my instincts were screaming for a little investigation. First, I had to do some research on spelt. Having only eaten it once or twice in bread and sticky buns, and having never baked with it, I was delving into new territory -- but hey, it was organic and local and I was willing to try anything local with an organic tag on it. Small Valley Milling is a farm. There's no storefront, no retail shop, no front desk to stop and pick up your order. When I called, the farmer wasn't sure where he'll be - so check both the house and the grainery/mill area. No one was at the Mill, so we stopped at the house where a very friendly kitty greeted and followed me. A young guy came out and said the flour is in storage at the Mill. We drive over, and he has us pull up to a refrigerated tractor-trailer storage unit. I'll take two 5-lb bags, please. And out he comes with two beautifully packaged bags of ground, whole spelt flour. It was $1.80 a lb. At first thought, $9.00 for a 5 lb bag of flour was a bit salty. But with a little calculation, considering the price of a loaf of bread these days and a 5lb bag will make about 4 loaves, this was a bargain - and its organic to boot! As we were driving back to the house, the young man pointed out the spelt growing in the field for the winter, similar to winter wheat. I thanked him not only for the spelt, but for owning and working on a farm and producing an organic product. He said he actually came back to the farm recently after going to school to be a design engineer and working for New Holland (makers of farming equipment) for a couple years. He said his dad is getting old, and he decided to come back to the farm. It brought tears to my eyes and I told him more young men should be like him. We need our farms - we need farmers. We need ORGANIC farmers. I asked if the flour is sold anywhere at retail stores, and he said not yet - they are trying to get it into our local Natural Acres stores in Millersburg, which I'll certainly put a good word in for the farmer and another local bulk food store - Hornings. It was a very worthwhile trip. Later that night, I was met with the icing on my cake of a day. I went for a run, and exactly 1.67 miles from my home is a brand new sign - "Fresh jersey milk - $1.50 a gallon." You can imagine my excitement. I'm currently paying $4.00 1/2 gallon from Natural Acres for pre-bottled, fancy-labeled raw milk (but local). With gallon jar in tow, I'll be visiting David Zook and his jersey cows on Saturday! I'm SO excited. Pictures coming of the sign - very local appearance.The Backyard
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Small Valley Milling - Organic Flour Locally
There aren't a lot of organic products produced locally in the Upper Dauphin county area, but when I found Small Valley Milling Spelt Farm just over the mountain from Elizabethville (on my way home from work - about 12 miles from home), 
my instincts were screaming for a little investigation. First, I had to do some research on spelt. Having only eaten it once or twice in bread and sticky buns, and having never baked with it, I was delving into new territory -- but hey, it was organic and local and I was willing to try anything local with an organic tag on it. Small Valley Milling is a farm. There's no storefront, no retail shop, no front desk to stop and pick up your order. When I called, the farmer wasn't sure where he'll be - so check both the house and the grainery/mill area. No one was at the Mill, so we stopped at the house where a very friendly kitty greeted and followed me. A young guy came out and said the flour is in storage at the Mill. We drive over, and he has us pull up to a refrigerated tractor-trailer storage unit. I'll take two 5-lb bags, please. And out he comes with two beautifully packaged bags of ground, whole spelt flour. It was $1.80 a lb. At first thought, $9.00 for a 5 lb bag of flour was a bit salty. But with a little calculation, considering the price of a loaf of bread these days and a 5lb bag will make about 4 loaves, this was a bargain - and its organic to boot! As we were driving back to the house, the young man pointed out the spelt growing in the field for the winter, similar to winter wheat. I thanked him not only for the spelt, but for owning and working on a farm and producing an organic product. He said he actually came back to the farm recently after going to school to be a design engineer and working for New Holland (makers of farming equipment) for a couple years. He said his dad is getting old, and he decided to come back to the farm. It brought tears to my eyes and I told him more young men should be like him. We need our farms - we need farmers. We need ORGANIC farmers. I asked if the flour is sold anywhere at retail stores, and he said not yet - they are trying to get it into our local Natural Acres stores in Millersburg, which I'll certainly put a good word in for the farmer and another local bulk food store - Hornings. It was a very worthwhile trip. Later that night, I was met with the icing on my cake of a day. I went for a run, and exactly 1.67 miles from my home is a brand new sign - "Fresh jersey milk - $1.50 a gallon." You can imagine my excitement. I'm currently paying $4.00 1/2 gallon from Natural Acres for pre-bottled, fancy-labeled raw milk (but local). With gallon jar in tow, I'll be visiting David Zook and his jersey cows on Saturday! I'm SO excited. Pictures coming of the sign - very local appearance.
my instincts were screaming for a little investigation. First, I had to do some research on spelt. Having only eaten it once or twice in bread and sticky buns, and having never baked with it, I was delving into new territory -- but hey, it was organic and local and I was willing to try anything local with an organic tag on it. Small Valley Milling is a farm. There's no storefront, no retail shop, no front desk to stop and pick up your order. When I called, the farmer wasn't sure where he'll be - so check both the house and the grainery/mill area. No one was at the Mill, so we stopped at the house where a very friendly kitty greeted and followed me. A young guy came out and said the flour is in storage at the Mill. We drive over, and he has us pull up to a refrigerated tractor-trailer storage unit. I'll take two 5-lb bags, please. And out he comes with two beautifully packaged bags of ground, whole spelt flour. It was $1.80 a lb. At first thought, $9.00 for a 5 lb bag of flour was a bit salty. But with a little calculation, considering the price of a loaf of bread these days and a 5lb bag will make about 4 loaves, this was a bargain - and its organic to boot! As we were driving back to the house, the young man pointed out the spelt growing in the field for the winter, similar to winter wheat. I thanked him not only for the spelt, but for owning and working on a farm and producing an organic product. He said he actually came back to the farm recently after going to school to be a design engineer and working for New Holland (makers of farming equipment) for a couple years. He said his dad is getting old, and he decided to come back to the farm. It brought tears to my eyes and I told him more young men should be like him. We need our farms - we need farmers. We need ORGANIC farmers. I asked if the flour is sold anywhere at retail stores, and he said not yet - they are trying to get it into our local Natural Acres stores in Millersburg, which I'll certainly put a good word in for the farmer and another local bulk food store - Hornings. It was a very worthwhile trip. Later that night, I was met with the icing on my cake of a day. I went for a run, and exactly 1.67 miles from my home is a brand new sign - "Fresh jersey milk - $1.50 a gallon." You can imagine my excitement. I'm currently paying $4.00 1/2 gallon from Natural Acres for pre-bottled, fancy-labeled raw milk (but local). With gallon jar in tow, I'll be visiting David Zook and his jersey cows on Saturday! I'm SO excited. Pictures coming of the sign - very local appearance.
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