HARVESTING TRADITIONS HARVESTING TRADITION

Written and produced by

BENJAMIN LESTER

Writing Edited by

Peter Kobel and Kate Henessy

Photography, Layout, and design by Benjamin Lester

www.localgrain.org In loving Memory of

My Father, James Matthew Lester

and

For My Mother, Margaret Lester Copyright Farm Feast 2018 and All Rights Reserved my step Mother Nancy Lester

My three wonderful, truly good parents

Words can’t sumate how fortunate I have been

but hopefully this book can. Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. Culling The Harvest 3. Reverence, Connection and Gratitutude 4. The Essential Storm 5.Our Great Grains 6. Heritage Wheat 7.Milling 8. Hielroom Corn 9. Measurement 10. Paddy Rice 11. Storage 12.Beans 13.Temperature 14.Oats, buckwheat 15. fermentation 16.Heritage Grain Brewing 17. rye 18.Timing ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book would not be possible without the tireless work and dedication of our farmers. Alan Zuchowski, Stan, Simon, and Abbie White, Sara and Matt Williams, (etc...)

My company

My Family

Community, members, and supporters

Hosts

Capsicum ovatum DC. Capsicum petenense Standl. Capsicum pomiferum Mart. ex Steud. Capsicum purpureum Vahl ex Hornem. Capsicum pyramidale Mill. Capsicum quitense Willd. ex Roem. & Schult. Capsicum silvestre Vell. Capsicum sphaerium Willd. Capsicum tetragonum Mill. Capsicum tomatiforme Fingerh. ex Steud. Capsicum torulosum Hornem. Capsicum tournefortii Besser Capsicum ustulatum Paxton

“The Most Wonderful Story I know is, perhaps, that this bread, thousands of years old though it is, is not yet finished in the baking. Botanist, famer, miller, and baker are stillexperimenting with it. The entire story of bread goes very deep-its social and technical, religious, political, and scientific story”

H.E Jacob “Six Thousand Years of Bread” The Richness of Connection

We absorb the most valuable lessons from our parents through how they live their lives. In the fall of 2000, when I was 19, I was down in my basement music studio at my moth- My father, a computer scientist, loved his kitchen, revered heritage grains, and always er’s, practicing percussion, when I was called by my mother to pick up the phone. It was sought out foods with connection, flavor, and vitality. His father, the Head of Alcohol my dad. (My parents had separated.) I couldn’t call him back? It was extremely unusual Studies at Rutgers, became passionate about baking after a trip through France in the for my father to call me like that, and I was concerned. It was not unfounded. He had early 1950s. Upon return, he lined his home oven with fire bricks to simulate the baking been experiencing stomach pains for several months and had been to the doctor again. quality of the ovens he saw in Europe. He boiled bagels, fermented doughs, and inject- The news was not good. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and would most ed steam into the bake to facilitate a proper Maillard reaction in the crust. likely lose the battle to it in the next six months.

Ancient wheats and heirloom rice lined our cupboards when I was growing up. My fa- My world was rocked. My father was my best friend. At 53, he was recently remarried, ther used a burr coffee mill to grind his own flours and always found the kitchen to be enjoying his life more than ever, and could not believe the news. Once pancreatic cancer a primary source of both pleasure and contentment. He sought food that was special, is detectable, it’s almost always too late. My step mother, Nancy, sister Jessica, and I took authentic, and meaningful. While traveling in Costa Rica in the 1990s, he befriended a care of my father throughout his illness, and he passed away the following May. I was coffee farmer and stayed with him for several nights. They wrote each other afterward, devastated, but I didn’t realize how much. I’d been holding back much of my grief for half and my father bought green beans from his farm and roasted them in his kitchen for a year and I wasn’t about to stop, although these things have every way of catching up My Mother and My Grandmother were both profesional visual many years. with you, and in time of course they did. artists and my mother also worked in community organiz- ing and as the Director of Housing for the Mentally Ill Metro I roasted coffee in my father’s little old toaster oven until it finally gave out last year. I’d been accepted to Bennington College the year before, and while my father was sick Boston. They were both great role models and in addition my This is how food creates meaning in our lives. It is the connection we have to the history decided to matriculate the following autumn. When I arrived at Bennington I was still grandmother on my fathers side Ruth who worked as an editor or “heritage” of our food source and of all the people connected with it. holding myself together, but over the first month or two I began to fall into severe depres- on the sion. I simply could not move my body at times. It was as if my body was leaden. Jefferson Papers for 25 years was also a loving an supportive My father was also an accomplished flutist, and initially I followed his musical inclina- part of my upbringing. tions more than his gustatory ones, pursuing music as my main creative pursuit from Resilience and Reconfiguration the time I was about 10. I was always inspired and nourished by his love of cooking though, and I grew up in a sort of craft kitchen; an immersion experience. Breakfast Despite my intense grief, I somehow found myself with a new friend. I didn’t realize it at consisted of homemade pancakes, crepes, bagels, or muffins. Lunch was leftovers the time but in hindsight I think I was drawn to her because she helped me remember punctuated by milk shakes and yogurt smoothies, and dinner could be anything from and feel connected to my father. Adrie was smart, well-read, creative, and loved food gumbo to Buddha’s delight, spaghetti and meatballs, or pad thai. All were made from and cooking. Introverted but sweet and feisty, she was my new best friend and eventual the best ingredients he could find, and inspired by his travels and the people and food partner in next level food exploration. he encountered around the world. Keeping the memories of my father alive was and still is very important to me. I have Dinner and baked goods were essential to a good day. He sought out international come to realize that the intersection of the memories of my father and the shared love of markets and local organic food co-ops, as well as up-and-coming bakeries to satisfy cooking with my new partner was a profound way for me to keep my father’s spirit alive. his craving for authentic and interesting foods. He had a small herb and vegetable gar- Food slowly became the centerpiece of my life and then my work. I now think that my den and always stopped at roadside farm stands for the best seasonal produce. He father’s passion for cooking and baking in the kitchen was his way of staying connected brought home organic yogurt from a small dairy in New Hampshire and explained to to his father. me that “this was the good stuff.” My friends liked to stay for dinner, though it was a strange experience for most of them, having grown up on frozen factory-made dinners In my early twenties I was still deeply connected to and working in music. My father had and school cafeteria lunch. They could taste something different. They’d say, ”Your dad believed in me and supported me throughout my musical journey. I felt I had to continue cooks some weird food, but it’s good.” My best friend from high school, Rob, and I al- my music without him. But food allowed me to find my way back to him. Food soon be- ways appreciated that we had it good when we were at my dad’s table. There was no came my new calling. doubt about it. Aᴅʀɪᴇ ᴀɴᴅ I ᴍᴏᴠᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ Sᴏᴜᴛʜ Aᴍʜᴇʀꜱᴛ in the summer of 2002. We started our first organic vegetable garden and grew heirloom tomatoes whose size and lusciousness I will never forget. We frequented farmers markets and discovered Pioneer Valley’s incredible wealth of small passionate artisans working tireless- ly to make nourishing and meaningful food available for their families and community. Adrie went to culinary school at CCI, and I studied alongside as we began to work in restaurants and bakeries and to dream of a space where we could offer our own spin on genuine, taste-sizzling, and nourishing foods; a space for community food culture to grow, evolve, and thrive.

Early in 2005, we began to discuss the idea of selling baked goods at farmers markets. We looked into the licensing and production process, and it turned out to be a reasonable summer project. We licensed the residential kitchen we rented to produce baked goods for sale around the valley.

To our absolute surprise and delight, our little bakery, Wheatberry, would be a tremendous hit. We sold out at farmer’s markets every week. We got a wholesaler’s license so we could sell to retail outlets as well and scored one wholesale account after another. We hadn’t planned to pursue this as a full-time business, but we couldn’t ignore the fact that people clearly wanted what we had to offer. It was game on.

We began to look for a retail space for our bakery. Finally, in 2007(?), after 2.5 years in a startup kitchen, we settled on a spot on Main Street in Amherst across from the Emily Dickinson Museum, where we would spend the next seven years innovating, growing, and baking up a storm. There were, however, other storms brewing as well. The first was the birth of our daughter Ella, and thankfully it is the only storm from that period that is still whirling. Ella was the bakery baby. She was adored and loved and probably ate too many chocolate croissants. Her presence amplified my thoughts and concerns about the future. This was love. And it was serious work, but we couldn’t imagine what was around the corner.

By December of 2007, our little business had mushroomed, and we were in deep. It all seemed to be a great and profitable challenge until February 2008. Failed crops in Russia and China, combined with greatly increased demand for meat and milk in developing countries, caused commodity grain prices around the globe to triple overnight. Wal-Mart began to ration rice, and bakeries were paying three to four times what they had been for their main ingredient. This was a problem.

On the bright side, we won the Young Entrepreneurs of the Year Award from the Massachusetts Small Business Association and our innovative “farm to fork” bakery was featured in The Boston Globe’s food section. These were a couple of bright spots in the midst of a once-in-a-century economic downturn.

As the 27-year-old owner of a small, mission-driven business, I wasn’t well prepared to deal with this sort of economic crisis. Something had to give for my sanity’s sake, and we decided it would be the wholesale side of our operation. At that point it accounted for about half of our sales and we figured we could make it work with our retail business. But of course we had no idea that the Great Recession was right around the corner. That fall when the housing market crashed, we were stunned just like everyone else. Customers came in to ask if we were okay. We cut staff to the bare bones and began to brainstorm about what to do next. Entrepreneurial spirit is built into my core. I’ve been in business for myself since I was 16 and have built my work process to find opportunity and positive social leverage in changing circumstances. The bigger the change the bigger the opportunity. This was a big one.

Red Lammas Whole Wheat French Bread Fermentation technique - Cool Control

I love the perfect simplicity of French bread. Flour, water, salt, and yeast, combined correctly, can produce a crackling, chewy, sweet, and caramelized crust with a moist, airy, and supple crumb. Almost any variety of hard wheat will do, Directions: but this recipe lends itself beautifully to heirlooms such as Red Lammas wheat and Oberkulmer spelt, as well as newer organic varieties such as Redeemer. Once you’ve chosen your variety of wheat, you can also choose whether or not to 1.Scale and mix your 4 ingredients. The dough mixture should mix together with just a touch of elbow grease. No lighten your flour by sifting. Any degree of sifting will do, as will entirely unsifted whole flour - so sift to taste!. ou Y may kneading. The dough is moist but not wet. It should cling to itself but not stand up tall or tight. Your mixing spoon want to decrease the amount of water slightly with lighter flours. Roll the top in seeds to create a lovely accent, and should cut through the dough without quite picking it up when it is fully mixed. Check your dough temperature. roll all manner of fresh herbs, cheeses, etc., into the loaf during shaping, if you so desire. Not only is this recipe incred- Around 85 degrees is generally the temp to go for. ibly simple but it’s also incredibly versatile as you can make everything from boule’s, rolls, baguettes, epis, pizzas, and pan loaves. 2. Cover and place in your refrigerator for 6-12 hours. You want it to rise about 50% or from 1 quart of dough to 1.5 This recipe is essentially failproof and has been tested by dozens of people with incredible results time and time again. quarts. It will work fine if the dough rises as little as 30% or as much 100% but 50% is the sweet spot. If your fermenta- The key is not to rush anything, so let time do most of the work for you. Use a thermometer to keep track of the vari- tion gets stuck because of poor yeast or cold temp you can always add time and warm to move it along. The degree ous temperatures involved. Learn the simplest and most effective way to achieve that perfect burnished toffee crust! of rise is the most important indicator of dough maturity.

The process is as simple and elegant as French bread itself. Stir together the 4 ingredients in a 2-4 quart bowl, cover and place in the fridge for 6-12 hours. Take the dough out and shape it into a loaf, placing it in your proofing basket or 3. Once your primary fermentation is complete turn your dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently pat loaf pan, and then return it to the fridge for 6-12 hours to slow rise (or put it on your counter for about 1.5 hours). This out excess gas allowing some to stay in the dough. Fold and roll the dough into a round or a log depending on your long, slow fermentation and slow rising gives the bread its fantastic flavor, incredible crust, and extended keeping desired shape or be as creative as you like. Place in your proofing basket. quality. When the loaf has risen, preheat your oven to 450 for 25 minutes and bake until perfectly browned and 200 degrees in the center. 4. Cover your shaped loaf and return to the fridge for it long, slow final rise. It needs this time to fully develop all it’s Once you are familiar with the process, each step will take less than five minutes, so the active time is under 15 min- potential character and unlock it optimum keeping and eating quality. utes. While this loaf can be finished in as little as 12 hours, start to finish, giving it extra time will increase the flavoral and textural components. This also allows tremendous flexibility and ease in your schedule for each active step. Mix in it in the morning, shape it in the evening, and bake it the next morning. Or mix it in the evening, shape it in the morn- 5. 30 minutes prior to baking pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees. ing, and bake it in the afternoon or evening. The second schedule suggested here is best for your first attempts be- Slash and load your fully risen loaf on a sheet pan, in your loaf pan, or onto your baking stone and toss 3 ounces of cause you can monitor the final rise a little more closely during the day than in the middle of the night. It also creates a water onto the bottom of your oven being careful not to get any on the glass door. wider baking window, creating increased flexibility for folks with busy schedules.

6. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the crust is a rich mahogany and the temperature ion the center is 200 degrees. Ingredients: 1lb 5oz flour ½ spT Instant Yeast 2 Tsp fine sea salt 2 cups water at 90 degrees 7. Cool for a few seconds and then tear in!! The common idea that a loaf can be ruined by cutting in too soon is sim- (You may need to adjust the water temperature to correct for very hot conditions in the summer or cold conditions in the winter but 90 is a good ply untrue and works against pleasure and satisfaction. When a loaf comes out of the oven it is fully cooked or in starting place and tends to work for about 8 months of the year.) technical terms the gel has set. The thing to be careful of is wrapping it up while it is cooling which would trap the steam being released and make the crust soggy and encourage mold growth. I believe the misnomer is a confusion between these problems. Too see the video tutorial I amde abthis recipe go to localgrain.oirg/frenchbread...... )!

Ancient Traditions and our Human Origins How Cooking Made us Human and Farming brought about civilization It’s easy to take for granted the food systems we engage in on a daily basis. In order to fully appreciate and understand our food traditions we “Fossil evidence indicates that this dependence arose not just tens of thousands of years ago, or even have to first understand the origins of our humanity. As I’ll explain, They a few hundred thousand, but right back at the beginning of our time on earth, at the start of human are actually one and the same. Humans all the way back to our ancient evolution, by the habiline that became homo erectus. Brillat Savarin and Symons were right to say ancestors of nearly two million years ago, The habilines began to eat in- that we have tamed nature with fire. We should indeed pin our humanity on cooks.” creasing amounts of cooked food due to the enormous survival and pro- creative advantages of eating cooked food and their ability to leverage Richard Wrangham - Anthropological Biologist, Harvard University this connection. In order to fully understand the heritage of our ancient and heirloom grains first you need to understand what makes us human eventually homo sapiens without cooking because the only way a human or rather, what made us human. can yield enough energy from food to support the enormous energy hungry brains we have developed is to cook our food. Our teeth , jaws and diges- Our ancient ancestors 2.5 million year ago were a small partly upright tive systems were able to grow much smaller while our brains grew bigger. great ape known as Australopithecus. They had split from what would be- Cooked food needed much less chewing and digesting. Cooking food yields come our gorilla cousins 6 million years before and as they developed the on average twice the energy compared with eating raw foods and is the only ability to use and then make tools they evolved into homo habilis the first logical explanation for the growth of the astoundingly large human brain and of the great apes referred to as homo classified in the same genus as we emergence of humans therefore. We are the cooking ape. are. This is debated with fervor because homo habilis or “human handy- man” was very similar to Australopithecus. Except for their intentional It is most likely that for thousands of years it was a lucky accident like most manufacturing of large quantities of stone knives and a small increase in great discoveries from the prehistoric world. Fires burned across the savan- overall size they are largely quite similar. It is the evolution to homo erec- nah lit by a lightning strike or started from the lava seems in east central tus arguably the first “true human” as not only was his size substantially africa. After these fires burned out in their wake they would leave behind larger but his brain size in proportion to his body size was nearly doubled! charred fruits, nuts, seeds, bugs and even entire roasted animals both big What was responsible for this enormous increase in size not only of body and small. Our ancient ancestors, australopithecus, like the much noted but our extremely unusually large brain size. The answer according to “Lucy” would wander through the burnout and get fat on the high calorie, Harvard’s Anthropological biologist Richard Wrangham is cooking. Humans efficiently digested cooked foods. Over hundreds of thousands of years they are the cooking ape. And while it’s true that without homo habilis and the gradually began to not only seek out and wait for this to naturally occur but development of tool making we may not have have learned to cook but to eventually take the raw ingredients and place them on or next a fire to the tools were habilis, cooking birthed homo erectus. The first of our an- produce the same result. A highly beneficial and life altering food source. cient ancestors that could walk into a store today without animal control being phoned. He could certainly be fitted for a suit. Control of fire clearly took a long time to master but the benefits were obvi- ous and profound. Our brains grew and grew the more we cooked our food. The most important discoveries of humankind have largely been foresight- The adoption of the stone tools required for meat eating and hunting only ful response to naturally occurring phenomenon. In other words when hu- explains the evolutionary shift from australopithecus to habiline and not mans experience natural phenomena they can comprehend, experiment, habiline to Homo Erectus. Eating raw meat...even lots of it doesn’t yield and learn to leverage natural occurrences for there benefit. In “Catching enough energy to sustain a human in a fully reproductive state. When mod- Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human” Harvard’s leading anthropological ern humans eat even mostly raw foods, women Lose their menstruation and biologist explains that without cooking food our knife wielding ancestor men have greatly diminished sex drive and physical performance. Weight Homo habilis(Our first ancestor to make large amounts of stone tools, loss, depression, and immune system function all suffer. Cooking made us simply could not have evolved into homo erectus and human but our ancient grandmothers gardens eventually led to Farms and gave us civilization. Without cooking there are no people. No other creature on earth does this. In fact we are so adapted to a diet that includes largely cooked food that when modern day humans try to sustain a raw food diet reproductive capacity essentially goes away and health is greatly compromised. For these reasons a raw diet will never be adopted by humans but There is a new food system and it could lead to the development of a new species of human. It is the modern industrial processed food diet. Increasingly humans have handed over the 2.5 million year old tradition of growing and cooking our food within our communities we have handed this job over to industrial manufacturing of “new foods”. These “new foods” are profoundly different from our traditional foods and for the first time in human history we are seeing the brain of Homo Sapiens actually shrinking quickly since the adoption of the modern or SAD(standard American Diet)diet. It is certainly the cause of a massive health care crisis in our country and around the world. Perhaps the new species will be named Homo Pestilens that assumes these people will be able to survive the adaptation to these highly processed industrial foods. It’s not looking good though.

The Journey from Garden to Farm

Without consistent surplus food there can be no civilization. In order for people to devote their time towards pur- It was the same process that allowed agriculture to develop. As men and women gathered seeds, fruits and roots suits other than gathering, and eating food and procreating(which is what most organisms do almost exclusively), to bring to their campsite(to cook) naturally they would try to capitalize on harvesting as much of whatever was the society has to produce, store and cook enough food to support “artisans”, “engineers” or “scientists” and the available at the time, especially if it kept well. As foods were eaten, pits and anything that wasn’t the best would development of the related industries. It was the food system revolution known as The Dawn of Agriculture that is be discarded into a pile around the campsite. As sprouting roots were discarded they too would send shoots into the basis for civilization. But the first and most essential food system revolution was to cook our food. This gave the ground and new roots would grow. This unintentional compost pile would evolve into the first garden as it be- birth to our genus Homo from our closest ape ancestor the Habiline, and eventually led to our species Sapiens. came rich with organic matter and nutrients and the various viable seeds and pits that ended up in it would inevi- tably grow just as it does naturally in your compost pile at home. It wasn’t for another 1.8 million years of stone tools and fire roasted foods until we showed up on the scene. Homo Sapiens, or “wise human” named by us of course in honor of our humility. We took tool making and fire roasting Grass seed were one of the best finds for prehistoric man. They were nutrient and calorie dense and they kept food to new levels and eventually would discover the process of cultivating gardens…..? very well compared to all their other food sources. Fruits and meats rotted quickly, roots sprouted and greened easily but grass seeds were hard and dry and could even sometimes be kept a whole year or more as long as they Farming was actually the first form of industry and allowed the groundwork to be laid for the industrial revolution didn’t get infested with bugs or rodents. When they did get infested the grass seeds, or grains, would be discard- that would mushroom nearly ten thousand thousand years later. Tool making, cooking, gardening, and farming are ed off to the pile of failed food and inevitably it would grow and produce more seeds in 6-12 months. These would the quintessential forms of human technology and perhaps of humanity itself since they are so intrinsic to who we be easier to gather than grass seeds further away and naturally man((probably women actually) began to har- are. Cooking and farming were the first forms of true human industry. Nothing more remarkably separates and con- vest, plant and tend these seeds. There was wheat in the fertile crescent, rice in the asiatic areas, and corn in the nects us to the rest of life on earth. While our use and impact on other life and material resources make us increas- Americas. It is no accident that this happened to numerous different grass seeds in numerous different places in ingly connected our broader feelings of connection seem to be diminishing. It’s a fascinating paradox. the world by numerous cultures. It of course happened for all the same reasons. When man cultivated grains acci- dentally his fortunes grew and when he did it on purpose the return was many fold. To cultivate a process through trial and error is how all life evolves but we humans have taken the awareness of this process and used our understanding of cause and effect and our especially heightened abilities of observation, ex- For gardens to become farms there was one missing piece. The Yoke. Animals would be harnessed to greatly perimentation, and information leveraging ability to essentially(at least for now) win the evolutionary race. We can reduce the amount of laborers needed to grow food. It really happened very naturally. We’ll discover the same manipulate the ecosystem around us so much more profoundly than any other life that we find ourselves verging on pattern with the development with traditional foods. Bread, Tortillas, tempeh, Nan, tofu, etc...Are all the result of too powerful. Genetic engineering, carbon pollution, nuclear technologies all threaten our own existence and yet we many happy accidents leveraged by numerous intelligent people and communities to improve their lives and the wield them with abandon. It is also quite ironic that the technology that lead to our existence(controlled fire) is now chances of their offspring. I call this the thrust of the technological tipping point and it all began with our food. I so impactful it is causing global warming. suppose you are what you eat...yeah? Yes quite literally. The Origins, History and types of Wheat find the description of how wild emmer seeds itself.

The Ancient Wild Wheat Grasses of the Middle East Another cross this time between emmer and a wild grass gave us durum wheat(- Einkorn - Diploid Wheat - trituicum monococcum - Eaten for at least 45,000 years by triticum durum) (most commonly used for pasta in modern times) and then a cross humans between durum wheat and another wild grass gave us “bread wheat” or “common wheat”, or triticum aestivum. While there were other species of wheat that were part The first wheat(genus triticum species dicoccoides) gathered, eaten and eventually of the transition from tetraploid wheats to hexaploid wheats none are in cultivation any cultivated by humans was einkorn(triticum monococcum). A wild grass growing in the longer and they were minor crops that never had widespread adoption. regions between what is modern day Turkey, Irag and Israel. Cooked Einkorn residue was found on the tooth of a neanderthal man who lived 45,000 years ago and recent- ly a very large store of einkorn grains were found in cave in Israel that date back to Modern Bread Wheat 23,000 years ago. While it has previously been believed(and taught in schools) that only neolithic peoples(beginning 10,000 years ago) would have been skilled enough Triticum aestivum - Hexaploid wheat - Earliest evidence dating from 6400-6200 bce to harvest grass seeds and eat them this is obviously not the case. Einkorn is a hulled wheat and that means that the seeds gathered by hand would have pounded be- Triticum Spelta or spelt wheat was an early hexaploid wheat still popular for breadmak- tween two rocks to remove the hulls at which point they could simply be munched on ing but is not free threshing like common bread wheat so it requires extra processing raw(pretty tasty although not my first choice) or parched on the hearth floor to double and therefore more expense to go from field to plate. the energetic yield, or pounded further into a flour that would then be mixed with wa- ter to make a dough that could be cooked on the hearth. It is important to note that Italians have a particular affinity for and naming scheme for ancient wheats. Farro Grande refers to spelt, farro medio refers to emmer and farro This actually makes a lot more sense than the previously believed story. Farming piccolo refers einkorn. I often see “farro” in supermarkets and it is almost always over- wasn’t “discovered” by people ten thousand years ago. It was that the gardens they priced spelt posing as emmer. had been cultivating for tens of thousands of years at various campsites finally became so efficient and produced such large storable food surpluses that seasonal movement Modern bread wheat comes in many varieties. The USDA National Small Grains Collec- to find sufficient food was no longer desirable compared to a single farming site where tion maintains over 40,000 varieties of just this species of wheat and they are grouped better tools, buildings and larger more sophisticated communities to could work to- by 5 primary categories. Color(red or white), planting season(winter or spring), hard- gether to make life much easier and hence the explosion in population, society, and ness/softness(soft or hard), hulled vs. free threshing and bearded or not. what we have come to know as civilization. The cultures and tools that have “freed us” from nomadic living were in full bloom. Typically in the share each year we have einkorn, emmer, spelt,

Emmer and the Neolithic Age of Wheat So now when you are confronted with the various types of wheat available you’ll know Emmer -Tetraploid wheat - Triticum Dicoccum - Earliest archaeological findings from all you need to make the right selection. 8,800bce

As einkorn was being domesticated it crossed with another wild grass and gave us em- mer(triticum dicoccum), Our first hard wheat. We call it “hard wheat literally because it was harder than einkorn but that term is also associated with significantly more gluten and therefore easier bread making and general improvements in texture caused by trapping more gas and making lighter bread. 14,400 Years of Bread

Neanderthals went through a demo- graphic crisis in Western Europe that seems to coincide with climate change An incredibly important and illuminating discovery was made just this past month (at the time of this writing) in perfect syn- that resulted in a period of extreme cold chronicity with the writing of this book. In the Black desert of Jordan in an archeological site where an ancient tribe known in Western Europe. “The fact that Nean- as the Naftufians were baking flatbreads made of wild einkorn, oats, barley and club rush tubers on there hearth stones in derthals in Western Europe were nearly the center of their dwellings where their fires burned. extinct, but then recovered long before they came into contact with modern Previously it has been has been thought that the development of large scale farming about ten thousand years ago led to humans came as a complete surprise to the development of bread but it was likely quite the opposite. I believe also that the presumption that the development of us,” said Love Dalén, associate professor large scale agriculture happened at the same time as the first cultivation of seeds will also be proven incorrect in time. I at the Swedish Museum of Natural His- propose instead that the cultivation of seeds and the origins of agriculture is far more ancient than 10 or even 15 thousand tory in Stockholm. If so, this would indi- years. Gardens and the intentional cultivation of seeds, trees leaves and tubers goes back hundreds of thousands of years if cate that Neanderthals may have been not longer. It just as unlikely that the adoption of farming led to the seeds we needed just like it is unlikely that the adoption very sensitive to climate change.[45] of farming led to the food we needed. It is also important to note that while Evolution is driven the other way. When we find an advantage it leads to the development of new solutions through ex- bread is often made from wheat, histori- perimentation to serve that need or further develop the advantage. Similar to how gathering and cooking naturally lead to cally and evolutionarily it has often been gardening. As soon as you make a pile of your scraps and seeds that are discarded into a pile new plants and seeds, and made with various grains, sometimes leaves, and fruits appear sometimes in days, and always with the season. I propose that this began happening millions of in combination and sometimes without years ago and gardening/agriculture developed gradually alongside the gathering, chopping and cooking of our foods as we We know that Neanderthals ate cooked wheat at all as in the case of tortillas, progressed from Habilines to homo erectus and eventually to sapiens. Perhaps Sapiens biggest advantage was his combined grains dating back at least 45,000 years injera, barley cakes and other flatbreads skill for gardening and cooking. This may have made him the most adaptable, efficient and successful human allowing him with geletanized wild emmer starch- from around the world and throughout to survive the dramatic changes in our ecosystem that our human relatives could not survive. It will be fascinating to see if es found on there teeth. There is also history and time. the Genetic and archeological findings in the coming years will support this theory. I believe it will. archeological evidence that they used ceramics to boil there food over fire.

This charred bread crumb from the Naftufian It has been shown to be made from about fire site shows that not only bread was made 80% emmer with the rest a mix of wild before Large settlements but that it may have oats, barley and club Rush tubers been the driving force to settle down and grown the grains to make bread Re-Creating the oldest Known bread in the world

Naftufian Wild Emmer Flatbread

Ancient Naftufian Bread - Makes 2 , 8 inch flatbreads or 4 six inch

While this bread can be made with just einkorn and a modern oven for sim- plicity’s sake here we will make the most authentic recreation possible. This will include Einkorn, oats, barley, and club rush tubers. The four ingredients found in the naftufian Bread. We will also bake this on a traditional round hearth with a live fire to get the full experience!

While they may have ground the grain by pounding them between stones Directions: dry and then added water I would say it is much more likely that they soaked the grains in water first making them much soften before grinding/ 1. Soak all your small grains for 24 hours in 2 cups water pounding. Also while dry seeds and flour are prone to blowing around wet 2. Mash your grains and tubers with mortar and pestle or process in food processor seeds stay in place as the dough begins to form immediately and holds 3. Allow your dough to develop as much flavor and fermentation as you like. The longer it sits at higher tempera- things together as the dough is worked on. Emmer being the most glutenis tures the more tangy and yeasty it will get. of these ingredients probably formed the sticky, elastic base to hold this all 4. Preheat oven to 500 degrees 1 hour before the bake. together. 5. If you are going all out primal primal like us place a 2-3 foot diameter stone in the center of a 4-5 ft fireplace. 6. Build a fire around 3 sides of the stone and preheat until the center of the stone is about 350-400 degrees. Allow this dough to ferment as long as you like and don’t be afraid to exper- It should be very hard to hold your hand in the center of the stone several inches from it. Trial and error can be iment with different amounts of time. Generally the longer it sits the more used to figure out your firing strategy and preheat time or an infrared thermometer can be used to monitor flavor it will develop from the fermentation activity. Yeast and lactobacillus more precisely although obviously not traditionally. Also a litlle flour can be thrown down on the hearth stone will begin feeding as soon as you start soaking your grains and will real- and should brown within a minute or two if it is hot enough. ly kicki into gear with warmth. If you want to favor acidity keep the dough 7. Using flour to dust the outsides stretch your dough into a thin wheel shape. Ideally about an 1-th-14inch thick warm(over 80 degrees as that’s what lactobacillus prefers. If you want it and whatever diameter that yields. yeastier keep the temp around 70-75 degrees. 8. Once your “Oven” is pre heated toss a small amount of flour on the hearth to prevent sticking and toss your flatbread onto the hearth. Cook until well browned and the dough is set. 9. If you are finding that your stone isn’t getting hot enough place a few hot coals on the stone for several min- Ingredients: utes to add some heat to the surface.

Emmer 1lb The naftufians stones were 3 feet in diameter which probably worked well size wise but I am using a diameter Oats 3oz closer to 2 feet so I don’t have to build quite such a large fire. Barley 3oz Club Rush Tubers(tapioca or potato are good substitutes) 2oz Sea Salt 2 tsp Water 2 cups

Building Community With great Friends and Redeemer wheat sesame bagels

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead

Families and couples form the core of our community. With out their commit- ment to the harvest, and the farmers there would be no CSA. In the first year I had envisioned growing 25 shares for 25 families but more than 90 people signed up! This project was destined to serve more people. we now have over 400 members and distributions in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut with more to come around the region.

I met Seth and Bethany Seeger in 2007 when we moved the bakery to Main St. in Amherst. Seth and I were both entering Fatherhood for the first time and had a mutual passion for Au- thentic, inspiring foods and positive community building. We began to work together as Seth of- fered to help and I would never turn down help from someone as brilliant, and fun as Seth. When a community grows out of a connection like this it has a powerful magnetism. No wonder we have so many members!

Ever since, Seth has the not only worn many hats to help out and has been the engineering backbone for the program. When you start and run a business so unique you have to create unique custom solutions the the challenges that rise. Seth and I have a special problem solving relationship where often when neither of us could solve the problem alone but together Thes guys are involved in all kinds of community building but of particular note they have created a micro our complementary skills leverage each others co-housing community with another couple and raise goats, chickens, tree fruit and vegetables. They served for a multiplied sum and exceptional solutions. there bagels with homade goats cheese with milk from there heard and a home made chocolate hazelnut spread. So special! You simply can’t eat better than this...great friends, and food so authentic and satisfying you’ll be dreaming of the next time before you get out to your car.

After boiling for 1.5 minutes Seth places the bagels on a baking tray and sprinkles with his favorite toppings. Sesame today! Breaking Down The Bagel Boil or not...Learn How great bagels are built

The bagel or “Beigel” (meaning ring) originated in the Jewish communities of Poland with historical records dating back to 1610. The bagel was one of the earliest reads that used the improving quali- ty of the ovens to bake thicker pieces of dough without being left with raw dough in the middle. This was important for two reasons; One, as ovens became more predictable and consistent it became possible to allow the loaves to “grow taller” allowing a larger quantity of bread in a single bake in- creasing efficiency significantly. Also these little loaves were more transportable and durable than flatbreads that were more prone to falling apart.

Also, because these bakers had not developed the technique to steam there ovens during the bake they employed boiling to help the bagels rise without bursting and to add an appealing sheen to the rings of bread. Also because these were more novel than flatbreads their value would have been increased for the bakers for that sake as well making them very appealing to make. They were so popular they became not only a staple of polish cuisine but slavic cuisine as a whole.

While many different versions of bagels are made around the world they have been particularly popular in New York and montreal. Despite their distinct styles, New york being chewy and doughy, Montreal more crispy and lighter with a larger hole in the middle to maximize 360 degree crispiness. While I personally like them both and welcome bagel style variation to suite the taste and tools of the community they are being made by, I grew up on the chewy, doughy, NY style and in this region that is what is generally expected so this recipe is based on that style.

While boiling is certainly part of the NY style bagel is is also certainly not necessary. It has been such an effective marketing strategy to claim that the boiling is what gives the bagels there characteris- tic doughy chewy. While this is great marketing rhetoric as proved by the widespread and ferocious attachment to this view the simple fact is that if you take the same bagel dough and do everything exactly the same except boil some and don’t boil others. in a blind taste test samplers can’t tell the difference between a steamed bagel and a boiled bagel. How do I know this. When I was doing the research and development for the bagels we produced at Wheatberry we did side by side compari- sons and found the difference to berather small. This actually makes complete sense.

The inside a a bagel or any bread for that matter isn’t significantly affected by the medium delivering the heat so the inside of a bagel that is steamed versus boiled is nearly identical while the crust is the part that makes contact with the cooking environment affecting it outcome more. A boiled bagel has a slightly sweeter crust do to the honey or malt in the boiling water. What truly defines a bagel other than the ring shape is understanding that these techniques arose from the need to make the most of limited resources and technology for the best outcome. It is a great demonstration of early commercial baking and improved ovens making more types of higher quality bread available.

Now that I’ve got a whole bunch of boiling bagel rhetoric devotees panties in a bunch keep in mind that not only am I a direct descendent of the jews who created bagels but my family has a multi generational tradition of home making our bagels(sometimes boiled and sometimes steamed). On top of that I have over 15 years of professional baking experience including the production of tens of thousands of bagels enjoyed by every single one with nary a single complaint. So I guess I am point- ing out that I am the expert...not you!! Haha...it’s ok don’t feel bad. You are in very good hands. Bakers hands. The keys to getting the bagel right lie in the stiffness of the dough. This is what lends the chewy dense crumb of a great morning bagel. The stiffness is also critical if you’re going to boil them, because it makes them less fragile and prone to deflating while moving into the pot. They may be a bit toothsome, but also yielding, with a subtle sweetness from a dash of sugar or honey in the dough.

Recipe

Make about a dozen bagels – Whole Wheat or sifted 20 minutes active time

Minimum 2 hours start to finish but works best as an overnight dough.

Ingredients

1lb 5oz whole wheat flour (or 1lb 6oz sifted) 1/2 Tsp instant yeast 2 Tsp salt 2 Tbsp Sugar (or 3 Tbsp Honey) 15oz water at 90 degrees

Directions

Scale dry ingredients and mix together before adding the water. Warm the water to 90 degrees and mix with the dry. The dough should be a bit stiff and require a little hand kneading to fully incorporate all the flour. Like a soft clay consistency Knead for 2-3 minutes in the bowl Allow to double in size or place in fridge to use the following day Portion dough into 3 oz squares and then roll into 10 inch strands After you roll each strand, wrap around your hand with the seam under your palm and roll until even and sealed

If you just want to bake them and skip the boil, top them now If you are going to boil, top them as they come out of the boil Place on a baking sheet dusted with flour to proof (rise) until risen 50% Boil in a single layer 1 minute per side and then place on baking tray with silpat or parchment Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees

Passions for Real Food

From the day we moved to Main Street, one of our primary objectives had been to create Over the next year, while I immersed myself in growing wheat cultivars, perfecting ag- a genuine farm-to-table operation. We were tired of seeing places advertise local foods ricultural production techniques, and conducting trials, I began to realize that what was and then find none on the menu or a single token local product. We would actually have really important was not just wheat or bakeries. It was about all of the heritage grains local ingredients “whenever available” (the token way to say we want to profit from the that we’ve lost to modern industrial and economic forces that prevail when production is idea but not deliver it) and in The Pioneer Valley they’re almost always available. All of hidden and costs are externalized. The community of local food eaters, foodies, and sus- our meats, cheeses, and dairy were produced locally. More than 90 percent of our veg- tainable food initiatives needed access to all of our heritage grains, and the creation of a etables were grown locally, but interestingly, grain was hard to fit into this picture. I’ll Community Supported Agriculture program based around grains and beans struck me as explain. essential and thrilling. Thus, the Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA was born. Some of my closest advisers thought I was crazy but I knew in my entire being that I was on to some- When we started, in 2005, certified organic flour from Champlain Valley Milling (NY) or thing. Lindley Mills, NC (the mill company that makes King Arthur organic flours, whose con- ventional flours are produced by ConAgra) was about 15 cents a pound. By 2007 it was When you know who grows your food, and they know the people they’re growing it for, 25 cents a pound. Virtually overnight, in February 2008, it went to more than 90 cents the whole equation fills with value for everyone involved. Meaningful personal relation- a pound. So what did this have to do with our business? Everything, it turns out. It cost ships develop. Farmers get higher prices per pound while at the same time reducing between 75 cents and $1.50 a pound to produce small-scale organic grains for wholesale. waste. Consumers have access to affordable foods that are otherwise unavailable, hard Suddenly, in 2008, local grains were no longer many times the price of their commodity to get, or very expensive. My role has been to demonstrate how to easily, healthfully, and counterparts, but nearly the same. joyfully you can integrate these ideas and foods into your kitchen. It’s my labor of love.

Aꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ɪᴅᴇᴀ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀ ɢʀᴀɪɴꜱ CSA took root, I was filled with hope and determina- Fᴀᴄɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ᴍᴀꜱꜱɪᴠᴇ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇꜱ, I asked myself, “Where is the opportunity? tion. In the economic chaos, I believed my response made fundamental sense. In the first How could we turn these disruptions into positive movement for the future?” There were year, my wheat and other small grain and dry bean trials had been very successful. Yields a few farms growing a small amount of wheat, but there wasn’t a lot going on in our im- and quality were good on numerous varieties and could underpin the production for the mediate area. I asked a farm to grow wheat for us, but when I tried to get seed for them CSA. I developed promotional materials needed to support the sale of shares, and built a I learned that wheat seed was scarce. There were only one or two modern varieties avail- website with the help of my good friend and co-conspirator Seth Seeger. We connected it able on the market, and it wasn’t the type of wheat we needed. We wanted the genuine to PayPal and began taking sign-ups for the inaugural season. I’d envisioned a five-acre article, not something dreamed up in a laboratory or corporate boardroom. Real heritage mix of 10 grain and bean crops (wheat, oats, corn, barley, rye, spelt, emmer, flax, Tiger wheat was all that would do. But where had all of our heritage wheats gone? Eye, Jacob’s Cattle, and Arikara beans) that would provide 25 shares for people in my immediate community. Almost immediately, 50 people signed up, and by the end of the The impact of replacing our heritage grains with monocultures of hybridized and ge- enrollment season we had 90 grain CSA shareholders. netically modified grains, heavily processed and treated with innumerable untraceable chemicals throughout the production life cycle, is uncertain. On the one hand, we have While this was our local response, we were far from alone. As we poured through the web heritage or landrace grains on which tens of thousands of years of civilization are based, looking for resources and connections to help guide our process, we were stunned by how and on the other, some neo-Frankenstein laboratory modified product with little estab- many others were working on this front. There were burgeoning heritage wheat efforts in lished benefit, but enormous and possibly unretractable consequences. We do know that France and elsewhere in Europe, as well as in the Pacific Northwest and Alberta, Canada. our country faces an unprecedented health care crisis. The epidemic of obesity, increased Vermont, Maine, and New York all supported efforts like ours. There were the Northeast incidence of heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and cancer all stem from our unhealthy Grain Growers Association, spearheaded by the University of Vermont, and The Bread diet, which includes our over-processed GMO grains as the basic “feedstock” for food pro- Lab forming at Washington State University. Even beer was on the line, as malted barley duction is the primary component, and if folks were going to grow their own bread, you better believe they were going to do the same with their beer. This was going to be an incredible There are hundreds of thousands of varieties and many different species of wheat. As an adventure. avid grower of heirloom tomatoes, salad greens, and field squash, I wanted the heirloom equivalents for wheat. They were not available through seed catalogs, but it turns out that the USDA National Small Grains Collection holds tens of thousands of wheat seed germplasms as well as genetic tissues for most other small grains. I began the process of wheat trialling to find “landrace” wheats that would grow well in the soil and climate of The Pioneer Valley. The USDA sent me many small packets of about 30 seeds each, and I began to grow many tiny patches of wheat and other grains to find what would work best in our soils and climate. Lazy Acres Farm - Hadley, MA

Alan Zuchowski

Growing Methods: Organic

Crops grown for the CSA:

Red Lammas Wheat

Nothstine Dent Corn

Popocorn

Beans