“Convivium” a word meaning “feast” that is pieced together by the Latin terms for “together” and “to live,” evokes thoughts of a shared table for Abby Smith, “where good food, good company, and good conversation invite us to slow down and savor,” she says.
Smith’s family — husband Tim, a science teacher at Mount Vernon Junior High School, and children Sadie, 13, Ellie, 11, Lainey, 8, Hudson, 7, and Greyson, 5 — moved from Texas to near Saint Philip in Posey County five years ago to be closer to family. She partook in a friend’s chocolate chip sourdough bread and figured she’d try creating one because “I’ve been baking for as long as I can remember,” she says. At first, her baking stayed between friends and family, but Sadie wanted to sell clay bead bracelets at Mount Vernon’s Market Nights and suggested her mother bring sourdough bread to sell, too. “It ended up being a big success and grew from there,” Smith says. She began operating Convivium Micro Bakery and Homestead in 2024.
She bakes up to 12 loaves of varying flavors and ingredients at a time in her Simply Bread Oven. Tim helps out with baking, packaging, mixing, and grating. “We might need a second oven, but we’re out of space,” she says. Her scones, brioche bread, English muffins, cinnamon rolls, oatmeal cream pies, and seasonal quicker bread, hamburger buns, and pretzel buns have been featured at regional farmers’ markets and craft fairs.
Demand grew to the point where Smith estimates she makes between 80 and 100 loaves over three days each week. That led her in November to open a bread house on her property to store pickup orders and baked goods, including products from fellow market vendors, which has developed into a “really unexpected little community. Small businesses support small businesses,” she says. The bread house stocks Smith’s baked goods alongside herbal remedies and goat’s milk baths from Moonlight Hollow Homestead, merchandise from Hausman Honey and graphic tee business West Market, homemade jams and herb and seasoning mixes from Earthryz Permaculture Farm, and wood decor from MaurerMakes. Smith’s bread also can be pre-ordered at New Harmony’s Petal & Patch and through e-marketplace Local Source.
Her most popular items include oatmeal cream pies, cinnamon rolls, and jalapeño cheddar and rosemary garlic sourdough. Smith often uses rosemary garlic to make paninis or dips it in zuppa toscana, a creamy soup with sausage, potatoes, kale, and bacon mixed into a savory broth. Her favorite, though, is the bread that started it all: chocolate chip with butter or cream cheese. But the joy of baking comes back to the camaraderie: “I love being able to connect with customers,” Smith says.
