Heather

A North Carolina native, Heather Earnhardt’s love of food and baking was instilled in her at an early age. She was mesmerized by the cooking and baking going on in her Granny’s kitchen, and as a little girl she’d do anything, unload the dishwasher, clip coupons, sweep the floor, just to stay there, watching the magic. Her Granny ran a small catering business out of the family kitchen for 50 years and is still known as, “the cake lady of Salisbury,” famous for her enormous tiered wedding cakes and birthday cakes which she made using only a Sunbeam hand mixer and her home oven. After a day of baking, young Heather would tag along as Granny delivered her beautiful cakes around town – seeing the amount of excitement and joy that her creations brought to people has stayed with Heather to this day.

In addition to being a revered baker, Granny was also an avid gardener and wonderful cook. She spent a lot of time tooling around in her large backyard garden and infused the importance of fresh produce and ingredients upon her grandkids – she also taught them to can and pickle fruits and vegetables, and make jam. It was no surprise to anyone that at 13, Heather got her first job, in a restaurant.

Heather continued working in restaurants and waited tables while earning a degree in photography from Randolph College in North Carolina. After graduation in 1994, she and her close-knit group of friends, made up of restaurant folks and photographers, began a tradition of cooking together and experimenting in the kitchen. The dinner parties were a great learning experience for Heather and always a lot of fun.  In 1996, ready for a change of scenery and an adventure, Heather and a handful of her group packed up their cars and headed west to Arizona, landing jobs at the famed Canyon Ranch Spa.

In 1997, tired of the heat and ready for a change, Heather once again packed her car. She landed in Seattle and took a job waiting tables at Carmelita, an acclaimed vegetarian restaurant, with a chef named Ericka Burke. A few months later at Capitol Hill’s notorious Comet Tavern, she met a guy named Tom Davis and married him.

Heather eventually enrolled in the Art Institute of Seattle, earning a second degree in photography. She enjoyed success shooting for local and national lifestyle and food magazines before slowing down a bit to focus on her growing family.

The one thing she never stopped doing was baking, and in 2007, she and Ericka combined their sweet and savory talents and opened Volunteer Park Cafe.

Heather arrives at the cafe every morning at 5am to bake. And although she doesn’t always love getting up so early, she does enjoy the quiet and her time in the kitchen.  She has always tested her recipes on the garbage man, and still does – leaving him little packages of goodies.  She feels grateful for the wonderful people that the cafe has brought into her life – evoking memories of her childhood in the South.

When she’s not at the cafe, Heather spends time in her garden or developing black and white photographs in her dark room. She also enjoys time with Tom, sons Maxwell and Oscar, and young daughter Josie. Oh, and their dog, guinea pig, and four chickens!