Here at River Bottom Family Farm we are excited and honored to be taking over from Garry & Wendy Lowe in growing and milling Ancient and Heritage grain varieties in 2020!
We have been interested in growing grains for a few years now, but the Heritage and Ancient varieties that Garry & Wendy have been growing are of special interest to us because they have so much history and are already adapted to our unique climate. All of the older grain varieties are also better adapted to our organic farming practices as they were bred before the use of chemical fertilizers and have a much more robust root system to utilize the available soil nutrients.
Some of the Heritage wheat varieties we will be growing and milling include:
Marquis Wheat – an early maturing variety bred in Agassiz BC in 1892
Ladoga Wheat – an early maturing bearded wheat brought to Canada in 1887 from Russia
Champlain Wheat – a bearded wheat bred in 1870 near Champlain Lake in Vermont
Twin Meadows Northern Success – an exclusive variety we are growing out that Garry Lowe bred from Marquis and Champlain parents in 2016. His aim was to breed an earlier maturing high quality wheat with awns (short beards) to discourage wildlife such as deer and elk from eating the crop. We’re really excited to grow and select this variety out and make it available to our customers in the future.
Some of the Ancient grains we will be working with include:
Emmer, Einkorn, Spelt, Buckwheat, and Purple and Tibetan Hulless Barleys.
For 2020 we will be growing some Buckwheat and Marquis Wheat here on our farm as well as a few select trial varieties. We will be selling some whole grains, along with freshly milled whole wheat and sifted flours.
