Banana jerky? How Macon woman turned ‘calling’ into successful business

Kayla Strickland started Ava’s Apples by dehydrating fruit in her apartment in north Macon in 2017. In less than a year, she became an official manufacturer.

Ava’s Apples, named after Eve from the Bible, has expanded into a dehydration business and specialty gift shop, Strickland said.

“I was praying, and the Lord just birthed this thing in me, you know what I’m saying, and I was like I don’t have enough room here. I need a kitchen,” she said.

She moved her business to 2475 Houston Ave., so she could have enough room for a small kitchen and gift shop, she said.

“I really feel like it’s my calling,” she said. “When I was praying, I really believed that the Lord spoke this to me for purpose, and I kind of see where the world is going and why we may need more sustainable foods.”

Living a holistic life

Strickland became interested in living a more holistic lifestyle at a very young age. When she was 10 years old, she decided to stop eating beef and later became a vegetarian.

She wanted to study holistic medicine when she went to college, but she said her parents were worried she wouldn’t be able to get a job in that field.

“So, I started going to school for psychology, and I’m still not in psychology,” she said with a laugh.

Instead, she started dehydrating apples, oranges, lemons and many other fruits, vegetables and herbs to make multiple remedies, teas and treats.

All of the items in Strickland’s shop are vegan, her products are all natural as well she said.

“It’s really good. You can carry it hiking, biking,” she said. “This is great stuff. It’s dehydrated. You don’t have to worry about always having stuff, just hot water.”

In her store, she said customers tell her how hard it is to keep limes and lemons fresh, and her dehydrated fruit makes it easier to keep them fresh longer, she said.

“It’s something that I believe it helps people. It makes me happy,” she said. “I’m helping somebody with the smallest thing like their morning tea, so if that’s just my mission in life to help with your morning tea or make you feel better about the way you eat,... it just, it makes me feel like I’m helping somebody.”

Slowing down to speed up

When the coronavirus pandemic swept across Middle Georgia in March, Strickland said she started pulling her products out of stores and reduced the amount of markets she attended, but it wasn’t because the pandemic necessarily hurt her business.

She just needed to take a step back from her business to figure out what she wanted to do with it, she said.

“I say that I am a food inventor. Nobody ever heard of banana jerky or Ava’s sweet apple or pineapple apples,” she said.

Although she said she cried she was so upset about scaling down her business, she said she needed to slow down to make some life decisions.

She plans to go back to school to receive more education in areas that could help her grow her business, she said.

She is considering hiring someone to go to markets to sell her products, but people can find her products online at www.etsy.com/shop/AvasApples. She also has a Facebook page at facebook.com/LoveAvasApples/ and a blog at avasapples.wordpress.com/.

During the pandemic, she said her business has still done well because more people are looking for the type of products that she offers, which are healthy foods that last a long time.

“ I love people, and I love the fact that people love Ava’s Apples,” she said. “I appreciate every customer, everybody who puts in their input and saying, ‘This was better than I had it two years ago,’ and I love every time I hear something like that. It excites me, and it kind of gives me the passion to keep going.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.