Small Flour Mills Thrive Thanks to Quarantine Bakers

[Norcalbaker59]

Quarantine bakers boosted the sales of flour for small mills everywhere. Last month I read how a 1000 yr old mill in North Dorset went from operating as a museum to milling a ton of wheat to help meet demand in England. ln the US small employee owned mills are experiencing remarkable increases in sales. Keep baking to keep these mills going strong!!

Opinion | That Flour You Bought Could Be the Future of the U.S. Economy (Published 2020)

Keep baking bread. Small grain companies may suggest a better path for American business.

www.nytimes.com

One-Thousand-Year-Old Mill Resumes Production to Supply Flour Amid Pandemic

In April alone, the Sturminster Newton Mill ground more than one ton of wheat

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[Ian]

Small world, I've been to that old mill a few years ago! Funny to think that a 1000 year old mill still has it's uses even today. From what I remember they used to mill very small batches at the museum just as a demonstration - nice to see it back in action.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Small world, I've been to that old mill a few years ago! Funny to think that a 1000 year old mill still has it's uses even today. From what I remember they used to mill very small batches at the museum just as a demonstration - nice to see it back in action.

Hello Ian, That’s really cool you were actually at the mill! Yes, it’s wonderful they were able to put their skills to work to help out the baking community. So many people are finding solace in baking during these stressful times. Such a blessing for you all to have the mill and their caretakers.

My brother and I got derailed by the pandemic. The coffee conventions and shows were cancelled. He is a intense care unit nurse by training, so has been working 12 shifts at the hospital. I’ve been working at re-working my recipes. Some day this pandemic has to end and well will get a chance to relaunch our business. But I have some other ideas for it.

He just left for a much needed vacation. There’s not a lot that we can do with everything close up right now.

 

[Ian]

Really sorry to hear about your derailed plans , I hope that things do start to get back to normal somewhat in the coming months - I worry that the 2nd wave is going to be even bigger than the first! Let's hope that by Spring, we've got a vaccine and normality.

Funnily enough, I was in Dorset near the mill just last week (but didn't visit this time). There's a place called the "New Forest" nearby, which has lots of wild ponies and horses roaming around in it. Here's a few that stayed near a small car park, hoping for some food!:

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Really sorry to hear about your derailed plans , I hope that things do start to get back to normal somewhat in the coming months - I worry that the 2nd wave is going to be even bigger than the first! Let's hope that by Spring, we've got a vaccine and normality.

Funnily enough, I was in Dorset near the mill just last week (but didn't visit this time). There's a place called the "New Forest" nearby, which has lots of wild ponies and horses roaming around in it. Here's a few that stayed near a small car park, hoping for some food!:

View attachment 3169

OMG, the horses are beautiful. They look amazingly healthy too. Obviously the tourists are generous with the carrots. The countryside is so green and lush. So different from where I live in California. We live in what is considered a costal Mediterranean climate. We get hot dry summers that leaves the landscape brown and dried out. If not for the evergreen pines and redwood trees, we wouldn’t see a speck of green after May.

My sister wants very much to visit the UK, especially Scotland. She is a fiber artist and would like to visit some of the famous sheep farms. She spins her own yarns. Some of the farmers have months long waiting lists to buy their fleece. My sister once waited a year and half to get a fleece from one of these farmers. I guess countries have strict import rules on livestock due to disease control, so the best sheep breeds from Scotland and the UK will never be available in the US.

The pandemic has change how business is conducted that is for sure. Where I live the economy is centered on the wine and food industry. Storefronts have really suffered. The pandemic has made me realize the store front is not the best business model, that the direct customer interface is actually very vulnerable. It also made me realize that the type of products we have don’t need a direct customer interface. We just need to rethink a few things.

Have you done any baking lately? I’ve been reworking some recipes. Mainly cake and cookies.

 

[Ian]

On the flipside, it's always warm in Cali which must be nice. I spend some time there about 10 years ago and loved the consistently warm/hot days .

Scotland is a beautiful country, with so much to do - so if your sister took a UK break, I can't recommend visiting there highly enough. Edinburgh is a wonderful city to visit for a couple of days, followed by so much beautiful countryside and fun people.

I have my fingers crossed for your about business - those industries seem particularly vulnerable at the moment, but I think they may bounce back up high once people feel safe again, they'll want to do something nice that is relatively safe (food and wine tick those boxes ).

Minimal baking at my end for the past month as I've been so busy sorting things out, but I've done a lot more cooking and made a few Sri Lankan curries and accompaniments that have been enjoyable (and tasty ). I've been craving cookies recently, so if you've got any recipe recommendations (especially ones that may involve peanut butter!), then I'd love to give them a try and I'll post my results up. I enjoyed the Christine Tosi Cornflake cookies you recommended.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

On the flipside, it's always warm in Cali which must be nice. I spend some time there about 10 years ago and loved the consistently warm/hot days .

Scotland is a beautiful country, with so much to do - so if your sister took a UK break, I can't recommend visiting there highly enough. Edinburgh is a wonderful city to visit for a couple of days, followed by so much beautiful countryside and fun people.

I have my fingers crossed for your about business - those industries seem particularly vulnerable at the moment, but I think they may bounce back up high once people feel safe again, they'll want to do something nice that is relatively safe (food and wine tick those boxes ).

Minimal baking at my end for the past month as I've been so busy sorting things out, but I've done a lot more cooking and made a few Sri Lankan curries and accompaniments that have been enjoyable (and tasty ). I've been craving cookies recently, so if you've got any recipe recommendations (especially ones that may involve peanut butter!), then I'd love to give them a try and I'll post my results up. I enjoyed the Christine Tosi Cornflake cookies you recommended.

Yes we are fortunate where were at the weather here is pretty mild. And one of the wonderful things about California is we have everything within driving distance: ocean, mountains, desert. This is why I indulged in so many sports: trail running, skiing, cycling, hiking. I’ve tried rock climbing, kayaking, canoeing, horseback riding, rollerblading. If it’s an outdoor sport, I’ve tried it. This seasons here don’t very much with such mild weather, so we can pretty much indulge our outdoor activities year around.



Yes my sister really wants to go to Scotland. There’s a big fiber convention that happens there annually. So she wants me to go with her. It may happen next year. But my brother also wants me to go to Japan with him next year as well.



When I visited Belgium and France I wanted to try to get over to England. But I only had 3 weeks, and in the end ran out of time. My second trip to Europe was spent in Italy so I’ve always said the third European trip will definitely be in the UK countries.



Yes, I’ll send you a recipe for peanut butter cookies. I owe a peanut butter cookie recipe to @Cahoot too.



Now mind you I make this cookie with a very specific brand of peanut butter, just so you know. I also add a little bit of golden syrup, so you’re in luck because you have an endless supply there in England—lucky you.



Sri Lankan curries sounds delicious. I love curry. The Japanese are crazy about curry. But we tend to make curry with a premade mix, which is really unfortunate. My niece loves her curry. She’ll take curry over anything else for dinner.

Google just announced that their employees can continue to work fromhome through July 2021. So that is going to force other companies to evaluate their work from home policies. We will be looking at a significant transition away from the traditional workplace. And that in turn is going to significantly change all of commercial real estate and the downtown
economies.

Traditionally people drive into an office to go to work. If we don’t go to the office to go to work, we don’t participate in that economy: the gas stations, the morning coffee runs, the lunch breaks, the afternoon snack breaks, the laundry services, the drive home grocery store stops. It’s going to really change the local economies surrounding all of the offices where people work.

More and more we need to rethink how we do business. The direct interface with the customer is not necessarily the way of the future. The storefront is about to be obsolesced. We are about to become autonomous and isolated consumers.

More and more we need to rethink how we do business. The direct interface with the customer is not necessarily the way of the future.

And if we’re going to interface with the customer we have to really think about where that interface happens because the traditional interfaces aren’t there anymore.

This pandemic has really changed how we do business. I think the work from home model was inevitable, but I think the pandemic has really moved the timeline up.

 

[Ian]

That weather sounds perfect . It's nice here for a few months of the year (31C/88F tomorrow), but for large parts of the year it's just too cold or windy to do consistent stuff outside.

If you do visit the UK, you'll not be short of things to see and do - London and Edinburgh are both cities well worth a visit . York is a very historic and interesting place to visit too, and about halfway between the two! Hopefully you'll have a blast if you do make it over for the convention.

Thank you so much for the recipe! I'm dating an American lady who lives in the UK at the moment, so there's always a supply of Jif (or sometimes Skippy) on hand. I'll get the ingredients next week and then get a batch made . Interesting fact, the Lyons company that makes golden syrup also sold PCs in the 1950's, even though they were a food manufacturing business!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer)

 

[Norcalbaker59]

That weather sounds perfect . It's nice here for a few months of the year (31C/88F tomorrow), but for large parts of the year it's just too cold or windy to do consistent stuff outside.

If you do visit the UK, you'll not be short of things to see and do - London and Edinburgh are both cities well worth a visit . York is a very historic and interesting place to visit too, and about halfway between the two! Hopefully you'll have a blast if you do make it over for the convention.

Thank you so much for the recipe! I'm dating an American lady who lives in the UK at the moment, so there's always a supply of Jif (or sometimes Skippy) on hand. I'll get the ingredients next week and then get a batch made . Interesting fact, the Lyons company that makes golden syrup also sold PCs in the 1950's, even though they were a food manufacturing business!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer)

That’s really fascinating fact about the Lyons company. It just goes to show you bakers really are mad scientist wannabes run amok in the kitchen. We are fascinated with all the intricate workings of the science behind things. It just happens in baking sometimes that madness tastes delicious!!

oh how wonderful you’ve met someone. An American too!! Oh and she’ll tell you when it comes to peanut butter were in two camps: Jif and the other stuff. Heck even the Canadians are in on it now. A few years ago they stop selling Jif in Canada. Canadians living close to the US border we’re coming across and buying jars of Jif to take home. Others were posting pleas for Jif on Facebook. Finally one Canadian got so upset he wrote to the parent company and demanded they restock Canadian grocery stores with Jif. And it actually worked. Skippy got booted out of Canada and Jif came back.

I’m telling you it’s the molasses they add in to their peanut butter. Gives it just a nicer flavor. I don’t care what people say about natural peanut butter. Nope, give me molasses in my peanut butter. Those purest don’t know what they’re missing. Jif is the one and only peanut butter as far as I’m concerned

San Francisco weather is really windy and cold. I lived in San Francisco for a number of years. I don’t think I could handle living in The City again. When my cousin came to visit from Japan she came in July. I wonder if she needed to bring her winter clothing. She didn’t believe me because she said July summer; I explained not in San Francisco. Sure enough the second day we had to go shopping for coats for her entire family. But despite the cold weather I used to go out to cycle and hike all the time. I guess I was a pretty hearty—or just stupid.

Now I live in the Napa Valley where it is really hot and dry in the summer. But I’ll take the dry heat over those cold windy foggy San Francisco days.

Yeah I definitely want to the UK. I love that European countries are made up of small villages. And there’s so many little churches with amazing art. I really love art and art history. So each trip to Europe is always an adventure of small villages, finding their history. And of course finding out about their food.

Belgium I discovered they’re really quite proud of their beers. Every village has their own special beer. Thank God it’s a small country because I drink my way from one into the country to the other. Of course these days I can’t drink beer because of the gluten, but I do have very fond memories, and quite a few vague ones from my time in Belgium.

 

[LamsMekk]

Yes Scotland is amazing

 

[Annoying Twit]

I get my flour from a variety of sources. Probably about 30% of it is from a small mill that supplies a local fruit and veg shop.

https://www.wessexmill.co.uk/acatalog/about.html

Before I looked up that, I didn't realise that my flour from them is milled using water power.

I'd like to be able to get flour from Green's Mill in Nottingham, but I'm not travelling outside my city. I checked their webpage and ended up making a small donation. https://www.greensmill.org.uk

 

[Mona]

What a fascinating and uplifting development! It’s amazing how something as simple as baking can have such a profound impact on local economies and small businesses. I love the idea that these historic mills are not only preserving their heritage but also adapting to meet current needs. It’s a win-win for everyone involved. Plus, there’s something so comforting about baking at home, especially during uncertain times. I’ll definitely keep baking and supporting these small mills! Thanks for sharing this insight!