The Arran Pioneer Project has joined Scotland the Bread’s Soil to Slice project, which has seen the first ancient grains being planted in various sites around the island.
Pioneer Project Ranger Zabdi Keen explains:
The project started with George Grassie from the Blackwater Bakehouse and his dream of a local loaf. George gave us some Rye, Emmer and Spelt seeds that he sprouts and uses on his loaves to try out at the gardens. After some further research, The Pioneer Project has joined the Scotland The Bread “Soil to Slice” ancient grains project – they sent us Balcaskie Landrace wheat and Fultofta Evo Rye seeds.
Scotland the Bread’s grain “Balcaskie Landrace” wheat is a mixture of long-strawed wheat varieties grown together, harvested and re-sown in order to harness the adaptive power of natural selection in a particular landscape, in this case the Balcaskie Estate in Fife, Scotland.
This Landrace has been created by mixing the three ‘original’ Scotland The Bread wheat varieties – Rouge d’Ecosse, Golden Drop and Hunter’s – in equal quantities, then sowing and harvesting the resultant mixture. The aim is gradually to increase the genetic diversity of this crop while carefully monitoring its nutrient density, bread-making quality and yield.
We plan to plant more test plots on other community gardens and try to get local farmers interested in joining the project and fulfilling George’s dream of a Local Arran loaf, as well as building future resilience for our community as we produce our own grains.
So far we have planted them at Whiting Bay Primary School, at Robin Gray’s farm and Arran Community Land Initiative, as well as Corrie Community Garden CIC, Kilpatrick Community Garden and Cordon Community Garden.
From soil to slice…
Scotland the Bread say:
Our goal is to create opportunities for everyone to get involved in establishing a Scottish flour and bread supply that is healthy, equitable, locally controlled and sustainable. We work in partnership with communities across Scotland to introduce local people to our nutritious grains and support them in developing the knowledge and skills to grow, process and bake these into delicious bread.
Soil to Slice is a programme that encourages communities throughout Scotland to get involved in growing, harvesting, threshing, milling and baking with more nutritious grains in their local area.
In 2015, Scotland the Bread’s co-founders, Andrew and Veronica, started this project with the purpose of helping local communities to grow and bake their own healthy bread, from the soil to the slice. Sitting alongside our wider crop research, this participatory project engages local communities in gaining a better understanding of how heritage grains can be grown and enjoyed close to home.
Fermenting Good Ideas
Growing grain on this scale in urban plots and community gardens isn’t going to create a viable supply of flour for any community, yet participants have shown that even a tiny patch of wheat can change the way we think of our growing spaces and their connection with our food. It’s worth remembering that a plot of just 8 x 10 metres can produce enough wheat to make bread for one person for a full year.
Abundant possibilities spring up when we are invited to re-imagine the way we ‘do’ bread and to formulate ideas to suit our unique, local circumstance. These might include:
• a community-scale micro-bakery to serve a school, a clinic or a care home;
• a peri-urban farm to supply freshly-milled flour to a local food network;
• a community to share its breadmaking skills and varied cultural traditions, creating real jobs in meaningful work as it does so;
• a local authority or NHS Trust to give nourishing bread a central place in its public procurement…
Scotland the Bread is a collaborative project to establish a Scottish flour and bread supply that is healthy, equitable, locally controlled and sustainable. Our idea is simple: grow nutritious wheat and bake it properly close to home. Find out more about Scotland the Bread here
