Written by Giovanna Zavell, DSMG Contributor

When we interviewed Marti, owning a space was a dream she was working towards. Less than a week before this article was published, Marti announced Thistle’s Summit is opening a retail space in late July, and we just couldn’t wait until the end of this article to tell you! The shop will be located in the space that was THE COLLECTIVE (340 SW 5th Street, #122). We couldn’t be more excited for Marti to open her own brick. And have no fear, you’ll still be able to find Thistle’s Summit pastries in all your favorite places. Scroll to the bottom of this article for the full list of where you can pick up these goodies now.

Before Thistle’s Summit was a bakery, it was a Bed and Breakfast in Eastern Iowa. Marti Payseur, owner of Thistle’s Summit, and her partner, Ash, had the epiphany one night over wine. Scrolling through Zillow, they found an old Victorian home in Mount Vernon. “It was all just a joke at first,” Marti says. “We were serious, but we didn’t think we were actually going to do it. Then we visited the house and fell in love with it and we knew we were about to open Iowa’s first and only queerest B&B.”

Marti and Ash renovated the home, top to bottom, which took about a year. They had plans to open in late August, but with a leak to the Gazette and pressure from family and friends, they ended up opening in July of 2019. For the seven months they were open, the B&B was booked and busy. “Ash was raised on a farm and worked on vegetable farms. They love growing things, so they handled the gardening part,” Marti says. “I did all the chefing, and it was awesome.” 

When the pandemic hit, the ability to stay open as a B&B was no longer possible. Thistle’s Summit Bed and Breakfast closed its doors to customers, but they found a way to keep part of their business, and name, alive. 

Eventually, Marti outgrew the B&B’s kitchen. So she and Ash decided to sell the house and start Thistle’s Summit as a full-time bakery. “It was already a robust business,” Marti says. “And people just kept asking me to bake for them. So I moved into my shared kitchen space in March of 2021 and it’s been nonstop ever since.”

Not Your Grandma’s Recipes

Thistle’s Summit is the only vegan AND gluten free bakery here in Des Moines. Which means you can’t just find these types of recipes on the internet. Which Marti doesn’t believe in, anyway. She creates her own recipes from her tried and true baking building blocks.

“It’s kind of a chemistry impossibility,” Marti says. “Baking is built on gluten and the structure it provides to the product. So when you remove that, you have to find a replacement that will act the same. Then there is the vegan element, which continues to take away ingredients that act as baking foundations. So I make my own recipes and work off the building blocks I know. Then I keep tweeking it until it’s how I want it. It’s not always substituting one thing for another, which is how most people think products become vegan. You almost have to think of it from a backwards perspective.”

Marti admits to making a lot of bad cookies. Ash being the head of the R&D crew (research and development). “Ash has eaten a lot of bad stuff,” Marti says. “They have endured a lot of bad pastries so that you all don’t have to.”

Marti and Ash

And with creating her own recipes, she won’t stop until the pastry is just right. Adjusting ingredients until the taste and textures compliment each other perfectly. Marti says this may be one of her biggest challenges when it comes to running her business. Crippling perfectionism. 

“There’s nothing that is quite confrontational to your personality as being your own boss,” Marti says. “I’ve had to learn and unpack all the ways perfectionism has affected me. But, at the end of the day, it’s cookies, not brain surgery.”

A Sweet Treat for Everyone

“Nobody ever needs a cookie or cake right? It’s all about love. It’s just absolutely born from that for me,” Marti says. “The ability to share foods with people that sometimes don’t get to eat them.”

So, why vegan and gluten free you might ask? Ash is actually the inspiration behind it all. They developed mobility difficulties, which made life a bit harder. When trying to figure out what exactly was going on, one of the things that was suggested was doing a gluten free diet and removing dairy. “I wanted to still be able to bake for my partner,” Marti says. “So that’s how I started developing my recipes.”

Thistle’s Summit famous Oatmeal Cream Pies

With these types of pastries now being accessible, Marti had made a lot of cakes for kids who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have one due to allergies and intolerances. She gets to help bring a normal part of childhood, being cake, into special experiences. “Nobody needs to eat cake, but it’s awesome they get to,” Marti says.

Being a Queer, Woman Owned Business

“Thistle is our dog, and Summit Avenue is the street our B&B was on, so we came up with Thistle’s Summit,” Marti says. “Thistles are pretty prickly and hard to kill, like being publicly queer people in Iowa. The name just felt fitting for us.”

Marti came out later in her life and says it took her a little longer to figure out who she was. She was married to her high school sweetheart at 21, then figured out she was gay by 27. “I felt so strongly that I had to conceal this part of myself because I had no representation,” Marti says.

When Marti came out, she felt very strongly that she had a lot of privilege–being white and middle class. “I felt I needed to not just be gay. But publicly gay,” Marti says. “I know that if I had that when I was younger, my whole world would look different.” 

The queer owned business community in Des Moines is still small. Not everyone is as comfortable sharing their true selves with the world as Marti is. There is still a lot of fear in being in the public eye as a queer business owner. It’s something Marti has had to keep in mind when looking for a space to house her business. The community surrounding the space has to be accepting and loving, for the safety of customers and those working in the store. Something as simple as being able to fly a rainbow flag is taken into serious consideration.

“Sometimes we think because gay marriage exists, pride exists, Target has their little LGBTQ collection, all this stuff, that we are fine now. That it’s all good for the gays,” Marti says. “But it’s not. Particularly in a state like Iowa. Des Moines is super blue, but much outside of that, gets kind of scary. My partner and I will be in small towns and turn to each other and say ‘okay, sisters or friends? Which one do we want to be today?’ Because it’s not always safe.” 

“Sugar Mama” Cookies

“Anything I can do to be a safe space, and a very public one at that, that’s why I do what I do,” Marti says. “The baked goods are secondary to the inclusion.” 

As her business grows, Marti has big ideas of ways to bring more queer people into the food scene. Whether it’s scholarships or foundations, she wants to financially support these people who face many of the same financial insecurities as other minority populations. “Food is a little bit safer of an avenue for queer people,” Marti says. “It’s still really hard to be a woman in the kitchen. It’s not super common for a woman to become head chef or owner. I’d love to be part of that change, because I think the food industry has to start changing in that way.” 

Where to Find Your Next Favorite Treat

We are so excited for Marti to be opening her own retail space in late July! Until then, there are plenty of places around town where you can find a sweet treat! The most popular item Marti makes; oatmeal cream pies. But let’s be honest, anything you try from Thistle’s Summit is sure to satisfy your tastebuds. Oh, and if you can get your hands on a Sugar Momma (specially made for Pride month) do it! Be sure you find one with sprinkles. 

“I work with people I like,” Marti says. “That’s my policy and that’s how I make decisions. It’s a different way of doing business than most restaurants. But it’s cool because I get to be the hype spot for people I believe in. There is a real community of small to midsize businesses here in Des Moines, that are maybe under five years old, who are really supporting and rooting for each other. There is a way this community works together that is mutually beneficial. And I think that is really special.” 

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