Although the greater Los Angeles area has never been the "bread basket of California," it was—and not that long ago—home to grist mills and fields of grain! LABB, as part of its mission to revive the bread-baking community of Southern California, has planted a couple of test acres out in Agoura Hills to determine which varieties of wheat and other bread grains would do well in our growing conditions. The folks out at Maggie's Farm have generously donated the use of this acreage for our research (thanks Nathan and Andrea!), and we look forward to working with them in planting, tending, and harvesting our first crop of heritage grains. If all goes well, we should have lots of grain to send over to Nan Kohler's artisanal grain mill this spring and then lots of wonderful flour to share with LABB members. More details on all of this as it comes (hopefully!) to fruition. Regardless of the outcome, we will certainly learn a great deal about sustainable bread production in Southern California.
We're really excited about this project and truly hope that every LABB member will have an opportunity to share in the experience of making sure we have a bumper crop of wonderful heritage grains! Check the Meetup page for upcoming events and ways to get involved.
My thanks to the hard working folks that have helped plant the grain at Maggies Farm, we will have some very special flour for sale this summer at Farmers market, look for it in July of 2013. We are importing a couple of hand cranked stone mills to grind the grain into flour at the farmers market for those of you that like the idea of working with whole grain flour.
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