We’ve been privy to (and participated in) a resurgence in local grain over the past decade. More and more farmers are growing grain again in New England. Bakers want to bake with it, brewers want to make beer with it.

But we’ve struggled with how to talk to customers and other chefs about why they should care about local grain. It’s not as easy of a sell as a locally grown heirloom tomato. And yet when you smell flour that’s just been milled, it’s hard to go back to the dead white stuff.

Tomorrow we’re going to be at the first ever Northeast Grainshed Symposium. We’ll be speaking, catering lunch, but mostly we’ll just be listening and hoping to add to the conversation.

Andrea from Valley Malt, Amber from Maine Grains, Jack Algiere from Stone Barns, folks from Trillium and a bunch of farmers, millers, maltsters, bakers, and brewers are all gathering to figure out how to talk about local grains. We’ll report back what we learn.

The photo of malt is from the early days of beer at Clover when Valley Malt was just weeks old and Pretty Things beer was about to flow at CloverHSQ.