The White Family in Hardwick, Massachusetts
Welcomes You TO Whitesfields Farm
The White Family in Hardwick, Massachusetts
2023 Hazlet Rye Berries For Sale
No Minimum Order
Cost $1.25 per pound. Pickup in Hardwick or Burlington, Massachusetts is possible. Delivery or Shipping by UPS or USPS are options. Please contact Abbie at mail@whitesfieldsfarm.com if interested. Family Lineage of our Redeemer wheat variety shows Ukrainian roots. We have grown Redeemer hard red winter wheat since 2012 and have used our own seed stock since 2016. Helpful UVM Extension video explaining The Anatomy of Wheat Flour - Field to Bakery featuring Redeemer. Hazlet rye is praised for baking. No baking quality Redeemer wheat available for sale until Fall 2025.
Milling Redeemer Wheat
Baker's Perspective
The process of milling wheat is incredibly important. While delivering Redeemer wheat berries to Blue Hill at Stone Barns on May 21, 2023, Stan and I had a conversation with an employee about the need to minimize heat friction during the grain grinding process. We learned that the mill at the restaurant runs 18 hours a day to do the process slowly at a cooler temperature. The Head Baker Patrick Shaw-Kitch at Blue Hill is now opening a business Brooklyn Granary & Mill (BGM) to address the need and demand for high quality custom milled grain. Copied from the BGM website with bolding to emphasize the importance of temperature.
“Patrick has spent many years honing skills and learning lessons about milling the best whole grain flour and baking with it: the flour needs to be as fine as possible; the bran needs to be as small as possible to make the best bread; large bran slashes the gluten and fights the bread-making process; flour that is super fine with minuscule bran chunks can make whole wheat bread as voluminous as mainstream white flour loaves; grains and flour must be kept cool during the milling process because heat starts to oxidize the oil in the wheat and kills some of the flavor and destroys some of the nutrition; the temperature of the flour when it’s milled affects its ability to bake well. Most millers don’t mill with whole grain in mind, they mill to refine, and, in turn, mill a lower quality whole grain flour. Having a miller and business that prioritizes the grain and milling techniques with whole grain flavor and baking in mind sets BGM up with an unmatched foundation. The core of this foundation, BGM’s two stone mills that will rotate in operation in order to keep them as cool as possible, will produce a wide selection of flours that will be tested and custom milled.”
Image courtesy of Patrick Shaw-Kitch at Blue Hill showing bread made with our 2022 Redeemer.
Gratitude for Gifts
Abbie's Meaningful Connections
I was surprised and pleased to receive this beautiful card arrived in my post office box . With a website, social media, and a farm market presence, I am often amazed by the connections that happen. As background I am a long time Hardwick Recycling Commission member and support recycling and reuse. There were impressive artworks using waste plastics at the 2018 Student Thesis Art Exhibition at Worcester State University by Dakota Moon Smith-Porter. I complimented her creative work with an email. She replied more than three years later! I learned that Dakota lives on a farm in Montague and is experimenting with grain growing and weaving wheat straw.
More information about wheat
Please reach out to us with your interests in grain growing and processing.
White Family Farming Activities
Sustainable farming focused on grain, sheep, cattle, and pawpaw trees
Growing grains in Hardwick in recent years has become a fulfilling family activity that works well with our farmland. Crop fertility and weed suppression are accomplished by rotating fields with our grass grazing sheep and cattle herds.
Publicity from the Chronicle TV show on September 8, 2020 highlighted our Redeemer wheat grain
Abbie's passion for edible landscaping leads crops of sustainably grown pawpaws, grapes, Cornelian cherries, sea buckthorn berries, and beach plums.
Pawpaw fruit ripen mostly in October
Contact Abbie with inquiries about pawpaw fruit at
mail(@)whitesfieldsfarm.com
Grain in terms of wheat and rye berries usually available all year
Inquire for more information