There is no placed formula when it comes to farming succeeder . For many producers , the initial direction requires a modification in path as market conditions and the growing clime evolves .
For Jacob and Courtney Cowgill ’s begin ofPrairie Heritage Farmand now Blue Truck Bread in Power , Montana , what begins in the fields has a scrumptious finale in the oven .
Knead to Know
Jacob get down knead for two seasons with Bob Quinn , the beginner of Kamut International , on his organic farm in Big Sandy . Quinn became a key influence in the agency Jacob viewed husbandry .
Constantly experimenting with germ and uprise technique , Quinn heighten fruit and vegetable without irrigation in an region where months without mensurable pelting is coarse . And he grows other crop , such as Carthamus tinctorius and hemp , to diversify beyond the distinctive monoculture mannequin .
“ I knew I want to start a small vegetable farm but did n’t consider raising wheat berry , ” says Jacob , who was n’t elevate on a farm . “ You just do n’t start pale yellow agriculture . ”
This region of Montana is called the “ Golden Triangle ” because its optimum conditions lead in some of the highest quality grains in the world . But to delve into this agricultural realm , it usually requires hundreds , if not thousands , of acres to make the effort worthwhile .
Yet , the viability of growing ancient or inheritance grains was consistently in the back of Jacob ’s brain .
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Blue Truck Bread
Of Ancient Days
Both types of wheat were born before the green rotation . But in the era before long after World War II , when modern breeding and agricultural practices left sure-enough varieties behind , ancient ( or heirloom ) grain were the first ones produce . Blue Truck Bread
Varieties such as farro , Kamut Khorasan wheat berry , spelt and einkorn have been around since the dawn of civilization . From many of these ancient grains , inheritance types develop throughout the world . Today , they retain their unique characteristics , escaping modernisation .
Getting Into Grains
When the Cowgills launched Prairie Heritage Farm in 2009 on leased land , they mainly grew vegetables for their CSA program , as well as for their spot in the Great Falls Farmers Market . Jacob also planted a few Acre of wheat , including 200 variety an ounce at a clip , to determine which single grew the best .
After they buy their current property approximately a half hour south , the Cowgills expanded the grain development . They rarify what thrived and what client wanted .
The trick , however , was commercialize it . For a time , they declare oneself a grain share , and masses could also buy it at the farmers market place . But there needed to be a newfangled step to make the experiment viable .
Blue Truck Bread
“ Since I was growing straw , I wanted to broil with it , ” Jacob says .
While selling vegetable at the farmers market , they brought a few lovemaking of sourdough bread , which sold immediately . The next week , they fetch more . The trend experimental condition continued , and they even started offer a clams CSA for a while .
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Jacob Cowgill
When It Grains, It Pours
decide what cultivate in any byplay is a difficult decision , particularly in the Fannie Merritt Farmer - to - customer scenario . In the beginning , the Cowgills focused on their CSA program and the farmers marketplace . But after a few years they discovered it really was n’t working well for them or their customers .
Jacob finger that the CSA model was good in the rootage because it introduced them to the community . But as those manage a CSA know , it involves significant client service responsibleness .
Coordinating pickup clip and ensuring there is more than kale in the basket requires a balancing human action and a approving from Mother Nature .
Amy Grisak
“ The CSA model was kind of waning across the country , ” Jacob says . With peoples ’ lives in truth meddlesome , and an addition in national fresh - nutrient basket , he believes client were looking for unlike choice . Then the position all natural Fannie Farmer dread sealed their determination .
Decided by Drift
“ That yr we got drift by weedkiller , ” Jacob says . “ Thankfully , we did n’t have CSA members to reimburse . ”
While nothing died instantaneously , when they notice misshapen leave , they know something was haywire . After a confirmation through lab tests , they have intercourse that was the end of their vegetable season . There was n’t even anything untasted they feel well-to-do to eat .
“ At that fourth dimension the bakery was taking off , ” Jacob says . “ The next twelvemonth , we tried vegetables again and got drifted again . ” This was the proverbial nail in the CSA program . Jacob Cowgill
He sharpen on baking scratch as Blue Truck Bread , the colorful nickname inspired by the “ newfangled ” 1963 GMC pickup truck he receive as a Father ’s Day endowment in 2015 . With no vegetables to sell , he increased his extract of sourdough bread to the farmers market .
While the sourdough bread was a hit , once again , their sales plan shifted .
“ We always thought of ( the farmers securities industry ) as a live business card , ” Jacob enunciate . There , they were able to put in product to the biotic community and learn what people require the most . But when a local restaurant approach them to bake all of their sourdough moolah for their speciality sandwiches , they were able to step away from the Fannie Merritt Farmer market all .
Blue Truck Bread was bear .
“ It just worked out , ” he says . “ We had the best season of our living . We went hiking and camping and spent time with the kids . ”
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Let it Rise
The farm was set up for agrarian , but Jacob had to find a billet to broil on a big scale . An old fuckup shop that they used during the seasons when they raised turkey — and was afterward converted to a veggie processing blank — seemed to be idealistic .
After adding racks , multiple commercial mixer and pack of cards ovens , roughly half of the 1900 - straightforward feet area is now their bakery . No longer observe at the granger market , Blue Truck Bread is now sold in local grocery fund and restaurants .
“ Probably the most popular dough is the honey sourdough , ” aver Jacob . He keeps the breadstuff local through and through by using dear from the family - owned Smoot Honey Co. , a neighbor of theirs north of Great Falls .
According to Jacob , customers truly bask the Seedy Bread that use lentil flour , as well as sesame , flax and sunflower come . Montana is one of the top pulse crop manufacturer in the nation , and even though they do n’t grow the lentil plant on their farm , they are all Montana - produced .
Wheat for It
For years , Jacob grew and try out a variety of heritage grains to determine which ones he likes the unspoilt . “ I ’ve always experiment with grow different miscellany , ” he says . “ The issue with experiment is maturate them to see what uprise well here , then bulking up to grow enough to mill about and bake with . ”
Currently , he enjoys work with Turkey Red backbreaking wintertime wheat . Brought to the Kansas orbit in the 1870s by Russian immigrants from the Ukrainian region , Turkey Red adapt readily to the region , bring forth an excellent character straw that has a smaller read/write head ( than innovative wheat ) with dark kernels .
“ It ’s a wheaty wheat , ” Jacob says . “ It has a eminent - protein content and stiff look . I also like baking with Sonora wheat . It ’s really easy . ”Amy Grisak
He has long grown the Sonora wheat , another fearless winter wheat that grow well even in semi - arid conditions . It ’s popular in the Southwest as it makes excellent flour for tortillas but also produce light , scrumptious gelt .
When it add up to milling , Jacob set aside the bicycle - powered submarine he used to demonstrate grinding grain years ago . In the initial baking days , he used a Magic Mill , the kind he remembered from his childhood . And while he still uses it to mill the lentil into flour for the Seedy Bread , he increase yield with a 12 - inch Meadows Mill , a type of stone milling machinery .
The Beauty of Baking
broil lucre has a distinctly different round than the typical farming time of year , yet working with sourdough fit well into everything he has to do .
“ That ’s the beauty of sourdough , ” he says . “ It charter longer than the yeast breads , but you have dominance of your schedule . ”
Lately , he usually bake two to three days a workweek , spending the residue of the time packing , slicing and delivering . Instead of bet on employee , Blue Truck Bread is a family unit intimacy .
“ I wish the way it is now , ” he says .
Blue Truck Bread ’s new addition is frigid pizza lucre sell through preorders or in local stores . To strengthen the farm - to - table connection , they are planning to build a fire oven where they can receive the local community of interests out to the farm to soak in the beautiful Montana landscape painting while savoring homemade pizza pie made with homegrown cereal crust among friend .
Farming requires growth in more ways than one . Jacob might have lead off along a traditional route , connecting citizenry with homegrown food for thought , yet his background and interest group in growing grains sprout a brand new focusing for his family .
This ingeniousness , turning heritage grains into delicious sourdough bread , make a singular niche where his thrilled customers enjoy a taste of place .
Sidebar: Bread Bites
We ask Jacob Cowgill of Prairie Heritage Farm and Blue Truck Bread for some breadmaking bakshis .
Sidebar: Giving Back
During the initial stages of the COVID–19 pandemic in the U.S. , Jacob and Courtney Cowgill worked with a food supplier ’s web funded by the Alternative Energy Resources Organization to help supply food to those who needed it the most .
The curriculum provide the white flour , and the Cowgills used whole wheat from the caryopsis that they develop for Blue Truck Bread to send loaves of sandwich bread to the Montana Food Bank connection .
This article originally appeared in the November / December 2020 number ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
