Keota’s new bakery is utterly adorable.

There is an actual candy counter inside, but even if there weren’t, Jenny Schneider’s new establishment at 214 East Broadway Avenue would be eye candy. A mint green vintage oven houses the coffee station; cute tables for two cozy up to the windows; hand painted pastel flowers embellish the walls; and then there is Schneider herself, dressed in a royal blue apron and pleated newsboy cap. It doesn’t get more storybook than this.

Oh, and there are display cases filled with pie slices and cake slices, cupcakes and cookies, cinnamon rolls and muffins. The sweetness of freshly glazed donuts fills the air. So, actually, it does get a bit more storybook.

It’s hard to believe that until the bakery’s opening in September, Schneider’s full-time job was “doing maintenance on hog farms.”

The Ohio-native “always loved to bake,” although she had only shared her skills with friends and family, never professionally. Then, after living in Keota for a couple of decades, she bought the historic building on Broadway, prepared to make her dreams a reality.

“I thought I’d give it a go,” she says.

For over two years, she worked alongside friends and family to renovate the building, which was built in 1883. “We stripped it down to the brick walls,” she says, and then they framed and sealed it. Pros came in to handle the electrical and plumbing, and then she and her family put up the drywall, laid the flooring, and painted the walls.

“My granddaughter painted all these flowers on the wall for me,” she says, adding that the young lady graduated from Mid-Prairie a few years ago.

The beams framing the candy counter “were original to the storefront,” Schneider says. “We decided that we wanted to use them somehow, so we decided to vault part of the ceiling to emphasize [the history of the building]. We wanted to do right by this building, to preserve one of the original buildings in Keota. That was part of the goal.”

Another of her granddaughters, an 8th grader at Mid-Prairie, came up with the name, Prairie Flower Bakery, and suggested the candy counter, so that customers would come in and be enchanted by the array of colors.

Behind the bakery cases, customers can see the commercial kitchen where the magic happens.

When asked about scaling up her home baking to the professional level, Schneider admits to it being “a learning experience.” For help in figuring out the new equipment, she turned to “YouTube,” she says, laughing.

Pinterest provided some recipes, others have been in her family, and others yet she makes up on her own.

“I don’t like real sweet jam,” she gives as an example; “I taste the fruit and go from there.”

Although it has only been open a few weeks, Prairie Flower Bakery’s donuts and cinnamon rolls are already clear favorites. Schneider herself enjoys making the chocolate chip cookies, and she hopes to add more breads, like rye and wheat.

“Pies,” she adds. “I like to make pies.”

Prairie Flower Bakery’s official hours are Sunday 9 a.m. to noon, and Monday 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., although more days and hours are being added as Schneider finds her footing.

So far, “there’s been some two o’clock mornings” – slightly earlier than she would like – but “the support from everybody has just been awesome,” she says. “And humbling.”

Visit Prairie Flower Bakery at 214 East Broadway Avenue, Keota, and follow them on Facebook for current hours and baked goods.