Sonoma Grain Shares

Finally! Sonoma-grown and milled flour!

And you can tell the difference. These wheats were selected from over a decade of trials for what thrives right here in our special coastal climate and grown using ecological practices. Then, they’re stone milled into distinctive, flavorful flour incomparable to anything you’ve ever eaten.

Introducing the Sonoma Grain Share

You’re invited to experience these unique flours through the inaugural Farmer Mai Grain Share. There are 20 spots available in this pilot Grain Share. Each Share price is $150 and will take place December 2020 through May 2021 wherein members can:

  • Receive 5 lbs of a single variety of freshly milled whole wheat flour once a month
    • 5 lbs = 4 loaves of bread and a lot of pancakes, or a small mountain of cookies
    • Varieties may include: Chiddam Blanc de Mars, Wit Wolkoring, Sonora, Akmolinka
  • Pick-up on the second Thursday of every month at

Sign-up by November 20

Please complete this registration form by Friday, Nov 20 at 8 PM. Shares will be filled in order of registration date. You will receive a confirmation email that will request payment by PayPal or Venmo. If payment ($150) is not received by Monday, November 23 at 8 PM your spot will be offered to a waitlisted applicant. Only one share per person/family.

Information about the food and farmer

Testimonials

  • “Your Chiddam Blanc makes THE BEST pancakes!!!” –Samin Nosrat, cookbook author of Salt Fat Acid Heat
  • “Mai puts community relationships at the heart of what she does— relationships on the farm, and off, as well. She takes her role of steward seriously and her farms are making our world a better (and tastier!) place to live.” —Adrian Hale, baker at 1000 Bites of Bread
  • “This is the most delicious bread I’ve ever had in my life!”–90-year-old woman tasting bread made from my Sonora, eater of a lifetime of bread

About the wheat

  • Resilient and adaptive varieties: centuries-old varieties that have stood the test of time and selected for drought tolerance, disease resistance, high yield in organic farming systems
  • Grown with care for people and the environment using practices of dry farming (rainfed with no irrigation), intercropping, low-till, sheep-mowing, all local inputs, and living wages
  • For the future: varieties are non-patented, non-proprietary, and can legally be saved and shared

About the flour

I really mean whole wheat. Store-bought whole wheat flour sits on the shelf for months or longer. It can do that because the germ and bran have mostly been removed. Those parts carry oils and acids that go rancid and would spoil while sitting on unrefrigerated shelves. The lack of oversight on the “whole wheat” label enables mills to get away with the misnomer. What you will get is 100% whole wheat–no sifting, no additives, of identity-preserved, freshly milled flour from wheat harvested a few months ago not a few years ago. This is why I recommend that the flour be used within a month or be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

100% stone ground. Stone mills break apart grain without pulverizing the seeds into fine particles or, when done well, heating them to temperatures that compromise the nutrients and flavor.

I’m excited to collaborate with Nan Kohler of Grist and Toll and Glenda Dougherty of The Bagel Mill to bring you fresh flour. Glenda, born in Sebastopol and owner of The Bagel Mill in Petaluma, who uses a New American Stone Mill to make fresh, stone ground flour for their bagels and now especially for the Sonoma Grain Share!

 

Banner bread and photo credit: Min Kim of Biodynamic Wellness