A flour rebellion: Local bakers sprout plan to grow own wheat

[Bonobo]

Source: Hampshire Gazette

It won't be your run-of-the-mill bread they're spinning their wheels for. The bicycle-driven thresher and grain mill - being demonstrated at Saturday's first-of-its-kind Winter Fare at Greenfield's Second Congregational Church - points to a Montague baker's plan to grow his own wheat for "Daniel Shays Bread."

Jonathan Stevens and Cheryl Maffei of Hungry Ghost Bakery became interested in giving people wheat seeds to grow locally after a New Mexico baker at a conference eight or nine years ago introduced them to bread made from locally grown grain.

Instead of baking with organic flour grown in North Dakota that gets trucked to North Carolina for milling, Stevens said, it makes more sense to look at growing wheat and other grains nearby and milling it locally - especially since Massachusetts is believed to have been the site of North America's first oat harvest - on the Elizabeth Islands - in 1602.

Pioneer Valley farmers once grew wheat, according to 93-year-old Amherst resident Stephen Puffer, who remembers when farmers brought local wheat, rye and corn to his family's mill on what is now Route 63. The Connecticut River Valley was the "breadbasket of New England," Howard S. Russell wrote in his 1976 history of New England farming, "A Long Deep Furrow."

Read more: http://www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/storytmp.cfm?id_no=78754&CSAuthResp=1201931190396708%3AIT%2FsGXVnxDVzLQ%3D%3D%3ACSUserId%7CCSGroupId%3Asuccess%3APn3TC%2BPIMJfabwxvRYKRgw%3D%3D&CSUserId=30341&CSGroupId=7

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My neck of the woods. Love it.

[aquart]

1. I love the bicycle thresher and grain mill.

Every gym should have one.

[heliarc]

4. Either that...

Or Municipalities should require that gym exercise machines get hooked up to the electrical grid.

[JDPriestly]

2. Interesting story

[splat]

3. I get redirected to a registration screen

[Orsino]

5. Here's a peek at our future...

...in a world without cheap oil or strong FDA regulations.

[SpiralHawk]

6. This item needs a working link...

frustrating...

[Vinca]

7. I can't get the link to work, but I'm going to check this out somehow.

We're big bread bakers and would love to grow our own wheat!

[Bonobo]

8. Sorry about the link. It requires registration.

My local paper.

Let me know if you need contact info or anything.

[Bonobo]

9. Working Link right here (I think) and more of the story

http://www.recorder.com/story.cfm?id_no=4812906

Pioneer Valley farmers grew wheat, according to 93-year-old Amherst resident Stephen Puffer, who remembers farmers brought local wheat, rye and corn to his family's mill on what is now Route 63. The Connecticut River Valley was the 'breadbasket of New England,' Howard S. Russell wrote in his 1976 history of New England farming, 'A Long Deep Furrow.'

'IWorking with the Montague couple on their 'wheat patch' project, Duran said he hopes that the success with spelt -- a grain that's becoming more popular, especially among people with wheat allergies -- will convince farmers that grain-growing is possible and worth the risk.

Stevens and Maffei, who have been trying to interest local farmers in looking again at growing wheat, are researching four or five heirloom varieties of the grain, which they plan to distribute to customers to try square-foot plots on their lawns as a test.

'It's a step-by-step, little thing,' said Stevens, who's faced a challenge not only in getting seeds -- some because of import restrictions from Canada -- but also in convincing agricultural officials that there's any reason to grow wheat here. 'We're trying to get it moving. We have to be an agricultural state, because we eat. There's a lot of fallow land, and economic rationalization be damned, we should use it. Let's stop paving it over and grow some food!'

[pipoman]

10. I live in hard red winter wheat country

with fields completely surrounding my house. I have never milled my own but there are a lot of mills here. I don't buy national brands of flour, Hudson Cream is my favorite. It is a small mill who buys their wheat directly from area family farmers. Their flour has a very consistent gluten content, their mill is clean and well run.

[Lasher]

17. That's the only brand of flour my wife will buy.

Both our mothers too.

But isn't Hudson Cream a national brand?

[pipoman]

26. It is only ground in one location that I am aware of

and that is Stafford County Flour Mills in Hudson Kansas. Now to fully appreciate Hudson you must close your eyes and imagine a town with no school, no grocery store, a couple of little stores, a ma and pa restaurant, and a large flour mill. The town is 1/4 mile square and is completely surrounded by sandy soil on flat plains which allow you to see so far that the curvature of the earth is apparent. All of their wheat, corn, and rye comes from family farms in central Kansas. The plains states are often considered boring ugly states because of the flat agriculture terrain...I find the terrain serene and wouldn't want to be anyplace else.

One of the things I like about our winter wheat is that it requires few chemicals. Winter wheat is planted in the fall and germination takes place during September/October. It is important that the wheat germinate but not grow too high, so feeder cattle are grazed on the wheat grass. These cattle thrive on the high protein wheat grass, they fertilize the ground as they graze. After the snow begins to fly and the temps drop the cattle are moved off of the wheat and into pasture, corn stubble, or feed corrals for the winter. They are then returned to the wheat grass in the very early spring sometimes depending on weather. If there is nice weather too early the wheat will resume growing which could endanger it if we get a late freeze so the cattle keep the wheat at a safe level until the danger of a freeze is passed, then the wheat is allowed to mature. Winter wheat does not require irrigation. The wheat turns beautiful golden blankets covering much of the state during June and is harvested mid June.

Sorry to write this book to answer a simple question...ask me what time it is and I will tell you how to build a clock... ;7

[Lasher]

28. Au contraire, that is very interesting.

I did not know these things about growing wheat.

So even though Hudson Cream is marketed nationally it is grown and processed locally. And that is what you meant by it not being a national brand.

If I am ever in the area I will be sure to swing by Hudson. Sounds like just my kinda place.

[otherlander]

11. bicycle-wheat-processing is teh awesome!

:thumbsup:

[libbygurl]

12. Love the idea. More foodstuffs should really be grown, processed locally. Cheaper,...

...and if done organically, healthier and more tasty!

[sazemisery]

13. Become a Locavore and support local economy.

We will be reading a lot more of these stories as the economy takes a downturn.

[SoCalDem]

14. Localism is busting out all over :)

Why burn fuel to transport stuff all over the place, if the product can be made "start-to-finish" in one location?..Makes sense to me :)
It's the sustainable way we USED to do things..and who knows, maybe we will need to go back, in order to advance :)

[michaz]

15. Gee, we have got 30 acres. Wonder if my horses would share!n/t

[nikto]

16. But...

...the poor widdle Corporations may lose profit$$$$
if this kind of thing catches on in other places.

Well,
BOO frikkin' HOO!

Y'know?

[Summer93]

18. Kick and Recommend

I really like this idea about doing the basic things locally. It makes so much common sense. I often think that it also makes sense for each of us to find the best way to generate electrical power for our household. A change from thinking that a corporate entity distant from us can provide for us. Changing to becoming more self-reliant and local.

Growing our own vegetables also means that some food is only available during certain parts of the year. Strawberries in June then jam the rest of the year - no year round strawberries but only the best in season. Food in season is so much better, more flavorful.

[knitter4democracy]

19. I know Great Harvest grinds their own wheat every day.

Now we just need to expand that idea. Michigan grows a lot of wheat, and we used to have mills in every town. It's time again.

[Bonobo]

21. Fantastic! I didn't know that.

[knitter4democracy]

22. I know ours does. Isn't it a chain thing?

I thought it was something the chain supported.

Oh, and it's only the whole wheat, not the white flour.

[Bonobo]

20. Find local produce on-line!

Here is a link to where to find local produce in my area:
http://www.buylocalfood.com/find.html

Here is one for the whole country!
http://www.localharvest.org/

[knitter4democracy]

23. I have found the best stuff on localharvest.org.

Great, great site.

[Bonobo]

24. It should be pinned up on the front page of DU! LOCALHARVEST!

[Gormy Cuss]

25. The Pioneer Valley has really good soil.

Tobacco farming is one of the big crops but all sorts of smaller scale commercial farming is done there.

[L. Coyote]

27. Anywhere you can garden you can grow your own grains. Any lawn will do!

[pipoman]

29. It has to be a labor of love

I have hand thrashed wheat...all I can say is :evilgrin:

[opihimoimoi]

30. If them bakers want bread...they should be using HRS from the Dakotas/etc

Its the wheat that gives bread the red color...

If ya want bread in the brown color...then use what ya got/grow.