Author: Brooke Lucy

As longtime Methow Valley residents, we at Bluebird Grain Farms have always been staunch supporters of land conservation efforts. In fact, our new granary and processing facility is located on a property that is permanently protected by a conservation easement!

We’re particularly excited about the Methow Conservancy’s latest conservation project. Imagine the Methow: the Campaign for Sunny M Ranch is on track to purchase and protect 1200 acres near the town of Winthrop, to preserve possibilities for wildlife habitat, farming, recreation, and the local economy. Many mountain communities never get a chance to determine what the landscape near town looks like and how it reflects what the community values. The Methow Valley does.

More than 1000 people & households have joined the Campaign for Sunny M Ranch so far. Once that number reaches 1200, a pool of six donors will give an additional $100,000 toward the campaign goal of $8.3M, bringing the campaign total raised to $8M.

Bluebird Grain Farms is a proud business sponsor of the Methow Conservancy and we are happy to be a part of the Campaign for Sunny M Ranch. We hope you’ll join us in being a part of 1200 donors for 1200 acres. Learn more HERE.

A Few Visitors stopped in this Month

We have had lots of wonderful folks stopping in to Bluebird. Here’s a shout out to a few that we got to see this month. We appreciate you taking the time to stop in.

Bruce has been a long time customer at Bluebird. He stopped in to get his Pasayten Hard White Wheat Berries for his sourdough bread. He reports that he mills everything at home for his weekly bread baking routine. His buddy Bob, who has a cabin in the Methow, is not much of a baker but loves to eat Bruce’s Bread.

Bob: I hope the T-shirt fit!

Melissa Spear, the Executive director of Tilth Alliance, a state wide organization that advocates for organic agriculture and local food systems, stopped in with valley resident Gwynn. It was fun to show them our farm and to discuss the opportunities and challenges of Organic Agriculture in Washington State.

If you would like to learn more about Tilth Alliance, please visit their website and consider becoming a member.

Upcoming Granary & Farm Tours

• Saturday, May 13th Noon – 3 PM: Open house, baked goods and pop up shop from 12-3pm. Granary Tour is from 2:00-3:00 PM. Sign up HERE if you would like to participate in the tour.
• June 6th: First Tuesday Lecture Series with the Methow Conservancy at Bluebird Grain Farms.

Public Drop in Hours: Monday-Friday,9:00 to 4:00 PM

We welcome drop in visitors on site Monday-Friday from 9:00 am-4:00 pm. Stop in and see our new digs and pop up shop. If you would like to request a group tour ( 10 +) of our facility- please reach out to and we will do our best to accommodate you. Our address is 19611 Hwy 20, Winthrop WA.

Pick up Box

We have a pick up box on our front porch. If you are only here on the weekend you can place your order online, choose “farm pickup” and you will not be charged for shipping. We will place your order in our pick up box for weekend and after hours pick up.

Be an Ambassador to Bluebird

Would you like to see Bluebird products in your local grocery store? We sell our ancient grain products in bulk and pre packaged to grocery stores throughout the PNW and beyond. If you are willing to do a little leg work for us, we’d love to help facilitate getting our products in your local store. Email us at the name of your store, the contact information of your store grocery buyer- including email, and phone number. We ask that you speak directly to the buyer and ask them what the process is (every store is different and It is immensely helpful to have customers request our products with their local grocery buyers).

Ashley Lodato, Bluebird Grain Farms staff writer. Photos by Bluebird Grain Farms.

It was logging that brought Bluebird Grain Farms Granary Manager Steve White to the Methow Valley in 1996 and it was farming that eventually brought him back. Steve was raised in Northern Idaho in a community that makes the Methow Valley seem metropolitan–only 438 people. After a career that involved logging, law enforcement, and mechanics, Steve discovered both farming and the Methow Valley through his wife, Sharee Holcomb White, a 4th generation Methow Valley resident whose family owned one of the first dairies in the valley.

Steve (who you may know as a past Liberty Bell High School football coach) ran the saw shop at Cascade Pipe in Twisp for years, but when store ownership changed he went back to Idaho and managed a saw shop there for a few years. But when Sharee’s mother got sick, Steve knew he wanted to come home. Serendipitously, Bluebird Grain Farms was looking for a millwright and granary manager. Steve had the skillset–chiefly, a strong work ethic. “I’ve found that logging and farming have a lot in common,” Steve says. “Hard work.”

Steve had lived in the Methow Valley for nearly a quarter century and says he had never heard of Bluebird Grain Farms. “I wish I would have years ago,” he says.

Bluebird resonates with Steve for many reasons, but one stands out: sense of purpose. “Sam, Brooke, and Bluebird have given me purpose in my working career,” he says. “I feel that most humans want to make a difference and I believe I can make a difference in people’s lives by providing the type of food that helps our society in so many ways.”

Steve also enjoys problem-solving, saying that every day brings the excitement and possibility of a new problem to solve. “I love learning about new things so I guess I’m in the perfect work place. I get to learn something new every day.”

The work environment at the granary doesn’t hurt, either, Steve says. “Sam and Brooke have created a special place to work. The people I work with are more than coworkers–we are actually a family.” His bosses are “ok to work for,” Steve says with a smile, his affection and respect for Brooke and Sam evident.

On a daily basis, Steve manages “what goes in and out of the processing room.” He cleans grain, bags it, and builds pallets as well as shipping and receiving product and managing inventory. When the millwright assistant, Dan Carroll, is not at work, Steve also mills grain into flour.

Ah yes, the flour. In hiring Steve, Bluebird Grain Farms got a two-for-one deal. Once Sharee got her hands on some of that Bluebird flour, the White family test kitchen opened for business. “Although I grew up baking yeast breads and muffins and cookies and quick breads with my mom I had never used 100% whole grains. So when Steve started bringing home Bluebird products I had no idea what to do with them,” Sharee says. “I did know that you cannot substitute whole grain flour for all purpose flour in a recipe and be successful. So I started researching whole grains and after learning all the health benefits of whole grains  and whole grain flours I was so excited to start feeding my family these nutrient rich  grains.”

Sharee was no stranger to home-grown foods; she grew up on a 40-acre farm north of Winthrop, “in the midst of but not part of the Big Valley Ranch.” Sharee’s father, Walt Holcomb, worked at Okanogan County Electric Co Op for 35 years and her mom, known to many as “Mrs. Holcomb” was a secretary for the Methow Valley School District for 30 years. “But those were just their day jobs,” Sharee says. “The real work came in the form of raising three kids on a farm as self-sustaining as possible. However, we relied on the grocery store for all our baking ingredients, including flour.”

In the farm girl spirit, Sharee rolled up her sleeves and began learning about fresh farmed grains. “The whole grains were the easy part,” Sharee says. “They are great substitute for rice in any dish. My family especially loves my Potlatch Pilaf and beet salad with lemon vinaigrette on a hot summer night or lamb stew with Organic Einka & French Lentil Blend on a cold winter day.”

As far as using whole grains in baking, Sharee says she was apprehensive until she stumbled across a You Tube video on 100% whole wheat bread with freshly milled grain. She was hooked. Once Sharee learned about all the grains and what they are best used for (for example, hard wheats are for yeast breads and soft wheat like Bluebird’s Sonora is for baked goods like cakes, cookies and quick breads, while ancient grains can be used in combination with either or by themselves in quick breads) she’s a woman on a mission. “I have been converting all my families recipes that have been passed down to me over the years,” she says.

Sharee has some favorite grains, but it depends on the recipe. “Organic Einkorn Flour makes tasty muffins and pancakes, but the nuttiness of Organic Emmer Flour makes a great artisan loaf or brownies and my family loves a honey hard red wheat sandwich loaf.”

Sharee’s family isn’t her only test audience. According to Joy Randall, Bluebird Grain Farms Marketing Coordinator, “Sharee is an excellent baker and is always sending Steve with bread and treats for us!” The test products get high marks from the office staff.

Sharee’s favorite recipes rely on the same thing as Steve’s: hard work. “I’ve found that if I put a little bit of time, effort, and knowledge together the possibilities are endless, using a food product that is not only very healthy and beneficial, but tasty as well.”

When they’re not baking or managing granaries, the Whites love to spend time with their children Levi, Brayden, and Carly engaged in activities like fishing, hunting, and camping.

This week Bluebird Grain Farms has teamed up with the non-profit organization, World Central Kitchen, to help bring food relief to people of Ukraine. Now through April 3rd, 5% of our  proceeds via our online store will be donated to World Central Kitchen’s relief efforts and the chefs of Ukraine.

World Central Kitchen posted the above phot of their website of chefs cooking paella in their kitchen.  They state “The new WCK Relief Kitchen is located in Przemysl, a polish city just several miles from the  order with Ukraine that is receiving tens of thousands of refugees every day.  From this kitchen, our team has the capacity to scale up and cook 100,000 meals per day utilizing 12 massive WCK paellea pans and 12 large ovens.”

When faced with a devastating war so far away, it is hard to know what to do or how to help. We love food, we love chefs, and we love and believe in democracy. This effort felt like a simple way that we can help.  Our goal is to raise $2000 to donate to WCG.org by April 3rd.  As of 4/1 we have raised $1050.00.  Will you join us?

To learn more about WCK and to read about  their boots on the ground efforts visit: WCG.ORG

You can follow them on instagram @wckitchen / #chefsofukraine

Shop now and 5% will be donated.

Ends April 3rd, 2022, 11:59 PM