Our Vision
Great taste, real nutrition and thriving soil go hand and hand.
For our family, our staff, and many of our wonderful customers, great taste, real nutrition and thriving soil go hand and hand. We believe the true premise of organic farming, in specific, organic grain production, is to raise nutritious crops while leaving the soil and countryside in better shape for the future generations.
History
Sam Lucy first became a certified organic grain producer in 2000. Sam began raising organic emmer seedstock in 2003. He and wife Brooke started Bluebird Grain Farms the following year. In 2004 they built the original wooden granaries attached to a small processor building where they installed their first dehulling and cleaning line, before adding a flour mill. That same year, they grew and harvested 2 varieties of spring wheat, rye and emmer for Bluebird’s own processing, and began packaging under the Bluebird name. The primary goal was to mill to order, and sell their fresh whole grains, whole grain flours and dry mixes farm – direct or, as they coined the phrase, “plow to plate.” A secondary goal was to cultivate renewed interest in local organic grain production, and to offer a potential fair market for other local growers – beginning in the Methow Valley.
In 2022 Bluebird Grain Farms finally moved operations off the Rendezvous foothills where they’d started, and down to a new modernized facility surrounded by their own cropland just south of Winthrop along highway 20. In that timespan the Bluebird logo has evolved, and our grain product line has expanded but our original goal has remained the same. We are as dedicated as ever to fostering organic and sustainable farm practices, while offering the highest quality, custom milled ancient whole grains and whole grain flours in the marketplace. As always, we take care of local customers on a daily basis, while expanding our consistent service to a broader range of customers nationwide.
Community
The land ethic that we adhere to has not changed over our years of farming, but has become ever more important, leading us to other farms that share similar values. Our farm base now reaches well beyond the Methow Valley as we seek to reduce our carbon footprint through organic farming practices and increased efficiencies. To meet the needs of our growing customer base, we’ve been fortunate to find and begin work with other accomplished organic growers who also love the land and love our brand. Their dedication to the land and belief in soil health has been the cornerstone of their success, much the way it has been to ours. By applying serious crop rotations, and true regenerative agricultural practices on a much bigger scale than we can here, these partner farms have helped spread the good soil ethic while reducing agriculture’s generally heavy footprint. Meanwhile, they’ve helped Bluebird by assuring a consistent supply of nutrient dense grains. In turn, Bluebird has assured them a sound market for all their hard work. Spreading our grain production base has allowed us to dedicate some of our Bluebird farmland to growing out seed-stock and continuing to select the best seeds for these rare and ancient wheats. Sharing and believing in our founding principles has been paramount for our entire community.
Grains & Flour
For over 20 years now, Bluebird Grain Farms produces what often is referred to as Farro – an Italian term for ancient hulled wheat. The three hulled wheats are einkorn, emmer, and spelt, and before we began our “emmer project” at Bluebird, most of these grains that were sold in the USA, were imported from Europe and were most often pearled or “semi-pearled.”
Pearling the grain means that the grain has been scarified during the dehulling process (the outer layer of the grain – its nutrient pack – has been shaved off, exposing the grain to air and making it susceptible to oxidation). A pearled or semi-pearled grain has lost the outer integrity of the kernel and technically is no longer a “whole grain.” It degrades much faster than whole grain, thus, it is not nearly as shelf-stable. It does cook much quicker than whole grain, but not only does it lack full nutrition, it also loses flavor and does not hold up nearly as well after cooking.
At Bluebird we go to great lengths not only to grow hulled grains in nutrient dense soils, but we then process them in a fashion that keeps their integrity intact. Organically! Why shave off the nutrients that we work so hard to produce? When we go to hull our emmer, einkorn or spelt, we do this in a way where we are careful not to “skin” the actual kernel, which means you get maximum nutrition, flavor, and shelf-stability.
Additionally, our flour is milled to order in our USDA organic processing facility, so you get the freshest, whole grain flour as well. Each week, we mill our grains in small batches on our trusty hammermill, and since we pride ourselves in delivering a 100% wholegrain product, we do not sift our flour and this keeps every bit of nutrition in your food. This difference and quality you’ll taste in every bite of the pasta, bread, sweets, and other foods you make with Bluebird Grain Farm products.