The Little Red Hen: restoring wheat in the Pioneer Valley
The Little Red Hen’s Wheat Patch Project
The bread flour we had been using, as organically labeled as it might be, is road-weary and carries a carbon-heavy burden. Grown in the Dakotas, milled in North Carolina, trucked to us in Massachusetts, it is high-quality but high-priced (in more ways than one) and that is rising every day. Displaced by ethanol-bound corn and soybean crops, the price of wheat is growing in the way the grain should be. Local cultivation, though historically significant, is presently negligible. We need new strategies to address this.
According to some records, Massachusetts was the site of the first wheat harvest in North America in 1602. Within living memory of Amherst resident Steven Puffer (age 93), farmers brought local wheat, rye and corn to his family’s mill on Old Montague Road (now Route 63).
Thanks to some discussions and a local grain conference at Hampshire College last spring, two local farmers have seeds in the ground at present –rye and spelt- and some varieties of spring wheat. In addition to these efforts we are proposing a radical notion: that bread customers begin to grow a portion of the wheat they consume. Imagine receiving a handful of wheat berries along with your loaf of bread and going home to plant them in the backyard -or the front yard or the side yard! The concept is simple, participants with a small amount of garden space receive a specific variety of wheat seed and with simple instructions and some readily available helpful advice, these newly made micro-farmers will then be harvesting the fruit for local flour sometime in late July/early August..
Students from Hampshire and Smith Colleges under the guidance of Hampshire Farm Manager, Leslie Cox are ready to collect scientific data on the progress of the growing wheat. The goal of the Wheat Patch Project is more than a gimmick but a radical approach to food production, economic participation and agricultural re-integration. In experimenting with numerous seed types, dozens of different conditions and soils, we can collectively discover which kinds of wheat (there are tens of thousands) may best be adapted to our region.
The project is long term and within a year or two the idea is to then enlist the participation of larger local farms to begin growing locally sustainable wheat. Pre-testing the varieties helps to reduce the risk a farmer takes in development of a new crop. The experimentation will continue into the fall when varieties of “winter wheat” will be trialed as well.
Hungry Ghost Bread is proud to sponsor this project and we are currently distributing seed some of which are already in the hands, lawns or gardens of more than 70 bread lovers. The goal of the Wheat Patch Project is not just a gimmick of decentralization, but a radical approach to food production, economic participation and agricultural re-integration. In experimenting with numerous seed types, dozens of different conditions and soils, we can collectively discover which kinds of wheat (there are tens of thousands) may best be adapted to our region.
If you have further questions or would like to pick up some seeds please contact us. We also appreciate any monetary donations large or small in order to facilitate the next step in the process, the development of a grain cleaning and milling facility. Coordination with a local nonprofit is underway to further establish this grain cooperative. Thanks for your interest and support.