(no subject)
I just got back about a half hour ago from the first meeting of the "Little Red Hen Wheat Project." A project to revitalize wheat growing on a commercial scale here in New England and the Pioneer Valley.
Definitely excited about this. It's been organized with help from Jonathan and Cheryl of Hungry Ghost Bakery here in town (sourdough bread a la Bannen-Fishers), students from Smith and Hampshire College, and the coordinator of the Hampshire Farm.
We, a group of interested and supportive consumers, will be doing trial plots of three or four varieties of wheat this summer - hard red spring wheat, if that means anything to you. (See below.) There's a man from the New England Small Farm Institute who was there, he has 4 acres each of wheat and spelt planted; UppinGill Farm (in Gill, MA, har har!) is entering their fourth season of wheat, they have about 10 acres planted in winter wheat.
(There are two types of wheat - annual and biennial. Biennial "winter" wheat is planted in the fall, Sep or Oct, starts to grow, over-winters, and then continues growing the next spring - it's typically harvested in June. Annual "spring" wheat is planted in April, and harvested in July or August. Hard and soft refer to percentages of protein and gluten in the wheat berries - hard has more protein, soft less. Red and white are differences in the type of wheat berry, I don't know a whole lot about the differences between those two characteristics.)
I'm goddamn sick of buying dry beans that come from China, and rice that comes from Only-God-Knows-Where-Those-Rice-Paddies-Where. I'm beginning to think that I'll want to settle down before I'm 30 - which for the past few years has been the thought I've had, that by 30 I want to be settled.
Definitely excited about this. It's been organized with help from Jonathan and Cheryl of Hungry Ghost Bakery here in town (sourdough bread a la Bannen-Fishers), students from Smith and Hampshire College, and the coordinator of the Hampshire Farm.
We, a group of interested and supportive consumers, will be doing trial plots of three or four varieties of wheat this summer - hard red spring wheat, if that means anything to you. (See below.) There's a man from the New England Small Farm Institute who was there, he has 4 acres each of wheat and spelt planted; UppinGill Farm (in Gill, MA, har har!) is entering their fourth season of wheat, they have about 10 acres planted in winter wheat.
(There are two types of wheat - annual and biennial. Biennial "winter" wheat is planted in the fall, Sep or Oct, starts to grow, over-winters, and then continues growing the next spring - it's typically harvested in June. Annual "spring" wheat is planted in April, and harvested in July or August. Hard and soft refer to percentages of protein and gluten in the wheat berries - hard has more protein, soft less. Red and white are differences in the type of wheat berry, I don't know a whole lot about the differences between those two characteristics.)
I'm goddamn sick of buying dry beans that come from China, and rice that comes from Only-God-Knows-Where-Those-Rice-Paddies-Where. I'm beginning to think that I'll want to settle down before I'm 30 - which for the past few years has been the thought I've had, that by 30 I want to be settled.