Category: News & Announcements

May is always a busy month for us at Bluebird, but we have been loving the beautiful wildflowers and steady soil moisture in our fields. Our thoughts go out to those who have been adversely affected by the recent flooding in eastern Okanogan County. Thank you to all who work hard to keep our communities safe during events like these! Here are a few notes on what’s been going on at Bluebird the past few months:

Congratulations to Chef Edouardo Jordan for his James Beard Best New Restaurant 2018 and Best Chef: Northwest awards! Jordan has been a vocal supporter of local, sustainable farmers and we are honored to have our Emmer and Einkorn featured on his menus at Salare and JuneBaby restaurants. If you live in or are visiting Seattle, do not miss the chance to visit these establishments.

Bluebird Grain Farms Einka® Einkorn was featured at the Sunflower Trail Marathon this spring. The amazing Stew Dietz from Dietz Catering created unique and delicious “Sunflower Bowls” with fresh spring greens, roasted chicken, and Bluebird’s Einkorn. What a great way to recover from a race! Stew served over 1,000 of these bowls at the event. If you’d like Dietz Catering to help out at your event in the Methow Valley (they do an amazing job with weddings), you can get in touch here.

We were delighted to have the 8th Graders from Bellevue Christian School stop by to tour our granary. These enterprising students planned and executed their own trip through Okanogan County, all without the aid of smartphones. We were impressed with their thoughtful questions and entrepreneurial spirit. We hope there are some future farmers and business owners in this class!

It’s now “officially” spring and we are excited to get to work on field preparation and planting! The snow is melting out quickly, but fortunately the soil is soaking it right up (we should have good soil moisture for seeding in a few months). It is still too wet to work in the fields so we have another few weeks before things get crazy around here. In the meantime we are enjoying the last few skis of the season and are also lacing up our hiking boots for the lower elevation trails.

In farming news, we are excited to fully utilize our tine weeder this spring. We purchased this unique tool last year and have hopefully worked out all the kinks (we do have a few minor repairs to make before we take it into the fields this year). When it’s working properly, it will allow us to lightly cultivate and clear weeds without disturbing the soil or bringing new weed seeds to the surface. In combination with our no-till seed drill, we are hoping the tine weeder will help us to reduce tillage and tractor time in the fields (good for the soil and keeping our fuel costs down!).

We unfortunately could not attend the annual Farmer-Fisher-Chef Connection (F2C2) event this spring, but we are honored that our Whole Grain Einkorn was featured at this excellent event. Madres Kitchen made an amazing Einkorn Salad With Seasonal Greens with it- wish we could have been there to try it out! Madres is a catering company that does a great job sourcing food from local producers- check them out if you are in need of something delicious for an event.

Bluebird is hiring for a Granary Operator/Millwright. Our current millwright Kevin is moving on to pursue his love of geology with a job in Alaska. Best of luck Kevin, and thanks for all your hard work! If you or anyone you know is interested, you can review the full position description here.

National Sourdough Bread Day is this Sunday, April 1st! To celebrate, we are hosting a photo contest on Instagram. To enter, post your best photo of a sourdough loaf, let us know what Bluebird flour you used, and tag #bluebirdgrainfarms anytime between now and midnight on April 1st. We will pick the winner on Monday, April 2nd and they will receive a $25 gift certificate in our online store.

2018 is trucking along here at Bluebird Grain Farms- we are thankful for a great year of farming in 2017 and are already thinking ahead to working the soil this coming spring! In the meantime, we are  busy cleaning and packaging grains here at the granary and also taking some time to get outside and enjoy the beautiful winter weather. Here are some other news items of note:

We are excited to welcome back our Packaging Room Coordinator Sheah Ellis from maternity leave! Sheah makes sure you all receive your orders in a timely fashion and packed to perfection. She’s also known for her killer baking skills (hopefully you tried out her Einkorn Pumpkin Bread). Stay tuned for more of her delicious recipes in upcoming newsletters. Also, a big thank you to Eric Zytowski for filling in for Sheah over the past 4 months- we appreciate all your time and effort in the granary!

Another big thank-you to everyone who attended our Annual Open House and Granary Tour in December. We had a great time meeting all of you and showing you around our facility! It was great to see some new faces here in the valley. We love visitors, so if you missed the event and want to stop by and say hi, give us a call at 509-996-3526 or email and we’ll make sure someone is available to give you a tour (we are open Monday through Friday, 8:00-4:00). We are excited to announce our new fruit syrup supplier Hidden Acres Orchard. They are a family owned and operated orchard located just north of Spokane in beautiful Green Bluff, WA. If you happen to be traveling nearby, they have great U-pick fruit options throughout the growing season- give them a call at 509-238-2830 for more

information. We are offering their Huckleberry, Marionberry, and Peach Syrups in 16 ounce sizes- all great companions for emmer pancakes or waffles. Our former syrup supplier Bruce Dunlop from Lopez Island Farms has decided to retire- best of luck on your next ventures Bruce!

Brad, Brooke, and Sam have been hard at work over the past two months working on our Value-Added Producer Grant application. This is a great program from the USDA to help farmers who process and package their own crops make improvements in their product development and marketing. We hope to use the grant to help spread the word about our einkorn products. Bluebird Grain Farms was the recipient of a VAPG back in 2008, which really helped us get the business going! We will keep you posted on further developments.

That’s all for now! Enjoy the winter weather and we’ll see you soon.

Best,

The Bluebird Grain Farms Team

Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays here at Bluebird. Coming together with friends and family to express gratitude while sharing delicious food is a vital tradition that we hold dear. It’s especially important to us farmers because it comes just after the major rush in the fields is over and gives us time to reflect on the growing season. While every season has its ups and downs, every year we find ourselves filled with wonder at all that has come together to make Bluebird successful. We give thanks to the soil, our crops, and all of our staff, customers, and friends who help us do what we do.

Sheah Ellis, our Packaging Room Coordinator, had her baby!  A big welcome to Erik Ellis, born September 22nd, 2017.  Congratulations Sheah and Jay! Farmer Sam was a featured speaker at Classroom in Bloom’s Fall Garden Party back in September. Classroom in Bloom promotes school gardening as a way to connect students to their food system, their studies, and their landscape. We love the work they do- they are preparing the next generation of farmers, environmental stewards, and leaders! Bluebird has been helping CiB by plowing and cover cropping the field where their 2018 garden expansion is planned. Stay tuned for more developments.

Our annual Granary Open House and Tour is coming up on Saturday December 9th from 10:00 AM- 1:00 PM (tour at 12:00). Come on up and share a hot drink, meet your local farmers, and learn how we store, clean, mill, and package our organic grains.  You’ll get to see our unique wooden silos that help naturally condition the grain and our cool old-school grain cleaning machinery. We’ll have Bluebird products and our gift baskets for sale if you need to do some last minute holiday shopping. Call 509-996-3526 for directions and to RSVP.

Thanksgiving Photo Contest! Did Bluebird Grain Farms make an appearance on your Thanksgiving table this year? If so we’d love to hear what products you used and what dish you used them in. Post a photo of your dish with the hashtag #bluebirdgrainfarms on either Facebook or Instagram, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a $30 gift certificate for our online store.

If you’re looking to purchase Bluebird products at a retail store close to your home, we just launched a new store locator on our website to help you find one. Just type in your area code and it will give you a selection of nearby stores that carry our products. Keep in mind that not all stores carry all of our products, so call in advance if you’re looking for something specific.

Fall is here, both officially and weather-wise, and we are excited! The cool temperatures have been a welcome relief to the heat of the summer, and the mountains look beautiful with their first dusting of snow. We have a little harvesting left to do at the Big Valley fields, so we’re hoping major precipitation holds off in the valley for a little longer. We are appreciative that the weather has helped slow the spread of the Diamond Creek wildfire, which has been slowly creeping towards the Granary for the past month. It’s still burning, but is much less of a risk now than it was 2 weeks ago. Thank you to all the wildland firefighters who have put enormous effort into keeping our community safe!

Introducing Eric Zytowski! Eric has temporarily joined our team as Packaging Room Coordinator while Sheah is away on maternity leave. He brings with him extensive experience in material development and is an all-around great person- Eric, we’re happy to have you on the team!  Here’s a quick note from Eric:

“In short I can be described as an Iowa boy, greyhound dad and new fulltime resident of the Methow valley after learning about it 20 years ago. They valley is a special place with (usually) clean air for me and folk who understand the simple pleasures such as good food and knowing where it comes from and how it’s grown. I came here after spending my time with companies such as REI in Seattle and Nike in Portland that showed me how to enjoy the outdoors in a healthy, athletic way. I can be found in my off hours at home planning our garden for next year or riding my bicycle around the valley with my wife Val.”

We’re excited to announce that Huckleberry’s Natural Foods Stores will be carrying Bluebird products in their bulk section! We have been  working to find a trusted supplier for our grains in the Spokane area, and they’ve come through for us. If you’re an eastern Washington resident, be sure to check out this excellent grocery chain.

Joshua McFadden, farmer and chef at Ava Gene’s restaurant in Portland, has released a new cookbook that we are excited about: Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables.  There are a lot of vegetable-focused cookbooks out there, but this one really shines- Josh’s culinary skills and love of growing food come through in this inspired, creative work.  Josh has worked with Bluebird’s grains at Ava Genes and the recipe for Farro with Tomatoes, Corn, Mint, Basil and Scallions is awesome! If you love local, wholesome, fresh food, this is a great cookbook to check out.

The heat of summer is on! The rush of spring planting is over and now we’re waiting and watching as the emmer and einkorn head out and start to ripen.  Of course, we’re still busy with irrigation, fertility management, and keeping the granary running, but we do fortunately get a little respite before harvest season begins.  Here’s what else we’ve been up to recently:

Farmer Sam was a featured speaker at Methow Headwaters’ film presentation at the Seattle Patagonia store last week. Keeping open pit mining out of the Methow Valley is a vitally important issue for all of our local Methow Valley businesses that depend on clean water, clean air, and intact wildlife habitat. If you’d like to get involved, check out their website at www.methowheadwaters.org.

Sam also visited with Dr. Steven Jones of WSU’s The Bread Lab over the weekend. The Bread Lab has been pioneering research on wheat and small grain breeding to develop strains that are locally adapted, easy to grow, and delicious!  We’re excited to continue working with this awesome organization to help grow our local Northwest food economy.

We turned in the spring cover crop at Classroom In Bloom this week- this will help build the soil for the new 1/2 acre expansion to their educational garden. We also donated several hundred pounds of organic fertilizer to keep their crops growing strong. Classroom In Bloom takes on the important task of educating children on where their food comes from by getting them outside to grow their own food! We encourage everyone to help out this excellent organization in any way they can.

We are excited to announce that Safeway stores are now carrying a wide range of Bluebird’s products! If you are a Safeway shopper be sure to look for our whole grain emmer farro and dinner blends at their locations. It’s great to see this grocery chain supporting local food and farmers.

Bluebird’s products are being featured as part of Haggen Foods “Be Local, Buy Local” campaign.  If you buy $40 or more of locally produced products, you get a $5 discount at checkout. Thank you to Haggen for supporting local farmers and producers!

Spring is (finally) heating up here in the Methow Valley! We spent April and early May tiptoeing around rainstorms that (mostly) kept our fields a little to wet to work. We were able to plant a little emmer in our Barron fields, but now the sun is out and the race is on to get the remainder of the emmer and all the einkorn in the ground. Spring is always a crazy time for us, but we relish the challenge and are excited to be outside working again.

Farmer Sam has also been busy helping Classroom in Bloom expand their educational garden at Liberty Bell High School.

This awesome non-profit does great work helping children understand where their food comes from and how farming connects us to the land.  Sam tilled up a new plot and sowed a cover crop back in April; the peas have since emerged and are growing well!  He’ll till those in this fall to build organic matter in preparation for growing vegetables next spring.

Earlier this month, Brad attended a Methow Valley farmer/buyer gathering put on by the Methow Conservancy and the WSDA. It was great to connect with old friends at meet some new ones at this event! The local business and farming community here in the valley is incredibly supportive of each other; we are blessed to be a part of it. Thanks to the Conservancy for hosting this event; we look forward to more in the future.

Washington Pass on Highway 20 is now open, so you western Washington residents should come out for a visit. Check out this fascinating video showing some of the techniques that WSDOT uses to clear the highway. The skiing at the pass is excellent, and the wildflowers are amazing down in the valley. We always love visitors so feel free to stop by the granary and say hi.

Sam reports that our new tractor implements are working well.  In particular, our minimum-till seed drill has been allowing us to get seed into the ground with less field prep work. This saves time and tractor fuel, which we are always happy about. It also proved to be useful last fall when we sowed our fall pea cover crop directly into the remaining emmer straw in our Big Valley fields. We are still fine tuning our tine weeder (that we reported to you on last fall).  This implement is used to organically kill weeds after the grain is planted, but proper adjustment and is critical to make sure we don’t damage the crop! We also need dry weather for it to effectively kill the weeds, so the break in the rain will give us an opportunity to test it further over the next few weeks.

Congratulations to The Willows Inn on earning the number 1 spot on the Opinionated About Dining national restaurant list!  The Willows Inn has long been considered one of America’s best restaurants; we’re excited they’ve earned another top honor.  The Willows Inn is a big supporter of Bluebird Grain Farms and uses our Methow Hard Red Wheat Flour regularly in their menu.  If you’re looking for the meal of a lifetime, you should check them out!

Spring is here! Bluebirds are returning and the snow is melting away, so we’re thinking about farming. Before we enter the whirlwind of field preparation and spring planting, we like to take time to reflect and give thanks for our family, friends, and customers. Thank you to everyone who makes Bluebird the amazing business it is! We look forward to another season of stewarding the soil, growing community, and growing delicious food.

We were honored to participate in the annual Bite of the Methow fundraiser for the Winthrop Kiwanis chapter. This excellent event raises money for community projects in the Methow Valley. Thank you to everyone who supported the event this year. We look forward to seeing you there next year!

Brad, our Outreach Coordinator, traveled to Seattle this month for a supplier meeting with the regional team at Whole Foods Market.  Whole Foods has long been a supporter of Bluebird and continues to do a great job offering products from organic farmers and food producers at their stores. If you live outside the Methow Valley and are looking for Bluebird products locally, we urge you to support this forward-thinking retail chain.

We have been receiving many questions from customers about our Split Emmer Farro (Farro Spezzato in Italian), so we wanted to include a note about it here.  Split farro is basically whole farro grains broken in half for a quicker cooking time. This is a very different product than pearled farro. Pearling is the process of shaving the bran off of a whole grain (which removes a significant amount of fiber and nutrients as well) for a quicker cooking time. Split farro’s bran is intact so has the full complement of fiber and nutrients that whole grain farro does. It has a lighter texture than whole farro so is perfectly suited for soups and pilafs. Our split emmer is currently on sale for 15%-25% off; check out our online store for details.

Open pit mining in the Methow Valley? Many of you have heard that a Canadian mining company has sought a permit for exploratory drilling for copper on Flagg Mountain, just a few miles up valley of Bluebird’s organic emmer and einkorn fields. Open pit mining would have disasterous consequences for our water quality here in the valley, which would in turn have disasterous consequences for our business and many other businesses that rely on clean, cold water from the Methow River.  We are very thankful for the work of the Methow Headwaters Campaign on ensuring that such a mine never comes to pass!  The approach they are taking is called a “mineral withdrawal”, in which the Methow headwaters  would legally be removed from consideration for large scale mining via an administrative action by the Forest Service or by legislation from Congress. Sam has put in a lot of time working with these folks over the past year, and you can see him and some of Bluebird’s fields featured in their educational video here. We are also thankful to our Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray for drafting and introducing the necessary legislation to begin the mineral withdrawal.  If you’d like to get involved, visit the Methow Headwaters Campaign’s website for more ways to help, or check out their Instagram or Facebook pages for updates on the campaign. Thank you!

Happy New Year! We are excited to dive into another year of growing and processing our organic whole grains. There’s always something new to be learned in farming, and we’re looking forward to applying our knowledge gleaned from the 2016 growing season. This is an especially important year for all of us to push forward on our work of environmental stewardship, improving our local food system, and growing our communities, so let’s go out and get some work done!

We are excited to introduce our new team member Kevin Olsonawski!  Kevin has moved to the Methow Valley from Colorado and will be overseeing our grain cleaning and milling operations.  Here’s a note from Kevin: “After growing up on a wheat farm in the Red River Valley of northern Minnesota, I studied geology, moved out west, and immediately fell in love with the mountains and the recreation they have to offer. For 8 years, I tramped around the hills of the Great Basin in northern Nevada, looking for gold in the summers and working as a professional ski patroller in the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Lake Tahoe in the winters. I then found a job guiding skiers in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado and was hired by the State of Colorado in water resources to pass time in the summers working with ranchers and their water rights. After finding an open position at Bluebird Grain Farms, I saw it as a great opportunity to do something I could feel passionate about while being closer to family that lives here in the Methow Valley. I am now very grateful to be part of an operation that is passionate about providing good, quality, healthy food in a great community that is as friendly and welcoming as anywhere I have ever been.” We’re looking forward to skiing some North Cascades powder with you Kevin!

Many of you have asked us for advice on what the best home-sized counter top mill is, but we’ve never trialed one we felt really good about until now….we’re excited to announce a partnership with Royal Lee Organics to offer their Lee Household Mill!   We ran a trial on this mill and were very impressed with its durability and grind quality. It’s also the only one we’ve used that works well with our heritage wheat and rye as well as our emmer and Einka farro.  Now you can mill flour in small batches as you need it- it doesn’t get fresher than that!  We’ve always prided ourselves on offering the freshest flour on the market (milled to order weekly), but we wanted an option for our customers who wanted to take things one step further. Using freshly milled flour makes a huge difference in the flavor of bread and other baked goods, so if you’re a committed home baker we urge you to give this product a try! You can watch a video on how it works here.

Thank you to everyone who has helped spread the word about Bluebird through our Refer a Friend program. A trusted referral is the best compliment a business can recieve from its customers. We have had some technical difficulties with the server side of the program, so please let Brad () know if you are experiencing any problems with referral coupons or have other feedback on the program.

News from the Staff: Brad, our Marketing and Outreach Coordinator, is the lucky new father of Aurora Wolff Halm! Aurora was born on Nov. 28 at 7 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long (she’s already 2 months old!).  Sheah, our CSA Coordinator, was married this past fall to her partner Jay at Falls Creek Falls in Winthrop, WA  Looks like an awesome ceremony!  Congrats Brad and Sheah!

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This is a holiday that we savor here at Bluebird. Our field work is (mostly) finished but the granary and packaging room are humming, so this day of reflection, rest, and giving thanks comes at the perfect time. Of course, we also all love to cook and this is a perfect holiday to experiment with new recipes. If any of you discovered a new way to prepare Bluebird products this Thanksgiving, we’d love to hear about it! You can email us directly or feel free to share recipes on our Facebook page.

We are excited to announce the launch of our online customer referral program! Bluebird has grown over the years primarily due to all of you helping to spread the word about our products with your friends. A trusted referral is the biggest compliment you can give to a business, and now we have a way to say “thank you” for letting your friends know about us.  After you make a purchase in our online store, you’ll receive an email from Bluebird that provides you with a link to share with friends. When they buy products using the link, they will receive a discount on their order and you’ll get a coupon for a discount on your next order. All you need to do is share the link with friends via email or social media. Coming soon, we’ll have a link on the front page of our website where you can refer friends directly.  We’re very proud of the family farming business we’ve built and hope you will help us continue to grow!

In our continuing effort to improve efficiency and reduce packaging waste, we will be discontinuing a few of our product sizes in 2017. Methow Hard Red Wheat Berries, Pasayten Hard White Wheat Berries, and Heritage Dark Northern Rye Berries will no longer be available in one pound bags. But don’t worry! You whole grain aficionados will still be able to purchase in five and twenty-five pound quantities.   In addition, we will no longer be offering cracked rye- we apologize for any inconvenience this causes.

Don’t forget about our wonderful gift options for the holidays! Check out  our gift basket page for holiday ideas.

We are still hiring for our Granary Operator position. You can check out the job description here. Feel free to share with anyone you think might be interested in working with us!

That’s all for now! We thank you for your support and will be in touch soon.  Best, The Bluebird Grain Farms Team

The harvest is on! Autumn is a crazy yet satisfying time for farmers- there’s much work to do, but we finally get to see the fruits (seeds, actually) of our labors during the spring and summer.  The crops look great this year- we are yielding above average in almost every field, and the grain is dense and of excellent quality. Our new problem is having enough silo space to store everything! Not a bad problem to have, all things considered.

In more bittersweet news, our longtime CSA coordinator Halley Hart has decided to move on! If you’ve purchased flour or grain from Bluebird in the past 9 years, it’s very likely Halley who packed your bag for you. Thank you for all your service Halley! Bluebird would not be what it is now without you. We wish you the best of luck in all your future endeavors. Here’s a note from Halley: “9 years at Bluebird Grain farms has afforded me the opportunity to take a close, hard look into the life of small family farmers everywhere. When I came on board at BB they had yet to receive their first large pallet order from a distributor. At first they trickled in and now distributor orders go out on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. The online retail business and wholesale customer base has grown as well. Running a small farm is not for the faint of heart. Weather is a factor that can not be controlled and Bluebird has come thru fires, winds and too much rain and has become a successful and very respected business. I have enjoyed working with great people, customers and being a part of a company that wants to leave the world a better place.” Sheah, CJ, and Tiffany will be filling in for Halley until we bring a new staff member on.  If you are interested in working at Bluebird or know someone who is, let us know!

In the news: Bluebird Grain Farms is featured in the October 2016 issue of Acres USA! Yep, that is Sam on the cover!  This national publication provides sustainably-minded farmers with great information on soil health, farming techniques, and business development. Unfortunately, the article is not currently online, but we will let you know if it becomes available. If you’re a farming nerd like we all are, you should get your own subscription!

New equipment: When farming, reducing wear and tear on your body is always a top priority. That’s why we’re excited to have a new conveyor belt sewing machine for our bulk packing line. This machine will help reduce our bending and lifting, and makes sewing bags shut more ergonomically comfortable. Sheah reports that it’s working well so far! We also purchased a new no-till grain drill that we’re very excited about- you can read more about it in Sam’s Farmer Notes.

New Placement in FRED MEYER! We’re excited to announce that Fred Meyer retail stores in Washington state will be carrying Bluebird Grain Farms products starting the first week of October! Fred Meyer connected with us as part of their initiative to source more locally produced organic products, and we’re glad to support them in doing so. If you’re shopping there, look for our flours in the baking section and our Emmer products in the packaged dinner section.

That’s all for this month.  We’re looking forward to the slower pace and cooler temperatures of fall, and can’t wait to spend more time in the kitchen cooking and baking.  See you next time!

Ancient grain promotion this week via our online store!  When it’s hot out, there’s no better way to enjoy whole grain farro than by combining it with seasonal vegetables and serving at room temperature with a delightful dressing. A perfect dinner or side-dish, and it doesn’t heat up the kitchen!  To celebrate, we’re running a 15% off special on our whole emmer and Einka berries, and our split emmer farro (split emmer cooks a little faster than whole emmer so is a great option for speeding up prep time in the kitchen), along with many other Bluebird products.

We’re excited to introduce our new fruit syrups from Lopez Island Farms! Our former syrup supplier, Jerry Pipitone of Pipitone Farms has decided to retire and close down his operation. Best of luck with the next steps in your life, Jerry! Thank you for providing us with your amazing fruit syrup and spreads over the years. Lopez Island Farms is another great local producer located on beautiful Lopez Island, Washington. You should check them out if you’re in the San Juan Islands for a summer visit. We offer their Apple Cider Syrup, Marionberry Syrup, and Raspberry Syrup, all of which are hand-made from local fruit. They are all delicious on pancakes made with our signature emmer pancake and waffle mix, or check out their recipe page for more ideas on how to use these unique products.

As our business grows, so does our star team! We’re excited to introduce Sheah Mucci, our new Granary Lead Operator. Sheah comes from a wildland firefighting background, but has transitioned to Bluebird to build her farming and small business skills in the hopes of one day running her own farming operation. She takes care of everything from cleaning and hulling emmer and Einka to milling our whole grains into flour to hand-blending our tasty mixes.  It’s awesome to have a female in this position!

Brad Halm, who previously was our Granary Lead Operator has moved up the “augur” to help Brooke Lucy in marketing, PR, and overall customer management. Brad offers a wonderful balance of critical thinking, follow through, and vision. Brad has a keen interest in food production and processing. He’s written two books on vegetable gardening (High-Yield Vegetable Gardening and Food Grown Right, In Your Backyard) and also co-owns an edible landscaping business called The Seattle Urban Farm Company. 

Looking for stores that carry Bluebird Grain Farms products in the Seattle Metro area?  Click here for a list! Thank you to all the retailers out there that support organic agriculture and family farms.  Not all stores carry all of our products, so be sure to call ahead if you’re looking for something in particular.

As demand grows for our nutrient dense, organic grains, our need for grain has increased; now more so than we can produce on our own land. We’ve worked hard to find more land or partner farms here in the Methow Valley, but unfortunately with little success. To stay true to our biological farming principles and to maintain a consistent supply of top quality organic grains, we’ve decided to look outside the valley and partner up with some like-minded organic eastern Washington growers. We’re excited to introduce our new Bluebird Grain Farms partner farmers: Jay and Chuck Goldmark, Alyssa Barrett, Kayla McIntyre and Mira Goldmark , and Tom Stahl! Tom, a lawyer, farmer, and ardent advocate for a GMO-free food supply, hails from Waterville, WA and is growing out Pasayten Hard White spring wheat for us. The Goldmarks are the third generation of a wheat farming family growing our Methow Hard Red wheat for us on their family land on the Okanogan Plateau.  You can read more about this exciting development in Sam’s Farmer Notes. Expanding the market for organic grains has always been a goal of ours; we look forward to new relationships and a strengthened community of organic growers!

Double J Ranch- from left: Mira, Jay, Alyssa, Kayla, and Chuck.  Photo credit: Double J Ranch