As the cover crop season progressed this fall, I sent an email to Dr, Stephen Jones at the WSU Bread Lab. I inquired about wheat seed availability and if it was too late for winter wheat. The next day, Dr. Jones responded, "not too late to plant. Great idea. Let’s arrange a time next week to do a seed hand-off." Fantastic.
A week later on a rainy Thursday I headed north up I-5 to Burlington to pick up 'Climate Blend' winter wheat seed for students to plant in early November. My hope was to provide an opportunity for students to harvest the wheat in June, thresh it and then bake bread. A bread course was offered last year, which could be a potential collaboration, now with an on-farm experience.
To my surprise, I was given a private tour during my first visit. I learned that The WSU Bread lab has an overall sustainability goal of bringing "more affordable, great tasting bread to the world one loaf at a time."
I met the research team and viewed the seed bank, lab, test kitchens, and education center and a King Arthur Baking School. The Seed bank or vault was colossal and contains wheat seed dating back to 1500's. Dr. Jones even demonstrated a number of mills for grinding different seeds (corn, amaranth, etc.) into flour. One of the mills would be perfect for grinding small batches into whole grain flour at the UW Farm! Of course I asked if I could bring students and our wheat up for a field trip in the future for milling. A very positive "yes" was the answer.
At the end of the tour Dr Jones handed over a little cardboard box with 13 pounds of 'Climate Blend' wheat destined for our small Plot K, the "Poaceae" plot. The box contained the following seed blends:
Wolfe
1109
LeSourd
Eileen
Doris
Blue Perennial
Early Sunrise
Club Wheat
"And a bunch of breeding lines"
The Bread Lab developed all of the varieties except Early Sunrise which is a line from the 1840s. Each of the named ones contain populations made up of 10's to 100's types. Incredible. The idea, Dr. Jones stated, " is if we have a chaotic climate, (we should) create chaos in the field."
He explained that the goal is not to proclaim that the seed can solve climate change. Rather, the blend hopes to set up wheat fields for adapting to climate change or chaos. Embrace, encourage diversity as a strength in our a growing practices and our food systems versus less diversity. The wheat, and corn industry has focused only on commodity strains, selecting for volume. If the research focuses on pounds, flavor, texture and other traits can be lost, not to mention the vulnerability of monocultures to disease, drought and other environmental stresses.
Our 3,360 square foot plot should yield 200-400 lbs of wheat berries If all goes well, the wheat harvest and perhaps bread making could be incorporated as part of curriculum in various courses as early as net spring.
I invite you to visit the UW Farm site at the Center for Urban Horticulture to take a look at the "Poaceae" plot and watch with us as we eagerly await a carpet of green 'Climate blend' wheat coming up in spring,
Photos above:
Research room at the WSU Bread Lab; one of four walls of seeds in the Seed Vault; Mini mill that can separate germ and bran from flour; Dr Jones showing how a wheel can be attached to a mill that would work without electricity; King Arthur Baking School
Photos below: The 13 pounds of 'Climate Blend' wheat; students planting wheat by hand; Kove Janeski, UW Farm student staff, using the BCS to cover the seed to protect (most of) it from birds.
By Audrey Sun, Public Health-Global Health: Nutritional Sciences Major, UW Farm Fall Nutrition Education intern.
This week’s recipe is a delicious and seasonal play on stuffing. Using ingredients like leeks and delicata squash, the stuffing has many of the traditional fall tastes but with a little more complexity. Whether you celebrate thanksgiving or not, you’ll want to make this dish. Slightly sweet from the alliums and squash, savory from the mushrooms and stock, and the crispy top of crusty bread and cheese
The stuffing itself is vegetarian but can be made vegan if you substitute butter, chicken stock, and parmesan.. Like many of my other recipes it is extremely customizable to your preferences, celery can be a controversial flavor so if you don’t like it just add more onions. Use what veggies you have if you are missing some of the ingredients. Bear with me on this one as it requires a lot of prep work, but I promise it's worth it and is a delight to share at potlucks.
Ingredients:
1 pound bread or 10 cups, 1-inch cubes, preferably toasted or stale
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 large onion, diced
2 medium leeks, diced
4 ribs of celery, diced
3 cups kale, chopped
1 cup parmesan, shredded
2 cups button mushrooms, halved and sliced
2 medium delicata, de-seeded, cut into fourths and sliced (you can really substitute any winter squash)
6 cloves of garlic, minced
kosher salt and pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 1/2 cups chicken, turkey, or vegetable stock
½ cup of white wine
2 large eggs
Instructions:
Heat your oven at 400 F.
Place all your cut vegetables (onions, leeks, mushrooms, celery, squash and kale) onto the largest pan you have, or split into two if there isn’t enough space.
Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Tossing to coat evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t burn. Take out the vegetables, allowing to cool, turn the oven to 425 F.
In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, add your white wine and let it reduce by half.
Add in your butter and stock, stirring before turning off the heat. Allow to cool down before stirring in two eggs and a teaspoon of salt..
In a large mixing bowl, add your stale bread cubes, parmesan, herbs, garlic and veggies. Mix gently. Slowly add in your stock mixture, gently folding to mix. Add until evenly saturated (if you run out of liquid you can add more plain stock).
In a butter greased 9 by 13 baking dish, add in your stuffing mix. Optionally sprinkle over some extra cheese and freshly cracked black pepper. Cover with aluminum foil before baking for 30 minutes. Uncover and turn the oven to 450, baking for about 10 minutes or until the top is crispy (make sure to keep an eye on it at this point so it doesn’t burn).
Serve by itself or drizzled with gravy and enjoy!
Nutrition Corner: Leeks
Nutrition Corner:
Did you know! Leeks are rich in many vitamins including K, A, and C. In one portion of leeks you can get more than half the recommended daily amount of Vitamin K. Vitamin K is used in the body to help blood clot and some studies think it might be linked to helping prevent osteoporosis.
No matter if you only have a tiny apartment deck, small garden space, or plenty of acreage you can grow fresh food in a healthier, more environmentally friendly way.
With an overall focus on limited space/resources, and the combined challenges of western Washington weather and soils, this series of speakers and topics will help beginners, as well as long time gardeners, l
When: Wednesday evenings from 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: online using the Zoom platform.
Fee: $5 per class, or…save and take all 15 Growing Groceries classes for $50
Oct. 12 Starting a Vegetable Garden Nov. 9 Healthy Soil = Healthy Plants Dec. 7 Raising the Onion & Beet Families Jan. 11 Irrigation & Weed Management Jan. 18 Pruning Fruit Trees Jan. 25 Pea/Bean Family & Cover Cropping Feb. 1 Raising Berries in W. Washington Feb. 8 Seed Starting & Raising Transplants Feb. 15 Raising Broccoli & Buckwheat Families Feb. 22 Raising the Tomato/Potato Family Mar. 1 Using Hoop Houses & Greenhouse Mar. 8 Raising the Cucumber/Squash Family Mar. 15 Raising Carrot, Lettuce, & Corn Families Mar. 22 Raising Culinary & Tea Herbs Mar. 29 Pests, Predators, & Pollinators
Register online at GrowingGroceries.Eventbrite.com. For more information about all classes in the series, visit snohomish.wsu.edu/growing-groceries.
Sponsored by the WSU Snohomish County Extension Growing Groceries and Master Gardener programs. For more information about the program, contact Kate Ryan, (425) 357-6024, kate.ryan@wsu.edu
Urban Food Systems Lecture Series
Join the lecture series hosted by the Nutritional Sciences Program and learn about current critical topics in urban food systems! Available in-person and recorded for viewing online.
The UW Farm donates regularly to the UW Food Pantry. During peak season we also donate to nearby food banks. The links below are resources to help you or someone you know with food access.
Every year, we have the capacity to grow more food and increase our educational and research program at the UW, but not without your support. Every contribution goes to work immediately, helping us better serve students. Your support can sustain our momentum and help seed new opportunities for student internships, academic work, and future growth. Please consider making a gift to the Farm online
The Weekly Dirt is produced once a week by the University of Washington Farm, a program of the UW Botanic Gardens, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, College of the Environment. It is published nearly year-round for educational purposes and the majority of the content is written or contributed by students and farm staff.
This issue's contributors:
Around the Farm: Perry Acworth, UW Farm Manager
Recipe: Audrey Sun, UW Farm Fall Nutrition Education Intern, UW Nutrition Sciences Program Editors: Perry Acworth, Farm Manager and Chrina Munn, AmeriCorps Volunteer 2022-23 Photo Credits: Perry Acworth. Other photos retrieved from the internet and noted in sections
I learned that The WSU Bread lab has an overall sustainability goal of bringing "more affordable, great tasting bread to the world one loaf at a time."
He explained that the goal is not to proclaim that the seed can solve climate change. Rather, the blend hopes to set up wheat fields for adapting to climate change or chaos. Embrace, encourage diversity as a strength in our a growing practices and our food systems versus less diversity. The wheat, and corn industry has focused only on commodity strains, selecting for volume. If the research focuses on pounds, flavor, texture and other traits can be lost, not to mention the vulnerability of monocultures to disease, drought and other environmental stresses. 
