Bread isn’t just something to eat for Lucinda Worrell-Stowe, it’s a remedy for all ills.

She’s battled numerous forms of cancer since the 1990s and, throughout it all, has made and sold bread under the label Positive Energy.

“When you are making bread you have to concentrate on what you are doing,” the 58-year-old said.

“For me, it takes my mind off a lot of my ailments. I am a breast cancer survivor. Recently, I have had ovarian cancer and colon cancer. In 2011, the cancer was in my pancreas. I don’t think I am ever going to recover from that.

“I have to take enzymes to break my food down. Through it all I have made bread. It’s my crutch.”

Some of earliest memories involve making bread with her grandmother at the age of eight and taking it down to her uncle’s store to be sold.

“As an adult, I started making bread to sell about 30 years ago,” she said.

“I have been doing it for a long time. It started off just in the neighbourhood and friends. I used to just bake and everyone would come over and take some home.

“Then they said ‘you should sell this’, so I started selling it to them.

“Then I started with the markets and bake sales and school fairs.”

Ms Worrell-Stowe is now a regular at the Farmers’ Market in the Botanical Gardens on Saturdays. She’s known as “the bread lady”.

She likes to experiment and is known for making unusual breads such as cactus bread.

“A doctor at the hospital told me it is good for men’s prostates,” she said.

“He said, ‘Don’t add any water to it, just use the liquid from the prickly pear fruit’.”

Naturally, making bread from prickly pears has its challenges.

“It takes a lot of prickly pear fruit to make one loaf,” she said.

“I have a friend who helps me pick them and get the spines off. At first I would have spines in my hands and legs and everywhere. Now, I know what gloves to use. Also, if you put the fruit in water it makes the spines turn inward a bit.”

The bread is popular with some of her customers at the Farmers’ Market, but she doesn’t care for the taste very much. She’s happy to share the recipe.

“I make 150 loaves at a time, sometimes, so that person isn’t going to take away from my sales,” she said.

Ms Worrell-Stowe works full-time, as a teacher at The Centre for Student Advancement.

“My students are at-risk youth and I often teach bread-making classes to parents and students,” she said.

“I have also taught church groups and summer day camps and basically, whoever wanted to learn.

“I have a rule. If I am going to teach you, you need to bring a child along.”

She said the process of making bread helps parents and children to bond.

“Someone has to pour the water,” she said. “Someone has to pour the flour. One person has to read the directions. They are often communicating when they weren’t communicating before.

“The tighter you knead the faster the bread rises so you can go home and bake it. I have seen communication definitely improve between parents and children. They might be arguing about bread, but that’s better than the child being out all night, and mom not knowing where they are.”

Ms Worrell-Stowe has three sons and six grandchildren.

“My children, when they were younger, had to take these big thick rolls to school, and it wasn’t evenly cut. They thought it would be nice to get evenly cut bread like you get from the store. They would help me make it. One of my sons was the baker, one was the kneader, and another rolled out the breads. One of my sons, Kamal, still makes bread today.”

Catch Ms Worrell-Stowe in the JJ Outerbridge building from 8am to 1pm every Saturday. Alternatively, e-mail Lucindaenergy@hotmail.com or call 295-9779.