Nash’s Grain Program
This epic summer weather just keeps on coming and farmers across the Olympic Peninsula are LOVING IT! Our grain production team has been working over-time to bring in the grain harvest. Grain requires heat and dry weather to fully mature and to be harvested, and this summer has been ideal.
Not only are our grain crops way ahead of schedule this year, but yields have also been high. We’ve combined over 75 acres of barley, 7 acres of rye, 7 of triticale, 6 acres of green peas, 10 of red wheat, 15 of white wheat, and 15 of oats.
These crops will be cleaned in an intricate series of seed cleaners and screens throughout the fall and winter. Grain crops keep people employed during the slower production times of year (there is no actual “off season” at our farm!). Many hours of cleaning, bagging, milling and sorting will transform these field-run harvests into products that can be readily consumed by livestock, bakers, millers, distillers and others who appreciate healthy, organic, local grain.
Grain production completes the cycle of nutrients on the farm. We produce enough grain and seed to feed our own pigs year-round, to plant green manures for cover cropping that improves the health of the soil, and to also feed the farmers and community.
Organically-grown whole grains and freshly milled flours are part of a well-balanced diet, and we are lucky to have access to such products on the Olympic Peninsula. We have a restored an old stone mill and gone through the extensive process of getting it, and the milling room, certified by the Washington State Department of Agriculture. We use the mill to grind white wheat, red wheat, triticale and rye.
We also grind dried yellow dent corn into corn flour and corn meal, and whole buckwheat into buckwheat flour. Although these products are not certified gluten-free because they are milled in a facility that also mills wheat, they are nevertheless appreciated by folks who want to avoid gluten in their diets.
Late August oat harvest on the Schmuck Rd. field