Summer has arrived and I think the whole of spring has passed by without any writing to speak of! It’s been a cool wettish spring and our roses are loving it. The strawberries, rhubarb, and red currants are producing well, and it’s been good to have enough for the kids to eat their fill in the garden and still have some left for the kitchen! Making jam is something I learnt from quite young, with not always great results, but it’s a very satisfying thing for me, a kind of preserving of excess I guess that feels good when you see the jars lined up on the shelves and the family tucking in throughout the year. The kids have all planted little vegie patches this year and everything is growing well, including the grass and ‘weeds’. It helps having a plumber husband/dad who loves to install watering systems that are easy and work; we have plenty of taps about. The kids are pretty glad the broad beans are just about done and ready for the compost heap!
Back in September the three kids and I went on a long road trip. Well, the kms were long, the time was too short! The aim was to visit the farmers who grow the bulk of the grain we use in the bakery, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. From an early morning stop at the hsitoric and beautiful Red Beard Bakery, we went on to Burrum Biodynamics at Marnoo, roughly near to Horsham, where farmers Steve and Tanya grow the spelt and oats (and legumes) that we have been using for most of the year. Then a long drive up through the Mallee to Murrayville where the Edwards family, Barry, Fiona, and son Blake, grow the biodynamic wheat and rye that we’ve used in the bakery since we opened. Beautiful country and beautiful people all round. It’s hard to explain the feeling of looking across a paddock knowing that the flour from the grain that has fed our starter culture since it’s ‘birth’ was grown there and is grown there, and that we mill weekly to bake into bread. We are all so connected, we certainly would not be able to do what we do without these wonderful farmers, and they would not be able to provide the beautiful grain without caring for the soil as they do. After leaving Murrayville, we cut across the bottom of NSW through some terribly drought-affected and mistreated land to Berrigan where we visited the beautiful farm and family of Woodstock. Here Bob and Jenny and son Ian organically grow wheat, rye, spelt, khorasan, and are trailing historic varieties too. Ian and Courtney mill the grain from the farm and supply fresh, stoneground, single varietal flours to bakeries and home bakers. This is where the khorasan we have used in the past 2-3 months was grown and milled. An incredibly inspiring trip, I came back with more questions than I went with, and so very thankful we have access to nutritious, tasty food in the grain grown by these farmers who care about the soil health and true well being.
And so, it’s been fun and a great learning opportunity to bake with some different flours, grains, and sometimes even the same grains milled by different mills, or the same grains grown on different farms. So much more to learn, and so very glad to be a small part of a community that wants to provide good food that will nourish and that looks after the planet 🙂
Saffron buns have also been fun to make lately, using Hocus Crocus Saffron from Kongwak, in a wholewheat ‘brioche’ dough. Closer to Christmas there may be Lebkuchen, a honey rye ginger bread, and perhaps even a few sourdough Stollen about too. Experiments at this stage!
Keep well, cool, happy. Ask your baker where their flour comes from, how was it grown, stored, milled, what variety it is? It could be a learning experience all round 🙂 And enjoy, tis that time of year!
Betsy.