming demand for what Little Bird is offering, Wyatt has no current plans for additional locations or major expansions, nor does she wholesale. Her only major growth plan is a patio. Wyatt isn’t trying to get rich, she’s trying to give the people of Fort Collins a quality food experience that she believes they’re worth.

“I want Little Bird to be a ritual, a part of routine,” she said. “My hope is to be a part of people’s lives,” she said.

Her goal is to offer quality coffee and pastries at a level higher than Fort Collins has seen before, and for this experience to be accessible to everyone.

“I feel so fortunate to be in this position,” she said. “It came together in a way it couldn’t have by myself. I’m so grateful to be part of a community that seems so welcoming. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

But Fort Collins can ask for more. Letting Wyatt’s standards of sustainability, of quality and of care be our own—in both our producing and our consuming—would prune and better the local economy, and ensure the city’s improving, not just expanding.

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