With our holidays behind us, the mill is hard at work keeping up with a steady stream of orders! We have also found time to offer a “Guest Flour” milled from Squareheads Master grain.
This grain has a wonderful story which I share below!
The grain is grown by Jonathan Wheeler whose family own Bardwell Windmill in Suffolk. Jonathan is a steam traction engine specialist and owns his own engine plus a set of threshing tackle. He is also passionate about both traditional crafts and our agricultural heritage. Each year, Jonathan grows a number of acres of Squareheads Master grain which he cuts and then dries in the field using the traditional method of sheaves and stooks.
Once the grain has dried, he threshes it using his steam threshing tackle as the video below demonstrates. Jonathan has kindly offered us some grain this year which we offer to you! From a baking perspective, it is a lowish protein flour with large soft flakes of bran. A lovely flavour which is used best by blending it with some higher protein wheats such as the Priors White Flour .
Everything is used, the grain, the straw which is sold to Thatchers and the chaff which is used for animal feed. As you can see from the video, the work requires a dedicated team of hard working people and reminds us of the way our forebears worked together in our rural communities. The sacks of grain are the old half hundred weight sacks – you certainly know when you’ve moved a few of those in a day!
