During the COVID-19 pandemic, baking has become a popular and passionate pastime for countless people sheltering in place. They might not be aware, however, that every time they measure out another cup of flour, they have a chance to support California agriculture.
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| Hourani wheat grown by Honoré Farm and Mill at HomeFarm in Healdsburg. (Photo courtesy of Honoré Farm and Mill) |
For this article in the Bay Area Monitor I interviewed three California farmers who grow wheat for bread making:
- Fritz Durst of Tule Farms is a fifth-generation farmer with a large grain-growing operation about 90 miles northeast of San Francisco.
- Frog Hollow Farm in Brentwood planted white Sonora wheat flour on land slated for a new nectarine orchard this year. Sonora wheat is a heritage grain with a two-hundred-year history in the Americas.
- Honoré Farm & Mill also grows organic wheat, but they have a higher calling: to re-connect people to land and community.
I had fun writing this piece and learned a ton. As Elizabeth DeRuff, president and agricultural chaplain of Honoré Farm and Mill told me, "Wheat is an unbelievable topic!"
Right she is!
