Urban Grains

After many months of hard work, planning and coordination, I’m delighted to announce that Urban Grains, Vancouver’s first community supported agriculture program for grain, is now underway. (Edit: The timing of this announcement feels rather serendipitous. Shortly after writing this post we were contacted by Jim, our grain farmer, to let us know that he had just today finished planting the last of the wheat.)

URBAN GRAINS: THE DETAILS

There will be exactly 200 shares, each consisting of approximately 20 kg of whole wheat flour, milled from three types of wheat: winter wheat, Triticale and hard red spring. All of the grain will be grown locally by one farmer, Jim Grieshaber-Otto, and his family at Cedar Isle Farm in Agassiz, B.C. Roughly 100 acres in size, the farm has been organically managed for years, but Jim is currently in the process of seeking organic certification, meaning the official status of the grain will technically be “transitional organic.” (While we believe the CSA model, which fosters a direct relationship between producers and consumers, renders the issue of certification moot, Jim said that this year’s program gave him the “kick in the pants” that he needed to finally seek certification.)

Processsing/Distribution

After the grain has been harvested in the late summer/early fall, it will be cleaned on-site at Jim’s farm and then shipped to Anita’s Mill in Chilliwack for milling and bagging. It will then continue on to Vancouver where it will be dropped off at a central, convenient location (still to be determined) for pick-up by CSA members.

Cost

Each share will cost $80 ($1.80/lb), plus an additional $10 to raise money for purchasing cleaning equipment for the CSA, bringing the total to $90 per share. A full $1/lb of every purchase will be paid directly to Jim, the grower. A per-pound rate like that is practically unheard of in the grain industry. Given that this program is a pilot project supplying a product that is nearly impossible to find in Vancouver at the retail level, we think that this price is quite fair.

We’ve even done some comparison shopping: bulk, organic, non-local whole wheat is currently selling for roughly $1.99 per lb or $88.44 for 20 kg. If you’re purchasing different kinds of wheat in smaller, bagged sizes like we are providing, you can easily pay more than $120. That means that for the price of a share in Urban Grains members get organic, local flour, for about $1.50 more than you would pay at the store for bulk, AND they are supporting regional grain growing by the inclusion of the equipment fee. We are very proud to be offering such competitive prices.

For anyone who cannot afford the $90 or is unsure of their ability to fully use 20 kg of milled flour (remember, 10 kg is typically the largest size one finds in a grocery store), we highly recommend they split the share with another friend or family.

Also Included

Included in the CSA package will be a certificate indicating the member’s involvement in Vancouver’s first grain CSA, the opportunity to visit Cedar Isle Farm in Agassiz during the summer to meet Jim and see the grain in person (additional, reasonable costs will apply for transportation), as well as on-going updates from us at Urban Grains regarding the progress of the CSA throughout the year on this blog.

THE CSA MODEL

CSA stands for community supported agriculture. We selected this model because we believe it is ideal for fostering a strong consumer/producer relationship — something severely lacking in conventional agricultural systems — and for supporting local agriculture. This is especially true in regards to local grain – production in B.C. has fallen dramatically in the past half-century and our support is needed to make grain farming a viable option.

It is important to be aware that the CSA model has a degree of risk built into it. As a customer paying the share cost before a finished product is delivered, an investment is being made in the entire process. It is quite possible that because of uncooperative weather shares will not measure a full 20 kg following a sub-par harvest. For example, in Creston, BC’s 2008 grain CSA the recipients expected to receive 100 lbs of grain, but ended up receiving 81 lbs. This risk is inherent to the model – by accepting this condition you are sharing in the uncertainty that farmers face every day as they watch the skies.

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NOTE: As we made clear at the outset, CSA shares are being offered to mailing list subscribers on a first come first serve basis according to the order in which they signed up. Sales are not open to the public at this time, so please do not contact us to sign up if you have not received an email with a specific offer to buy.

It’s been a great deal of work to make this all happen, so we are obviously very proud to finally announce the launch of the program. Thank you for your interest in the CSA and local grain — your tremendous support has been truly inspiring.

If you find yourself in the Victoria area on May 5th, Sharon Rempel of (among many other things) The Garden Institute of BC will be hosting a morning of seed cleaning equipment:

… explore the various types of equipment used to seed, weed, cut, harvest, combine, clean and thresh grain. When we can understand the technology we can start thinking about designing ‘green’ equipment for our ‘local’ food production needs.

May 5, 2009. 9 am to noon. Admission $3 payable to the Society. Gord Taylor and Dave Hopkins from the Saanichton Historical Society will be our guides to the machinery
You can bring your lunch and stay around and visit with the folks after the machinery tour.

Saanich Historical Artifacts Society
7321 Lochside Drive
Saanichton, British Columbia
Canada V8M 1W4
Phone:(250) 652-5522

For more information about the event, contact Sharon Rempel, TGIBC (250) 298-1133, email slrempel@shaw.ca and www.tgibc.org for organization details.

Martin and Ayla speaking at the Weaving Chains event

On Friday evening Martin and I found ourselves dining on pizza and beer and talking about grain. Farm Folk / City Folk hosted the grain-centred “Weaving Chains” event, which brought together a number of local business people and innovators who work on the local grain issue, and at which we were invited to speak. We were privileged to be there alongside the likes of John McKenzie, from Anita’s Mill in Chilliwack, Robert Giardino of the Vancouver-based Heritage Grains Foundation, and our friend Chris Hergesheimer, an SFU masters student who focused his research on south-western BC’s grain community. In addition to dinner and presentations, Robert had a wide range of heritage grains to show off, as well as small mills; there were bike-powered milling demonstrations; and those who attended could buy some of Chris’ flour – some of the only local flour they’re likely to see until our CSA shares are delivered in the fall.

Robert Giardino shows off a home-scale flour mill

Chris's fresh, artisan flour, milled from Vancouver Island-grown wheat

Sadly the light wasn’t too great, so our pictures from the event are rather poor (you’ll just have to take our word that it was a blast!) For everyone who came, thank you so much — we hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did.

In addition to the event re-cap, I need to tell you about a few more very exciting things:

• The official launch of the Urban Grains CSA: we took advantage of our public platform at Friday’s event to officially announce the launch of the CSA. After many months of planning we are pleased to say that we will be sending out share offers to those signed up on our mailing list beginning this week. We will work through the list in order of sign up, until all 200 shares are taken. If you are on the list and are interested in purchasing a share, watch your inbox. The final reveal of purchasing details including price and amounts of each grain included will be posted here after our first offer has gone out.

• Collaboration with Anita’s Mill: We are pleased to announce that Anita’s will be milling Jim’s wheat into flour after harvest time. Before this week we had yet to confirm that they were able to take “transitional” grain at their certified organic mill. It turns out that organic mills are able to process any type of grain – conventional, organic, biodynamic, whatever – as long as their equipment has been sufficiently cleaned before and after each use. On Friday we had the pleasure of meeting John McKenzie, the owner of Anita’s. He and his wife bought the business from Anita herself in 2005, and have since been learning the many ins and outs of running a mill. We were pleased to hear John express his excitement about his company’s role in our CSA.

• We’re purchasing a grain cleaner: Jim got a lead on a high-quality, compact grain cleaning machine in Manitoba and made an offer to the owner. We were still working out how cleaning would happen, so we’re very excited by this find. In order to purchase the machine every share purchased this year will carry a $10 equipment fee. In this way, the CSA members will collectively raise the money for this expensive piece of equipment. It will be owned by Urban Grains and housed at Jim’s farm. We hope that by bringing it to our region more farmers will be able to have access to the machinery needed to explore grain production, thereby strengthening the local food system.

Friday, April 17 (6-9pm, Doors 5:30) Unitarian Church of Vancouver, 949 W 49th Ave (at Oak)
Interested in heritage grains? Growing your own? Buying fresh, local wheat? Join us for a fun, informative evening! Dinner, drinks, a Brian Harris slide show, pedal-powered milling demonstrations, great speakers and more! Learn about Metro Vancouver’s new Urban Grain CSA and take some red fife seeds home!

Join John McKenzie (Anita’s Organic Grain & Flour Mill in Chilliwack) and Suzanne Fielden (Rocky Mountain Flatbread, Vancouver) who support each other in their quest for sustainably grown grain. Robert Giardino of the Heritage Grains Foundation, Martin Twigg and Ayla Harker, the organizers of Vancouver’s own Urban Grains CSA and Chris Hergesheimer, a researcher working with the FarmFolk/CityFolk Society will enlighten guests during an exciting and informative evening focused on re-engaging consumers in the grain/flour/bread process.

ADVANCE TICKETS ONLY $25
Includes dinner, activities, and seeds! Live music by Token Rhyme. Crannog Ales available for sale. Limited seating. Get your tickets early! CALL FARMFOLK AT 604.730.0450. Presented by FarmFolk/CityFolk, Anita’s Organic Grain & Flour Mill, Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co.

When Jim Grieshaber-Otto, a farmer located in Agassiz, originally contacted us in the winter about his interest in our project, we immediately began to dream of the many possibilities he might bring. In the months that have since passed, we’ve cultivated a relationship with him over e-mail and via long phone calls, learning about his farm, his family and his enthusiasm. Over the phone, we agreed that he would be the man to grow the grain that would supply Vancouver’s first locally sourced flour distribution system. And over emails, we discussed details like what exactly he would be growing, how much he’d get paid and who would mill it. Planning progressed smoothly, yet all of these decisions were made without us ever having met in person. So this Wednesday morning when Chris pulled up outside of our house to pick us up, we were eager to make the drive out to Agassiz to finally meet our wheat, and the farmer who would raise it.

Cedar Isle Farm is located in Agassiz, BC, down Highway 1 about 20 minutes past Chilliwack, or about an hour and a half’s drive from Vancouver. We lucked out and had a gorgeous day for the trip – the brightest sunshine we’ve had in weeks – which I’m inclined to take as something of a good omen. As we pulled up into their driveway, Jim and his dog Sheila welcomed us. After a quick introduction to the hens and cows, we were taken out to a field covered with 4-inch high grass.

If you didn’t know what you were looking at, it would be easy to ignore this field. We knew, though, that in just a few months these short sprouts would yield up to a tonne of winter wheat, ready for milling.

Back at one of his barns, Jim had set out buckets containing cleaned and uncleaned wheat for us to run our hands through, giving us a real idea of what would be harvested from those fields. We got a tour of the beautiful old equipment that serves him for most of his processing needs, including the turn of the century (the last century!) fanning mill and combine from the 1950s pictured below.

Over a delicious lunch prepared by Jim’s wife (who apparently chastised him, “You can’t walk around the farm and cook!” before she put it in the oven that morning) we sat around the table working out details of the production and processing that will happen this summer.

Much was discussed during the few hours we visited, and when we said goodbye we left feeling quite good about the direction we’re heading in.  After months of planning, this Urban Grains project is finally beginning to look like a reality. Soon, we’ll be emailing members of the mailing list with details on how to purchase a share.

Much has happened since the last newsletter for our local grain project went out in January (you can sign up here) – we’ve moved in leaps and bounds, in fact. As many of you know, we held a meeting in December with a small group of farmers who are growing grain in the Delta region, primarily either as a cover crop or wildlife set-aside. Although the meeting was quite encouraging from the point of grain availability (there is no question, these farmers have grain for sale), we were confronted with two key hurdles: 1) our original vision of a CSA model, similar to the one in Creston and Nelson, would not work in Delta. It became clear that if we were to base the program in Delta, we would be forced to adopt a more conventional distributor role requiring significant start-up capital and a less direct consumer/producer connection; 2) the region was lacking the necessary infrastructure. Before grain can be milled, it has to be cleaned, and we were unable to find any individual or business nearby with the capacity to clean for human consumption.

Unsure where next to turn, we were contacted by a part-time farmer living in Agassiz, who is keen to become involved in the project. Jim Grieshaber-Otto, together with Diane Exley and their two children, manage a community-minded family farm that has been growing small amounts of grain for several decades. About 100 acres in size, Cedar Isle Farm partners with a neighbouring dairy farm to produce silage and hay (for both cows and horses), and pastures Angus beef cattle, layer hens, and free-range broiler chickens.The farm grows a few acres of grain each year – mostly oats and wheat – which is either used as animal feed or sold to friends and neighbors. This year the farm has three acres of fall-sown winter wheat and one acre of triticale (a cross between wheat and rye), and will soon be planting two acres of hard red spring (bread) wheat, for harvest this autumn. Jim estimates that, given a decent growing season and harvest conditions, they will have enough grain both for the CSA and for their own on-farm and local use. Although not certified, the farm has long operated under organic principles and is in the process of seeking certification.

Despite there still being some questions about infrastructure, our partnership with Cedar Isle Farm places us in a relatively strong position. The farm has a well-maintained 1958 combine (pictured in the attachment) and a functional, heritage (circa 1901!) fanning mill for cleaning grain. While the current cleaner should work in a pinch, we’re trying to track down a better piece of equipment, possibly paying for its purchase through funds raised in the first year of the CSA. We have spoken with the people at Anita’s Organic Grain and Flour Mill in nearby Chilliwack, and they appear willing to custom mill the relatively small quantity of grain we would need. We have also identified a small-carbon-footprint transportation and distribution option; an Agassiz-based delivery truck operator has agreed to add wheat and flour to his regular delivery trips into the Vancouver area.

That’s all to report for now. While we do have some other exciting plans to announce, they are all rather tentative, so you’ll have to wait until the next newsletter. We hope to be visiting Cedar Isle Farm sometime in March to check on the progress of the grain, and then determine the logistical details (price, size per membership, delivery schedule, etc.) for the CSA program. At that point, if all goes well, we will start accepting memberships.

photo by David Bradbeer (there are more great local grain photos in his flickr set)

We’re excited to be back from a nice holiday break, and to continue working on our Urban Grains project, aimed at providing Vancouverites with access to local grain. This update (also sent out as a newsletter to those on the mailing list) brings two pieces of news: a recap of the exploratory meeting we held in December with farmers from Delta and an update on our vision for the project.

First, a bit about the producer meeting (I am not able to cover all of the details in this limited space, so I will try to convey the overall atmosphere and outcomes.) With the generous assistance of David Bradbeer from the Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust, and the Canadian Wildlife Service who provided meeting space, we met face to face with four Delta-based farmers who are currently or have recently been growing grain. If you’ve met many farmers, you’ll know they can be real characters, and these were no exception. They threw plenty of questions at us, as well as twice as many answers to ours. The meeting was highly illuminating, and we walked away with a much better understanding of the situation these farmers are typically in.

It appears to be the case, as we were told when we started talking about the local grain idea, that despite the unavailability of local grains on the market, quite a lot of it is grown within a 45 minute drive of our home. What is lacking, however, is a clearly articulated marketing and distribution system (which is where we believe Urban Grains can play a role.)

After that meeting which loaded our minds with new information, we are now in a much better position to plan where to go from here. Now that we’ve made contact with a few keen farmers and know that we have access to local grains, our next step is to decide on the best organizational approach for distribution. A lot of details come along with that, including where we will get the grain milled, how to transport it, and how, when the day finally comes, physical distribution will work. A business plan will be developed in the next month or so, and we will be seeking start-up financial assistance from governmental and non-profit sources that support local agriculture and local economies. We remain committed to the idea of farmer-consumer connection, and hope to organize a field trip or two out to Delta for interested customers so that you can see for yourself the farms where your grain is growing.

Thank you all for following this process and for spreading the word. We are still collecting names for our mailing list, and are interested in hearing from you, too. Please feel free to contact us at martin@rocksandwater.ca with questions and comments.

We’re looking forward to a great 2009, and dreaming of tasty, local grains in the Fall.

Thanks in part to the sudden popularity of the 100-Mile Diet and various other eat local movements, foodies across the province, the country, and even the world, have been inspired to seek out more local food sources. In Vancouver, this trend is perhaps best evidenced by the growing number of Farmers Markets popping up in the city. People are now coming out in droves to shop for local fruit, vegetables, cheese and meat. Despite the success of these markets, however, one item continues to prove particularly elusive — local grain.

This wasn’t always the case. As the folks over at Deconstructing Dinner have been making clear in their ongoing Local Grain Revolution podcast series, B.C. has a rich history of growing grain — a history that has, unfortunately, been largely forgotten.

Thankfully, a number of individuals are beginning to revisit our province’s fertile past. Matt Lowe of Nelson’s West Kootenay EcoSociety and Brenda Bruns of the Creston branch of Wildsight started a community supported agriculture program last year for grain, the Creston Grain CSA. Although still in the midst of its first year, the program is so far proving quite successful (you can learn more about it in the Deconstructing Dinner podcasts mentioned above or at the UrbanWorkbench blog where a member of the Creston CSA has been writing about his experiences with the program).

Upon hearing about the success of the CSA in Creston, my first thought was whether such a program would work in Vancouver. I got in touch with Matt Lowe shortly after and discussed with him the possibility of bringing the Creston model to an urban area. With his encouragement, I’m now trying to make that idea a reality.

Currently in the first stage of the organizational process — getting a small group of farmers on-board — I’m also beginning to compile a list of people interested in becoming members. Although not set in stone, I expect there will be approximately 200 membership spots in the first year. Priority will be given on a first come, first served basis and, if the initial reception is any indication, spots will likely fill up fast, so make sure you sign up early if you’re interested.

Our mailing list sign-up form is available here.