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The Common Grain Alliance hopes to strengthen the supply of fresh, local grains like those Sub Rosa strives to use in its bakery creations, including this sesame rye bread. (Photo by Kate Thompson courtesy Sub Rosa Bakery)
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Photo by Kate Thompson courtesy Sub Rosa Bakery
The smell of buttery croissants and baking bread curled through the air as professional bakers Heather Coiner and Michael Grantz awaited their creations in a warm kitchen this past February. The windows had fogged over where the heat of the brick oven met the cold air against the glass, and conversation drifted toward grains, as it so often does. Both bakers prioritize local grains in their baking, but though agriculture is the largest private industry in Virginia, grain grown here primarily goes to the commodities market, meaning it’s not typically consumed locally. An idea started to rise: Virginia needed a means to strengthen its own “grain economy,” the system of small farmers, millers and bakers working with locally grown grain on a daily basis.
While the pastries cooled on a rack next to the oven, Coiner and Grantz started putting a fine point on their plan to create an organization that could educate and advocate for the cause. It would be called the Common Grain Alliance. “There’s such a focus on local foods in Virginia, but not on grain,” Coiner continues. “People talk about their pizza toppings, but what about the dough? It should be part of the discussion.”
Tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains of Roseland, Little Hat Creek Farm is a collaborative bakery and farm that Coiner operates with her husband, Ben Stowe, an ecological vegetable farmer. For her naturally leavened breads, Coiner sources grains such as rye, buckwheat and wheat from Keenbell Farms, Greater Richmond Grains, Grapewood Farms and Woodson’s Mill in Virginia, as well as Carolina Ground in North Carolina. She says, for now at least, North Carolina is part of the “local” picture. The state has a longer history of growing and milling its own grains, creating a model that the CGA, for which Coiner is board chair, can follow. (Grantz, who runs Great Day Gardens in Forest with his wife, Arden Jones, is on the board as well.)
Evrim Dogu of Richmond's Sub Rosa Bakery, also a CGA board member, says that the first time he ever experienced the difference fresh grain makes in bread was a revelation in flavor. “It’s like I’ve eaten a thousand pounds of bread, and yet I’ve never eaten bread before.” After that epiphany at Farm & Sparrow Bakery in Asheville, North Carolina, Dogu knew that he would prioritize fresh, local grains in his own baking. “From the very beginning, we planned on having a mill. There’s a fresher flavor and more depth of flavor.”
That’s because, as Dogu explains, “Stone milling releases the aromatics of the wheat, as well as fine pieces of bran. That’s fiber and the tannic, earthy flavor of wheat. It’s not that different from wine. If you press the juice and strain it completely, you’ll have a one-note flavor, whereas if you include the leaves or skin of the grapes or even the stems, then you get these much more interesting flavors. That’s why we started milling.”
The pursuit of flavor connected Dogu to the other members of the CGA. “When you have a mill, you suddenly have the tool of production that allows you to connect with very small-scale farmers that are growing grain. It opens your palate to these different types of grain that you wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
Growing these grains is something that CJ Isbell of Keenbell Farm knows intimately. A third-generation farmer, he produces three kinds of corn on his family farm that he sells to millers and distillers, as well as several small-grain varieties for specialty millers and bakers. On 350 acres in Rockville, he raises chickens and pigs and grows crops of non-GMO heritage grains. Those are the cash crops, but the name of the game for Isbell is sustainability. Keenbell Farms uses a no-till approach, employing cover crops and crop rotation to foster soil that will be fruitful for generations to come.
“The term ‘sustainability’ gets thrown around a lot, but for us it means being financially sustainable and environmentally sustainable,” says Isbell. “I’ve got kids, and they’re going to be the fourth generation, and this is going to be there for them.”
Growing grain the right way is all about the long term. For Isbell, the CGA connects his farm to buyers who understand the scale and economics of that type of farming — buyers like Heather Coiner, Evrim Dogu and others.
“From the day we opened, Sub Rosa has been sourcing grains from a variety of places as close to Richmond as possible.” Dogu says. “The CGA allows us to find more farmers and create substantial buying power to make it more possible, as well as expand and explore other grains that could thrive here. The hope is that it will re-create a Virginia-based grain economy that is farmer-focused, producer-inspired and customer-connected.”
The Common Grain Alliance launches this month, with information and resources on its website, as well as ways for the public to engage.
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