Think Local
By Chris Hoffman
(Sherburne) My friends Amy and Brian at Alambria Springs Farm have been working for ten years to create a sustainable farm operation that provides organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs to share members, restaurants, colleges, and farmers markets using biodynamic and organic farming methods to grow over 200 varieties of produce for customers in five CNY counties. Their latest endeavor – and passion – is the health benefits of fermented foods, including sourdough breads. The response to their breads has been so great that they have now outgrown their original small brick oven.
This week they announced a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo to raise $30,000 to build a larger masonry oven along with a functional enclosure to house it that provides working space, counter space, coolers, a large elliptical mixer, and other necessary baking equipment and supplies. The new oven will enable them to increase production, and the project itself will support other local farmers, millers, masons, and carpenters.
The project will also have a larger impact in that it will encourage grain production in the northeast as an alternative to the mid-western grain belt. Grain production improves soil health when small grains are sustainably grown on farmland that would otherwise be used for monoculture crops such as corn and soybeans, encouraging small sustainable farmers to choose small grains as an alternative crop. It also stimulates the building of local mills that have the capacity to freshly mill small grains and alternative grains upon demand, which leads to a greater variety of healthy flours available for local consumption.
Originally, Amy and Brian’s intent was to grow and mill grain on their own farm, but their research led to the discovery of a local initiative already underway to grow and mill grains. Two members of that initiative include Elizabeth Dyke of Organic Growers Research and Information Sharing Network and Greg Mohl from Farmer Ground Flour.
One of OGRIN’s projects is Organic Grains for the Northeast, a network of growers, millers and other grain processors, bakers, chefs, and consumers in New York and Pennsylvania who are working to support the production of wheat and other food grains in the Northeast. Grains have been largely absent from the locally grown food system because of the difficulty of sourcing high quality small grain seed and acquiring the necessary equipment. Mills and processing facilities are few and far between, and much of the farming expertise needed to successfully grow grain on a small scale has been lost in the past 150 years. OGRIN is working to re-establish the Northeast as a grain-producing region.
Farmer Ground Flour in Trumansburg mills a number of different flours working closely with bakers, pasta makers, and restaurant chefs. They plant annual trial plots of heirloom wheat and work with the Northeast Organic Farming Association and the Northeast Organic Wheat Project to identify and promote superior heritage wheat varieties, as well as to develop relationships among farmers, bakers, and millers. They offer all purpose flour, milled from their own red winter wheat heirloom variety Warthog, as well as half white, whole wheat, rye, spelt, buckwheat, corn meal, and polenta. Their milling operation is certified 100% organic.
Amy and Brian are offering some exciting perks to people who contribute to their Indiegogo campaign, including levain starter and recipes, 5 lb. bags of freshly milled Farmer Ground Flour, a free Bread Share membership, an invitation to their Farm to Table Dinner, and membership in the Bread of the Month Club, depending on the level of donation.
This fundraising campaign is an excellent example of value-added innovation to expand the already bountiful produce Alambria has been providing for years. Alambria’s breads can be purchased at their Farm Store (834 Musician Road in Lebanon, www.alambriafarm.com/), at the Clinton Farmers Market, and at the Oneida County Public Market (www.oneidacountymarket.com/) beginning on Saturday, May 18, located at historic Union Station in Downtown Utica. This market first opened last year with weekly summer markets, monthly fall markets through December, and a holiday season market inside the Union Station lobby. The long-empty Railway Express Agency Building is being revitalized to serve as an all-season home for the Market. Spearheaded by Oneida County with the support of Cornell Cooperative Extension and other stakeholders, the Public Market celebrates local economy and regional bounty.
To contribute to Alambria’s Indiegogo campaign, go to www.indiegogo.com/projects/wood-fired-masonry-oven-for-artisan-breads. Your contributions support community building, food security, and health all in one!
Chris Hoffman lives in the village of Sherburne in her 150+ year-old house where she caters to the demands of her four cats, attempts to grow heirloom tomatoes and herbs and reads voraciously. She passionately pursues various avenues with like-minded friends to preserve and protect a sustainable rural lifestyle for everyone in Central New York.