Today were happy to shine the spotlight on two of our organic farmersNelson Grade Organics from Pendleton, Oregon and Lentz Spelt Farms in Eastern Washington. Were often asked by our customers about the origin of our products and specifically where theyre grown. Most of our grains are grown close to home in the Pacific Northwest, and our Organic Spelt and Organic Soft White Wheat Berries are especially close in Oregon and Washington.
Nelson Grade Organics is located in Pendleton, OR, just 200 miles east of our mill. They grow Organic Soft White Wheat Berries, which we mill into our
Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. In addition to growing our Organic Soft White Wheat Berries, they rotate alfalfa, mustard, and other spring wheat over 900 acres. With the knowledge of four generations of farming they made the decision to undergo the three-year certification process to become certified USDA Organic in 2010. The very first crop of Organic Soft White Wheat that was grown at the farm was purchased by Bobs Red Mill! Weve happily partnered with Nelson Grade Organics every year since.
Harvest time just wrapped up in Pendleton, OR in July and August of this year. Those grains will be delivered to our mill as early as this month, just 1-2 months off the field. Those grains will soon be milled, packaged, and ready for baking! You can also find our Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour in many of our mixes.
Lentz Spelt Farms began in 2000 with an experimental crop of spelt a bit north of Marlin, WA. After their first harvest we met with the partners at Lentz Spelt and began purchasing conventional spelt grain. Eventually the farm extended contracts with other farmers to produce and meet the high volume needed for Bobs Red Mill. In our continued partnership, Lentz Spelt added organic farmers to supply our
Organic Spelt.
While spelt is harvested in the same manner as wheat, the hull (protective outer layer) stays intact throughout the harvesting process. In order to access the grain inside Lentz Spelt purchased a special de-huller machine from Germany that loosens and removes the hull, revealing the tasty grain inside. Those grains are brought directly to our mill where we mill them on our cool, slow turning, century-old stone buhr millstones into our
Organic Spelt Flour.

Well be continually featuring different organic farms who we partner with, check back soon for more spotlights!