Heritage Wheat Fields

Overview

Grain With a Past

Modern wheat is bred short for the combine; the old tall varieties our grandparents grew have deeper roots and deeper flavour, but they lodge, thresh stubbornly and yield modestly. We grow three heritage wheats across eighteen acres, stone-mill them at the valley mill, and supply flour to bakers who can taste the difference.

The Challenge

Tall wheat falls over in summer storms, and organic grain must stay weed-free without sprays. Our first heritage crop was half lodged and full of wild oats — the miller shook his head, and we nearly went back to modern varieties.

Our Approach

• Sowed at lower seed rates so each plant tillers strongly and stands on its own.
• Undersowed clover to smother weeds and feed the following vegetable rotation.
• Cut slightly early and dried in the barn, protecting quality through wet harvest weeks.

Outcome

Three valley bakeries now bake with our flour every week, and the straw from those tall wheats beds our winter livestock enterprise. The fields look the way grain fields used to — waist-high, rippling, and full of skylarks.

See how we grow organically