September is National Deaf Awareness Month, an observance with roots in the World Federation of the Deaf's first congress in Rome in 1951. Two of the makers in our Farm Stand have their own place in that story.
In 1993, Melody Stein applied to culinary school and was turned away because she is Deaf. She went to Italy instead, where she trained privately with Neapolitan pizza masters while her mother interpreted, and came home certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. She was among the first certified professional Deaf pizza makers in the world.
Melody was born in Hong Kong and became Deaf as a young child. Her family moved between the Philippines and Singapore looking for schools that would teach her, eventually settling in the United States in the 1980s. She met her husband Russ at Gallaudet University, and in 2011 the two of them opened Mozzeria in San Francisco's Mission District, a Neapolitan pizzeria owned, operated, and staffed by Deaf people. They sold the restaurant in 2017 to a nonprofit serving the Deaf community.
What came next was a family project. In 2023, Melody and Russ launched pi00a with their two adult children, Taysia and Rylan, both of whom are hearing CODAs, or Children of Deaf Adults. The company describes itself as Deaf and CODA family-owned, and the kitchen runs on American Sign Language. Everyone signs, including the hearing kids.
Say their brand name out loud and you get "pie-oh-ah." Look at it on the box and you find two numeral zeros where the double z should be, a nod to the Italian 00 flour in the dough. That dough ferments for twenty-four hours and gets stretched by hand. You'll find the Quattro Formaggi finished with yuzu olive oil, a classic Margherita pizza, and a vegan Miso Eggplant in our Farm Stand.
Three thousand miles east, Bumbleberry Farms started with a beekeeping workshop and a backyard. Karen Sandusky Mosholder set up hives in the foothills of Pennsylvania's Laurel Mountains in 2011 and began making honey cream spreads from a family recipe, eighteen jars at a time, selling them at county fairs.
Her son Jon took over in 2023 and moved the operation to Pittsburgh. Jon has said that supporting the Deaf community is part of his mission because he is Deaf himself. Every one of his employees is Deaf or hard of hearing. The company works with the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and Pressley Ridge School for the Deaf on job training and hiring.
The honey is small-batch and True Source Certified, but the spreads are what built the reputation. The Pumpkin Spice was named new product of the year by the Specialty Food Association in 2020, and the Chocolate Raspberry took a gold three years later. Sweet Orange Cardamom and Lemon Vanilla round out the shelf. The company motto is a plain one about spreading a little sweetness.
Two families built these kitchens for people the food industry had never made room for, and the food is worth eating, whether it's ten minutes from freezer to table, or one twist of a lid. ⚘
Photos: pi00a and Bumbleberry Farms
