Q: Where are you located?
A: In August of 2022 we moved into our new processing and packaging facility located at 19611 State Route Highway 20, between Winthrop and Twisp.
Q: I have been eating your Old World Cereal blend most mornings for 2 years. I have lost 150 lbs (500 to 350) have gone down from 16.3 AC1 to 7.1 in 8 months. I have been eating a program called forks over knives for almost 2 years and have considered your product as the main contributor of my success. I recently joined a group at Kaiser Permanente and they are insisting I eat iron cut oats and that your product is not the best for me. I love this product but how do I answer them about the comparison of iron-cut oats and your Organic Old World cereal blend?
A: Thank you for letting us know about your weight loss success. Congratulations! Eating rye has been linked to weight loss. Rye tends to give you a feeling of fullness hence making you eat less. We have so many men who buy this product. The old world cereal blend is a 50/50 blend of our heirloom rye and cracked emmer farro. Like oats, both grains have a low glycemic index. Emmer is superior in nutritional value to steel-cut oats. It is high in b vitamins, high fiber content, essential amino acids, and has critical trace minerals such as manganese that can’t be found in other grains. It is also fiber rich. My guess is that because there is not a lot of formal “nutritional data” on whole-grain emmer, doctors tend to focus on the data they do have access to. Here is a very interesting article on the nutritional benefits of ancient wheat: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.
Regarding your question about iron-cut oats. You must be referring to steel-cut oats, which are made very similar to our cracked emmer, with a hammer mill.
Q: Do you ever provide a discount? I’m a huge fan, but I would like to reduce the cost as I have to ship it to New York.
A: YES! We have a new e-mail list specifically designed for special promotions. You can sign up for promotions to receive e-mail notifications of our online promotions.
Q: My wife and I have read the book “Wheat Belly” and are attempting to go “hybridized wheat” and bad gluten free. We bought a bread maker and want to try the original ancient heirloom grains. What variety do you recommend for us given my description?
A: The oldest varieties we carry that are considered “ancient grains” are Emmer, and Einka. The second oldest is our Dark Northern Rye and we estimate this seed variety is about 200 years old. Both are very simple, highly nutritious grains with low gluten. All of these varieties are considered land race varieties – meaning it is in its natural genetic state and has been cultivated in the same region for over a couple hundred years. We also grow two types of Wheat that are “open pollinated” varieties; Methow Hard Red Wheat and Pasayten Hard White Wheat. Both of these varieties originate from heirloom strains of wheat and are over 60 years old. None of our grains are considered “modern hybridized” varieties.
Q: I’m so excited to find my flour has arrived so quickly! Thanks for that! I really appreciate it. I’m on a mission to purge my family and friends of GMO/Roundup grains, so I am hoping to begin increasing my order within the next few months. I do want to confirm that Roundup (glyphosate) is not used for any purposes at Bluebird Grain Farms. I’ve been telling my friends that if we are going to get serious about filling our families with “clean” foods then we may want to invest in small home mills and purchase our grains whole. Your farm comes highly recommended, but I wanted to be extra certain that we are purchasing the cleanest grains we can find.
A: We are 100% certified organic producer and processor. There is absolutely NO glyphosate used in any of our production/processing. All of our grain varieties are certified non-GMO.
Q: I’ve been sprouting the Farro and then cooking it. I notice that it tastes much sweeter after I sprout it. Do you know if sprouting it will increase the sugar content and by how much? I’m really trying to keep my sugar intake down to next to nothing so I’m curious about how much sugar I’m taking in from the sprouted grain.
A: We do not know much about sprouted grains other than they have a higher nutritional value than dry grains. Wikipedia has some good information about this topic.
Q: I’ve been using your Emmer whole-wheat flour in my bread. I was looking at a recipe in an issue of The Art of Eating that uses Farro. They suggest a Farro Piccolo versus the Farro semi Perlato because it has the entire coat of bran remaining. How might this compare to your Emmer Farro?
A: Farro Piccolo (small farro) is the Italian term for einkorn, which cooks more quickly than emmer farro. Farro semi-perlato is pearled farro, which has had some of the bran shaved off to speed cooking time (unfortunately this also reduces the fiber and nutrient content of the grain). Both our emmer farro and einkorn farro are true whole grains and never pearled.
Q: I just received 9 pounds of your wonderful Old World Cereal Blend. Obviously, with just 2 of us eating, the cereal will last a long time. I have bought steel-cut oats from a place in South Carolina and they recommend keeping it in the freezer. How do you suggest I store my large supply of your Old World Cereal Blend?
A: We recommend storing all of our grains is a well-sealed container in a dry cool environment. We recommend only putting it in the freezer if you know you are not going to eat it within 3 months. That’s because the grain has been freshly milled to order and can lose its freshness once put in the freezer. The biggest concern with our grains is things getting in them if not stored properly. Ideally three months is the optimum storage time to garner the fresh milled flavor, but milled grains will still be good for up to 6 months to a year. Whole grains have a much longer storage life because they naturally have their own storage capsule. However, if you live in humid areas we recommend that you store it in the fridge or freezer if you are not going to consume it within a month of purchase.
Q: I love your emmer flour but cannot find it in any of the grocery stores. Can you tell me where I can purchase it?
A: There are only a few stores that carry our flour products. We believe in delivering our product FRESH to the customer. There are a few specialty food stores in the Seattle area that carry our flour products and are committed to moving it quickly. Please reach out to us directly at 509-996-3526 and we will connect you with the closest store. You can purchase flour directly through our online store.
Q: Where do you get your seed to grow farro?
A: We grow most of our own seed and have been building our emmer and einkorn seed stocks for over 14 years now. Our seed came from the world seed bank via a university approximately 60 years ago. Our Emmer strain originates in Rwanda.