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For this week’s Member Profile, we’re excited to highlight Big Green - a nonprofit founded in 2011 that works with kids and teachers in seven regions around the country to develop learning gardens and food literacy programs. Not only does Big Green help schools physically build gardens, they also offer garden activities, nutrition lessons, and teacher training.
This past February, in partnership with AGC, Big Green hosted their first-ever Gardening for the Future: Regenerative Agriculture in Your Learning Garden workshop in Chicago. The 50 teachers who attended received professional development credits for their continuing education requirements while learning about regenerative agriculture and its impacts on soil and their community. The curriculum discussed the importance of cover crops and crop rotations and provided a 3-year example plan and a tracking spreadsheet.
Chef Mel Carter of Organically Gourmet and a board member of Chicago Bread Club prepared lunch for the teachers in attendance using recipes that they can take back to their schools and cook with students. Erin Meyer of Basil’s Harvest provided nutrition information about the oats and buckwheat used in these recipes. Harold Wilken of Janie’s Farm and Mill also attended the workshop and spoke about his 5th-generation farm and mill in Danforth, Illinois, inspiring interest in future student field trips. Big Green is excited to share this new curriculum resource with other teachers throughout the country and we were so grateful to be a part of its development!
Big Green Garden Educator Ilana Marder-Eppstein demonstrating how cover crops and mulch reduce soil erosion during the "Gardening for the Future" workshop in Chicago. See the full interview on the AGC website.
Since the start of the COVID pandemic, Big Green has pivoted quickly to respond to the current needs of teachers, students, and families with their new free information hub Big Green At Home. This collection of activities for all ages includes slide decks, lesson plans, recipes, readings, and videos, fulfilling Big Green’s goal of ensuring all teachers, parents and learners have access to resources to keep kids learning at home. Resources are available for teachers and families; for teachers, the Ready Set Grow Orientation video is a great place to start.
In the past weeks, Big Green has also been offering online workshops for teachers to support virtual education efforts. A first grade teacher told Big Green staff that she used their curriculum to lead a bean planting activity with her students, who are reporting on how their plants grow as the season progresses.
If you want to support Big Green and their efforts to educate and entertain teachers, students, and families while they are out of school, click here to donate.
Read more from our full interview with Big Green's program coordinator and garden educator Katherine Jernigan on the AGC website. You can keep a pulse on what Big Green is up to on their Facebook and Instagram linked below.
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Did you get your Mother’s Day Flours ordered in time? We love the card from our friends at Northeast Grainshed. If you’re still working on some belated Mother’s Day shopping, our Upper Midwest Grain Resources Directory might help. Through this growing and active list, you can find links to:
- Fresh-milled flour direct from Upper Midwest farms and mills with national shipping
- Bakeries producing special Mother’s Day treats and lots of other goodies, including Neighbor Loaves
- Malt (for those of you home-brewing during quarantine)
- Distilleries with spirits and hand sanitizer for curbside pickup
- Breweries offering curbside or online sales
Recent additions to the Directory include a map of distilleries producing hand sanitizer and the opportunity to purchase mail order Grain Shares from Meadowlark Organics in Ridgeway, WI.
In whatever form you prefer your Mother’s Day Flours, we hope this resource is useful to you and that your family has had a very grain-y and happy Mother’s Day weekend. For more grain & flour purchasing info, check out Challenger Breadware’s Grain and Farm Directory and Amy Halloran’s Mill Resource List.
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Now’s your chance to get some Kernza® in your Kitchen
Perennial Pantry, a new project from our friends at Sprowt Labs in Burnsville, MN, is working to bring climate-positive food staples to your kitchen, starting with Kernza flour and grain. Their website has a wealth of information about why and how Kernza — a perennial grain that returns for several years without replanting — is a beneficial crop. For example, the dramatic image above displays Kernza's roots, which can grow 10 feet or more below the soil surface, in contrast to annual wheat. Perennials develop deep root systems that help sequester carbon, filter water, keep continuous living cover on the land, and reduce tillage.
In partnership with The Land Institute, University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative, Beth Dooley’s Kitchen, Cannon River Watershed Partnership, and AGC, Perennial Pantry has launched a crowdfunding effort that allows individuals to purchase Kernza® flour or grain, test it out in their own kitchen, and contribute feedback as a citizen scientist.
The effort launched May 4th, and is already more than halfway to the funding goal. Get yourself some Kernza and let us know what you think!
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Neighbor Loaves in the News:
The Capital Times of Madison, WI published this article about Neighbor Loaves and other creative efforts to support chefs and consumers, written by Lindsay Christians, who moderated a panel with AGC members last October at Fermentation Fest in Reedsburg, WI.
The Whole Grains Council also offered this perspective on how COVID is affecting supplies of flour and the increased attention to local supply chains, including the fact that King Arthur Flour’s database has received more than double their typical number of helpline calls.
This morning, AGC executive director Alyssa Hartman and Hewn Bakery co-owner Ellen King were featured on The Mike Nowak Show with Peggy Malecki, talking about Neighbor Loaves, the local grainshed, and the path forward amidst COVID for our regional grain value chain.
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Recommissioned:
Sturminster Newton Mill in Dorset, England is a thousand years old, and since 1994 has milled small amounts of flour as a tourist attraction. Enter COVID. In the past weeks, the historic mill has been recommissioned, and according to this report, milled a ton of wheat in 10 days for local grocers and bakers. That's as much grain as the mill would produce in a year in its typical format as an education center.
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Sweet & Sourdough:
Steven Colbert and Jake Gyllenhaal bonded over sourdough starter recently - did you catch it? Gyllenhaal spoke of his friend Josey Baker of San Francisco's The Mill, who has been teaching him, and when Colbert showed his own starter, Gyllenhaal asked if it was bubbling. While they joked that there were 14 people that cared about the sourdough discussion, we expect it was much higher.
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A note from AGC's executive director, Alyssa Hartman
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In this unusual and challenging time in our world, I find it's especially important for people to have opportunities to stay connected with one another. I hope this newsletter aids in creating a sense of community for you.
I think it's also useful for readers to know who is working behind the scenes, pulling together updates like these. I'm happy to share that as of this week, Elena Byrne of Renewing the Countryside - an AGC member - is coordinating the effort, and we both welcome your feedback and ideas for future newsletter content. Send notes or thoughts to info@graincollaborative.com.
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We'll be back in two weeks with more grain-y news and updates!
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