Juicy Post: Flour From Grapewood Farm

A Retirement Plan

When Cathy and Fred Sachs were planning retirement, the couple wanted to keep their home in Alexandria but also have a country place. They fell in love with the area around the Rappahannock River near Montross, Virginia and chose some acreage, long worn out from years of conventional farming.  Corn, beans and wheat, with perhaps some dairy thrown in on the side were typical crops. The fields had lain fallow for years. Romantically, Cathy and Fred named it Grapewood Farm after the prevalence of wild grapes growing in the woods. 

City Slickers

Once they had their house designed and built, the Sachs family began to look at the possibilities of the surrounding property more closely. The once arable land was quite overgrown as well as exhausted, and at first the Sachs leased one field to a neighbor, who, as David Sachs wrote me “was kind enough to teach us the basics of farming…We started with just one field…and very little knowledge.”

The Sachs family decided to make a commitment to pursue organic certification of their fields and faced a very steep learning curve.  With their decision to try to grow wheat, they purchased a small tabletop mill simply to grind flour for their own use. They were all struck by the incredible flavor of the flour and would occasionally present some extra to friends and family. And then came the flow of requests.

This beautiful area of Virginia is also a hotbed of independent food producers, and the Sachs family began to get requests for flour or even wheat berries, which could be ground and used by bakers. And so they grew!  A new barn was built, and by 2018 they had even constructed a commercial-scale mill (no more 4-inch hopper on a table).  Their wheat harvests had waiting lists from  local bakers, pasta makers and chefs.

We Are More Than Flour

The family, over the last four years, has experimented with different certified organic grains. In 2022, Grapewood Farm  has not only harvested four varieties of wheat and rye, but also introduced some ancient grains as well – notably emmer and spelt. The latter, by the way, is noted for its more digestible gluten content than that of wheat, because spelt gluten is water soluble, whereas the gluten in wheat is not.

While the Sachs did not have a Biodynamic landscape architect, such as Alan York featured in the documentary The Biggest Little Farm, they immersed themselves in the lengthy and convoluted organic certification process outlined by the USDA – which prohibits the use of chemicals and herbicides.They then followed a more intensive initiative from the Rodale Institute. This commitment requires a three-year rotation plan in which fields “recover” with a nutrient-dense crop, which is turned back into the earth. David said that they also have learned to practice high mowing and try to keep tillage to a minimum. 

Grapewood Farm now has its own system of composting, which we all know returns a universe of micro-organisms back to the earth to enhance the healthy growth of plants. One of the remarkable projects of the Sachs family has been to set aside a wildlife area on the farm itself. This, too, is  somewhat on the biodynamic spectrum, as it provides another avenue of natural protection against crop infestations.

David wrote that it started with “installing nesting boxes for Wood Ducks, considered by many to be the most beautiful bird in America. We even created  wildlife borders around each crop field to increase quail habitats, pollinators and insects. That led to a diversity of fruits, with the hope of attracting more birds, and nesting boxes for migratory osprey. Beaver dams provide the ponds for the wood ducks, and flocks of visiting geese feed on the tender wheat crop over the winter.” 

Apparently, in addition to the joys of seeing wild turkeys, red tailed hawks, fox, deer, raccoons, eagles and herons, Grapewood is now home to too many ground hogs. Hopefully, their beloved dogs can keep some of them at bay. David’s mother, Cathy, told me that she loves the varieties of songbirds that have gradually taken up transient accommodations at Grapewood. 

The Sachs family loves to share their farm and their hard-won knowledge with visitors – and Northern Neck itself has a burgeoning local food scene.  They have hosted family and school groups and organizations that focus on reintroducing our nation to sustainable agriculture. As one of the early members of Common Grain Alliance, they want to make us aware of the value of purchasing products like their flour, all grown locally and sustainably, and with flavor. To plan your visit to their farm and to other food producers in Northern Neck, contact the family at: www.grapewoodfarm.com.

Flour Power

I never knew before I went to Sicily that white flour had any particular taste. I did notice ” le goût du chemicals” in grocery store white bread. It’s probably why we slather it with (hopefully) butter or mayo.  And yes,  with whole wheat, rye etc, you are tasting something other than cotton pillow fluff. But since then, I have been experimenting with domestic small organic producers of flour, and believe me, you will taste nuttiness, maybe a bit of spice, or even a golden buttery flavor. For example  Open Hand Pasta & Provisions at the Old Town Market sells a loaf made with Grapewood Spelt, and it is delicious.

When you go to Grapewood’s  online shop, you will have a choice of  1 or 2kg bags (2.2lbs or 4.4lb) except for the varieties of their grain berries, which are sold in 2kg bags.They advise you to store their flours in your refrigerator or freezer to best preserve their flavor and nutrients. All of their flours are grown from certified organic grains.   Unsifted flours will have all the bran particles, #70 sifting will have some bran particles, and #90 sifting will have none.

Grapewood’s organic hard winter wheats come with two pecentages of gluten: 9.7 and 11.5. Fred Sachs chose a Polish varity of rye, Danko, and offers it cracked, #70 sifted, and unsifted for baking. Danko rye is very aromatic, light in color and has a delicate flavor. For spelt, Grapewood offers the organic Sungold variety, which is a modern cultivar of this early grain, with a more digestible gluten profile. You have a choice of #70 or #90 sifted or unsifted whole. When you bake with just spelt, it’s wise to use a baking powder or soda (or both), as it will need the extra lift. When it is mixed with a high gluten flour, though, normal baking procedures can be followed.

Wheat flours fall into soft and hard categories. I use their soft wheat for pastry crusts and biscuits, and have created an “all-purpose” flour by combining the two on a per cup basis, which weighs out at  approximately 120- 130 grams -weigh 70 grams of hard flour and 60 grams of soft flour.  My husband prefers the #90 sifting version of their flours, as he is not as fond of the bran particles. It remains one of our little disagreements in taste. 

There is nothing like an American biscuit to give you a quick sense of what a good flour tastes like, and this one from Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubert’s Southern Biscuits became my primer as I learned how to turn my former hockey pucks into biscuits similar to the ethereal ones my North Carolinian mother-in- law used to make. Good even without butter!