Paper Money and Local Wheat
Feb. 1st, 2008 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helwenHow long can paper dollars keep a house warm? by Gene Logsdon, a new favorite writer of mine.
[EDIT: The above link now actually Works]
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Local Wheat!!!
Info from an article in the Greenfield Recorder yesterday.... I'm all excited about this because we've been looking at the possibility of growing some of our own grain since we haven't been able to find local grain growers (the nearest is in New Hampshire and they only grow for King Arthur flour company).
Turns out there is some local wheat these days, just that the wheat is grown for pre-arranged dedicated buyers.
Tired of dealing with increasing prices for wheat, some local bakeries are working deals out with local farmers to have them grow wheat for them.
Tomorrow a bicycle-driven thresher and grain mill will be demonstrated at Winter Fare, a new event being held at Greenfield's Second Congregational Church in Greenfield, MA. The event runs from 10am - 2pm.
One Montague baker is planning to grow his own wheat for "Daniel Shays Bread". The owners of the Hungry Ghost Bakery in Northampton are looking for folks to grow wheat locally for them. They're looking for organically grown wheat and had been getting it from North Dakota, which is quite a ways away from Massachusetts - now there's a couple of farms growing spelt and rye for them and for another bakery in Deerfield, El Jardin Bakery. A farmer in Gill grows wheat for Bread Euphoria in Williamsburg.
The wheat being grown currently isn't enough to supply all the bakeries year-round yet, from what I can tell in the article. But assuming all goes well, farmers would probably expand their operations. L talked to his dad about it this morning, and he's open to the idea of adding it as a crop (actually he considered that if it were profitable enough, switching over from hay, but people need hay around here too).
Hungry Ghost Bakery has an interesting plan. They've managed to get seed for some heirloom varieties of grain and will be handing out seed to local customers to get them to try growing some in their yards. Then they want to pedal around Northampton to harvest it for use at the bakery. There's going to be a meeting on March 12 at 7pm at the Northampton City Hall, to teach people how to plant their small plots of wheat. There are plans to store the grain at a local barn and then give people a chance to help with milling the grain.
Massachusetts used to grow a lot of grains, I expect before the combines in the Midwest. Apparently the Connecticut Valley (part of western Mass is in this valley) was once known as the "breadbasket of New England" (Howard S. Russell 1976 history of NE farming _A Long Deep Furrow_).
Apparently some area farmers have combines (smaller than in the Midwest) and "reaper-binders that can be used for harvesting and threshing wheat", but if the operations are successful and grow, threshing, cleaning and milling the wheat and spelt could be a problem that would require trying to get a grant to help with funding. We don't have a real mill in this area.... wouldn't it be great if we could build a water/wind-powered mill? I mean, if you have to build one from scratch, might as well do it right from the start.
The demo of the bicycle-powered thresher and grain mill is from Hampshire College's appropriate technology class, and is sponsored by Hungry Ghost Bakery. There will apparently be some other activities at the Winter Fare as well, and also a winter farmers market.
Greenfield Second Congregation Church is at 16 Court Square in Greenfield, MA
[EDIT: The above link now actually Works]
***
Local Wheat!!!
Info from an article in the Greenfield Recorder yesterday.... I'm all excited about this because we've been looking at the possibility of growing some of our own grain since we haven't been able to find local grain growers (the nearest is in New Hampshire and they only grow for King Arthur flour company).
Turns out there is some local wheat these days, just that the wheat is grown for pre-arranged dedicated buyers.
Tired of dealing with increasing prices for wheat, some local bakeries are working deals out with local farmers to have them grow wheat for them.
Tomorrow a bicycle-driven thresher and grain mill will be demonstrated at Winter Fare, a new event being held at Greenfield's Second Congregational Church in Greenfield, MA. The event runs from 10am - 2pm.
One Montague baker is planning to grow his own wheat for "Daniel Shays Bread". The owners of the Hungry Ghost Bakery in Northampton are looking for folks to grow wheat locally for them. They're looking for organically grown wheat and had been getting it from North Dakota, which is quite a ways away from Massachusetts - now there's a couple of farms growing spelt and rye for them and for another bakery in Deerfield, El Jardin Bakery. A farmer in Gill grows wheat for Bread Euphoria in Williamsburg.
The wheat being grown currently isn't enough to supply all the bakeries year-round yet, from what I can tell in the article. But assuming all goes well, farmers would probably expand their operations. L talked to his dad about it this morning, and he's open to the idea of adding it as a crop (actually he considered that if it were profitable enough, switching over from hay, but people need hay around here too).
Hungry Ghost Bakery has an interesting plan. They've managed to get seed for some heirloom varieties of grain and will be handing out seed to local customers to get them to try growing some in their yards. Then they want to pedal around Northampton to harvest it for use at the bakery. There's going to be a meeting on March 12 at 7pm at the Northampton City Hall, to teach people how to plant their small plots of wheat. There are plans to store the grain at a local barn and then give people a chance to help with milling the grain.
Massachusetts used to grow a lot of grains, I expect before the combines in the Midwest. Apparently the Connecticut Valley (part of western Mass is in this valley) was once known as the "breadbasket of New England" (Howard S. Russell 1976 history of NE farming _A Long Deep Furrow_).
Apparently some area farmers have combines (smaller than in the Midwest) and "reaper-binders that can be used for harvesting and threshing wheat", but if the operations are successful and grow, threshing, cleaning and milling the wheat and spelt could be a problem that would require trying to get a grant to help with funding. We don't have a real mill in this area.... wouldn't it be great if we could build a water/wind-powered mill? I mean, if you have to build one from scratch, might as well do it right from the start.
The demo of the bicycle-powered thresher and grain mill is from Hampshire College's appropriate technology class, and is sponsored by Hungry Ghost Bakery. There will apparently be some other activities at the Winter Fare as well, and also a winter farmers market.
Greenfield Second Congregation Church is at 16 Court Square in Greenfield, MA
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 07:15 pm (UTC)I don't know if it would be sufficient for a commercial enterprise, but we do already have a great little grain mill that's hand-powered. But, one of the reasons we got it is that the turning wheel can have a pulley put on it, in case we wanted to hook it up to a bike or something.... kind of gives new (or renewed) meaning to getting back to the grind :D
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 07:24 pm (UTC)The Connecticut Valley is some of the richest farmland in the Northeast, yep. In addition, Amherst and Pelham used to grow flax...the linen industry was at one time very strong there. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 07:40 pm (UTC)It's been interesting discovering how many agricultural industries there used to be around here. L's mom remembers that flax used to grow wild on the hillsides 50 years ago, leftovers no doubt from the old linen industry.
And of course Ashfield still has wild peppermint everywhere, from when peppermint oil was a commercial enterprise here.
I'm personally pleased that Hungry Ghost is after heirloom varietals, bound to be more hardy.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-01 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-02 02:08 am (UTC)If you'd like, I could try to locate the article.
Sadly, my own experiment in growing wheat last year ended when a crew from the city MOWED it! My buckwheat from a couple years ago did great, though, and I even got a completely volunteer crop of it last year. It's very hardy, but I found it difficult to harvest, as the seeds don't all ripen at the same time, and when most of them are ripe, it's falling off the plant.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-02 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-02 03:10 pm (UTC)Sorry to hear about your wheat getting mowed down :(
We also have Gene Logsdon's book on growing grain (for small-time farmers), which we'll be poking through this spring.
Благодарю за статью
Date: 2012-01-31 01:36 am (UTC)Благодарю за блог
Date: 2012-02-17 07:31 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2012-07-23 02:57 pm (UTC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMzgVshG6CI