New Business Cooks, Delivers Baby's Harvest

A Walnut Creek entrepreneur is delivering a Baby's Harvest for customers who insist on fresh, nutritious food for their infants and toddlers, with the help of the spiffy kitchen at a Lafayette cooking school.

Casey Hanley prepares purees for young ones and soups for families at the Back to the Table Cooking School. Hanley cooks and then delivers the food in insulated bags by van to customers in Lamorinda and Walnut Creek. Orders come in by the Internet, and Baby's Harvest products are offered at Diablo Foods in Lafayette.

"I grew up in a meat and potatoes family — not very healthy," said Hanley, a native of Des Moines, Iowa. She had different thoughts when she had children.

"There were no options for buying fresh baby food," Hanley said. "I didn't want to have to compromise the nutrition of my baby's food."

She and husband David and children live in Walnut Creek. The children are Hanley's food tasters — 3-year-old Colin and 1-year-old Fiona. "They eat a lot of soup," she said.

The foods come in glass jars, which reflect Hanley's desire to be a green business. Customers can leave used jars on their doorstep and Baby's Harvest will pick them up, sanitize and re-use jars.