If anyone loved me as much as I love pancakes, they’d give me Twelve Days of Pancakes, starting with the perfect griddle and ending with the funnest flours. Luckily, I already have all I need in that department, but if you want to prove your love via pancakes, here are some hints. The perfect griddle…
Category: Grains
{scaling the northeast grain system} Fall Plantings & Rotation
When I first started gardening, I couldn’t imagine planting anything in the fall. Sure, I knew about tulip bulbs, but I thought of putting them in the ground as winter storage, kind of like keeping your sweaters safe from moths in summer. I couldn’t wrap my head around plants that didn’t follow the path of…
{home wheat production} Crackers From Scratch
We have been wandering in the desert of home wheat production for three years now. We could see the mountaintop, but were not sure we could get there. Although it is not that hard to grow wheat, harvesting, threshing and milling all present real technical problems to overcome for home growers. We learned how to scythe, then…
{scaling up the northeast grain system} Wild Hive
Editor’s Note: Our monthly local-grain-love-fest with Amy Halloran is back with the 8th installment in her Scaling Up The Northeast Grain System series. You can read her previous seven pieces here. In this installment, Amy comes full circle and visits the mill & bakery where her gain-love began. -Christina +++++ I went to Wild Hive…
{the northeast grain system} Kneading Conference
The Kneading Conference brought me back to Skowhegan, Maine a couple of weeks ago. I was excited to see the event that fueled the Somerset Grist Mill. I felt like I was going to meet the author of a book I loved. Would I like the writer as much as I liked the book? Or…
{communty sharecropping} A Homemade Wheat Thresher
We have been growing wheat for three or four years in our community sharecropping plots. Wheat is not hard to grow and not all that hard to harvest although there are some pitfalls. The hard part is removing the teeny wheat berries from the inedible straw and glumes that surround them, which is called threshing. …
{scaling up the northeast grain system} The Harvest
If it weren’t for my friend Howard, my wheat would still be in the field. When I got home from vacation last Saturday, I found a message that the wheat was ready. Howard had toured my plot, and found the grain passed the crack test. When the wheat is ready, the seed should feel hard,…
{Northeast Grains System} wheat in the ‘hood
Now that the wheat we planted really looks like it might become food, I’m beginning to dread its harvest. I feel like the Little Red Hen’s friend, ready to hide until there’s dinner. Even though I’m the one who convinced my family we should plant our new lot – behind our house in the city…
{paleo recipe} My Everything Baking Mix
I’ve been mulling over creating a great gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free baking mix in my brain for almost a year now. Finally a moment of inspiration came to me and I made a bee line for my kitchen to put together this gem of a recipe. I say gem because it is the most versatile mix…
{Northeast Grains System} Vermont Grain Growers Conference
The 8th Annual Vermont Grain Growers Conference was held in Essex, Vermont on March 15th. I traveled north with my friend Howard, who’s been planting grains for years – rye, oats and barley, and last year, wheat – all for home use. About half the 130 people at the conference were also some version of…
{Northeast Grains System} a kickstarter campaign
The Somerset Grist Mill has a week left in its Kickstarter campaign , Flour with the flavor of home, so I have to tell you again how much I love this project. Visiting Skowhegan, home to New Balance shoes and under 9,000 people, I felt like I was stepping onto a movie set. A slightly…
{Scaling Up the Northeast Grains System} Maine Grains
Editor’s Note: Our first ‘Community Voices’ contributor Amy Halloran is back with her 2nd installment of ‘Scaling Up the Northeast Grains System’, her investigation into local grain production past and present. This month she brings us her exciting trip to Skowhegan, Maine. You can read Amy’s first post here. -Christina +++++ I went to Maine…
{community voices} Scaling Up the Northeast Grains System
Editor’s Note: I am so happy to announce we are starting a new contributor-stream on FSC; Community Voices. These contributors will be monthly and are the voices in our local food community; whether it be a local chef, writer or swapper. First up, writer, teacher, wife, mother, urban homesteader Amy Halloran. I first met Amy…
{the new year} coping with mid-winter food blues
Maybe it’s being trapped inside at home with a new baby, but I’m prematurely feeling that mid-winter desperation about what to make for dinner every night. This feeling worsens when we’ve skipped a week at the farmers market and have no fresh, local produce. Local green vegetables are already becoming less prevalent and I can…
{COMMUNITY SHARECROPPING} Home Grown Wheat
Our rabbi, Jonathan Rubenstein of Temple Sinai in Saratoga Springs, runs a non-profit bakery out of the temple. Most Friday mornings he is there, baking challah and babka, plus his kick-ass granola. When we sold our house and garden in Argyle, New York three years ago and were moaning about where we would go to garden, Jonathan’s…
