In This Edition
Emmer Recipes: Corn Dogs, Banana Bread
Customer Profile: Ed & Char Alkire
Find us on Spokane Main Market Co-op
Seattle Farmer's Market Announcement
Notes from a Farmer Spring here in the Methow continues on right through the Summer Solstice! Though we haven’t seen quite the rain this month as we did in May, we’ve not seen much sun either. Oh, a sunny day here and there but lots of clouds and showers and thunderstorms from time to time. And temps have reached 80 twice I believe. Will we be looking back to June come July and be yearning for these cool, damp days? I’ll let you know in the next newsletter…
Meanwhile, YES – we did get the rest of our grain planted around Memorial Day and the first few days in June. And yes, it is up and running! Most all the fields actually look quite good. We finished putting in 40 or so acres of cover crop mid-month and you are right to assume that the fields have been getting plenty of moisture. Truth to tell, each time I think we might want to turn on the irrigation, another shower comes through. Pretty amazing, alright.
This month we do need some sun and really the next two months will tell the story as far as growth and maturity of our grain goes. At this point the plantings have some catching up to do but now is the perfect time during the longest growing light of the year. We will be tissue sampling and testing our grains and taking brix readings to see if any foliar additives are warranted. If so, they will be applied this month and that is about all we can do until harvest.
When not cleaning the rest of our grain supply and milling fresh to order in the granary, hard as it is to believe, it actually is time to begin preparing for harvest. Our combine needs to be fully serviced and a hauling schedule determined and we likely will be adding a bit more storage capacity as we increased our emmer acreage by 20% this spring, thanks to your continued interest in Bluebird’s signature grain.
Inevitably, we will be running some irrigation at some point I suspect and if we can accomplish all the above, hey, we may head into the mountains for a few days. I know my rod and fishing vest is around here somewhere. I hope all of you get some summer activities in during the big month of July as well. Practice your independence AND keep eating your grains. I look forward to reporting on our crop for real in Augusts’ addition of the Bluebird news…
Best to all, Farmer Sam
Bluebird News
Brooke was at Main Market Co-op of Spokane in June demonstrating the most OUTSTANDING Farro Pudding. Thank you to Main Market for sharing your recipe and supporting our farm by carrying our products. We are thrilled to have a presence in Spokane!
Congratulations to Bluebird employee Steven Sullivan, who graduated in June from Liberty Bell high school and has been working with us for the past year. Thank you for your hard work! We wish you the best as you pursue a career in graphic arts in Portland, Oregon.
Bluebird will be taking a few weeks off at the Seattle Farmers Markets in mid July:
We will NOT be at the Ballard and U District Markets on July 10 & 11 or July 17 & 18. We hope this does not cause any major inconveniences for our customers. We will be back at the Seattle Markets July 24th & 25th through the end of October.
Northwest Backroads will be featuring Bluebird Grain Farms, Sun Mountain Lodge and Crown S Ranch on King 5, July 17th and 31st at 7 pm! Let us know if you tape it- we’d love to see it.
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What’s the Fourth of July without a little fried food? Sure, we know we shouldn’t, but sometimes nothing tastes better than a hot corn dog. These emmer flour corn dogs add a whole new dimension to the traditional corn dog: nutrition! The freshly milled emmer flour gives these dogs a nutty whole-grain flavor that makes them taste almost wholesome! Go on, just this once — treat yourself.
Need a use for all those bananas you’ve had in your freezer all spring? It’s hard to beat a slice of moist banana bread. The emmer flour gives the sweet bread a hearty taste and texture that distinguish it from typical cake-like banana bread. Vegans will delight in the two substitutions that make this recipe vegan-friendly, while conventional cooks can prepare the traditional recipe.
Customer Profile: Ed & Char Alkire, preservers of Methow Valley farmland
Like many Methow Valley residents, Ed & Char Alkire were originally Seattle natives who spent weekends recreating in the valley. But after their children were grown, they decided to make their trek to the valley a permanent move. "We came back for a visit about eight years ago," says Ed, "and we fell in love with the valley all over again." So the Alkires moved to Mazama and started getting used to rural living.
The first thing they had to figure out was what to do about their defunct irrigation system. The year they moved over to Mazama, the Methow River shifted course significantly and consequently the ditch they had irrigation rights on no longer fed water to their fields. In the process of conferring with their neighbors on Kumm Road about how to solve the irrigation problem, they learned about Sam Lucy and his then-business, Rendezvous Reclamation, which restored abandoned farmland fields by using crops rather than chemicals to bring weeds under control and restore a healthy soil system.
 The irrigation issue was resolved and Sam was soon farming many of the fields on Kumm Road, including the Alkire’s, experimenting with what would be his first emmer crops. "Brooke came out to do some biodynamics testing the fields," laughs Char, "to determine which ones would best support these new crops of emmer. We had these painted Aboriginal poles in our yard, given to us by an Australian friend. It turns out that Australia was one of the few places emmer was grown at that time, so of course our field had some good karma from that Australian connection." Brooke’s testing supported this theory and the emmer crops coming out of the Alkire’s land have proven the fertility of the field every harvest.
While the Alkire’s initial interest in having their land farmed was born from a desire to use their irrigation rights, all the other factors of the circumstances became their driving motivation. "It was exciting to be a part of the growing of this new product," Ed says about emmer. "We loved the idea that our fields would be used to grow crops for human consumption rather than animal feed. The fact that the crop was organic was just the icing on the cake for us."
"We feel incredibly lucky," adds Char, "because we had the right kind of land as well as the irrigation rights. Not every piece of farmland is conducive to Bluebird’s farming methods, but ours is and we’re honored to have it used for that purpose."
The Alkires feel personally invested in the integrity of their field, and many a day will dawn with them bending over the White Top, keeping it at bay. "We’ve been aggressive with the Russian Thistle and Common Tansy," says Char, "we’re very motivated to keep this field weed-free."
As the board president of the Methow Conservancy, Char delights in the fact that she is doing her part to meet one of the Conservancy’s goals: protecting viable farmland. "We’d like to think that things that are happening in the Methow can be a template for other places," notes Char. "We look at what Bluebird Grains is doing and we see it as an opportunity to get it right, to use best practices, and to come up with models that can be duplicated across the country."
Char nearly went into raptures when asked about her favorite Bluebird product. "I went to the University of Washington in the 1970s," she admits, "when it was the whole back to the earth movement and everything. I learned to make this particular honey whole wheat bread, which I’ve been making EXACTLY the same way for the past thirty years. Well, the other day I used Bluebird’s hard white and hard red wheat flours in that recipe for the first time and Ed said ‘This bread tastes like candy!´"
Char realized that the freshly-milled Bluebird flours gave her bread a sensational flavor that had never been present with her grocery store flour. "Flour has a shelf life," says Char, "and I’m astounded by what a difference fresh flour makes." (Stay tuned for the August newsletter, which will feature Char’s new favorite bread recipe.)
It’s not just their new infatuation with the Bluebird flour that keeps the Alkires nurturing their Bluebird connection, however. "It’s been very special helping a local business get established, being able to contribute to the sustainability of a family farm," says Char. "All the factors pointed in the right direction for us; we’ve never had a second thought."
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