Right now, the quest to restore local food systems doesn’t feel all that “local”. In fact, I’m pretty certain we have to be the most inefficient bagel-tortilla-pretzel makers in the industry. But, you know the saying: if it were easy, everyone would do it.
So, we’re definitely doing something that nobody else is doing (i.e. traveling all over New England to make flour). And there’s a good reason for it. You have to be crazy, unemployed, irrationally curious about local wheat, and have a valid driver’s license. (I just checked Google maps to confirm we brought our grain over 775 miles in order to test our flour in products.)
That long and windy road starts in northern Maine, stops in Quincy, MA, does a U-turn to Vermont and then back to Boston.
So, this is how it works:
A week ago, we received our first pallet of wheat from farmers, Sara and Matt. Actually, my dad, son, and brother (that’s them in the photo above) received it. Right now, One Mighty Mill is pretty much only mighty in heart. We don’t have a mill or a place to store wheat. So, I had the pallet shipped to my parent’s warehouse in Quincy. My mom, dad and brother own 3 fabric stores in and around Boston and have a warehouse full of fabric, ribbon, thread… and now wheatberries.
Next, to turn that grain into flour, I drove to visit Andrew in Wolcott, Vermont. (That’s us in the photo above.) While building our mill, Andrew has been grinding our wheat for us. That way, we can test recipes with real, stone-ground flour.
Thankfully, the flour making odysseys are nearly over. Andrew just confirmed that our mill will be ready in a month. And while the travel may seem crazy, I know it’s been worth it when we get to see and eat the finished product. A couple of days ago, we baked our first round of cinnamon-raisin (below) and jalapeno-cheddar bagels. They tasted like food that somebody put thought, time, and care into preparing. If our customers taste that love, then there’s no doubt that One Mighty Mill is bound for glory.
I got next! 