Meet the vendor: Rock the House Bakery

Meet the vendor: Rock the House Bakery
Posted on 05/21/2019
Javen Fogle surrounded by homemade breadJay Fogle of Rock the House Bakery turns in early to wake up at midnight twice a week so he can bake bread, rolls, buns and more. The rest of the week he sleeps in a little, but is up by 3 a.m. to milk 55 Holstein cows. Jay is the fourth generation of the Fogle family farming dairy cows in Peculiar, Missouri. Today, Jay runs the farm with his parents John and Janice.

John Fogle, Jay’s dad has been milking cows for 50 years. After serving in the army, he returned home to Peculiar to farm. Jay and his parents love the dairy, but over the years, the dairy business has become more challenging. Dairy farms in the area have rapidly disappeared. The local large animal vet used to have 400 dairy clients, and today he has none.

This year has already been rough. The Fogles lost all their alfalfa last winter for the first time ever. Due to all the rain, they are also behind on planting crops like field corn and beans. 

Tight margins led Jay to look at ways to diversify the farm and supplement their income. First, he looked into cheesemaking and took classes, with plans to make Gouda one day. Janice Fogle had always been a great baker, and that's where they landed. They added a commercial bakery to the farm, and off to the markets they went. Janice was head baker in the beginning, but Jay started helping her in the bakery. Today, Jay does all the baking, which he enjoys. 

Each bake takes 18 hours from start to packaging. The days that Jay bakes, his parents take care of the early morning milking. Currently, Jay bakes honey, apple, cinnamon raisin bread, cinnamon rolls, jalapeño cheese bread, French buttermilk bread, garlic rosemary bread and sundried tomato bread. Everything Rock the House Bakery makes is freshly baked — never frozen — and sold at three different farmers markets. Jay goes to one market, his mother and son Jackson do another, while Jay’s wife, Angela, and son Javen are at the Lenexa Farmers Market.

Wonder where the “Rock the House” name comes from? The Fogles named their bakery in honor of the 1930s rock farmhouse that Jay’s great-grandparents built. It is where Jay grew up and is now raising the fifth generation of Fogles with wife Angela. 

Pick up delicious baked goods from Angela and Javen Fogle on Saturdays at the Lenexa Farmers Market!