Grains Past Events

"Sowing the Future of Organic Wheat Research in the Northeast," an on-Farm Field Day co-hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension, NOFA-NY, and GrowNYC
June 10, 2016, The Love Lab at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
This event celebrated the past, present, and future of organic wheat improvement in the Northeast. Results were shared from a decade of variety trials in the field, bakery, mill, and taste buds. Folks were treated to a tour of Cornell’s organic wheat breeding nurseries, and helped set needs and priorities for future small grain improvement in the region. The event included tastings of varietal-specific products made by local bakers, chefs, and brewers

Beer and Spirits of New York Pop-up
September 5 - November 21, 2015, Union Square Saturday Greenmarket and Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, NYC
Come join us at the Beer and Spirits of New York Pop-up stand! We'll be at both the Union Square and Grand Army Plaza Greenmarkets every Saturday from Labor Day weekend until Thanksgiving. Each week the pop-up will highlight a different craft brewer and distiller making their beverages with New York State grown ingredients, thanks to support from Empire State Development. Alongside these brewers and distillers, a neighborhood restaurant will sample bites and the Greenmarket Regional Grains Project retail stand will be on hand selling whole grains and flours grown and processed in the Northeast. In addition to sampling their wares, the brewers and distillers will be selling bottles and growlers of their New York-based brews and spirits.

University of Vermont 10th Annual Grain Growers Conference, "Grow It Here"
March 13, 2014 The Essex Resort, Essex, VT
Hear grain grower, renowned author, and co-founder of the Northern Grain Growers Association Jack Lazor speak about growing grains in cold climates and so much more! Our friend Andrea Stanley from Valley Malt will be teaching the ins and outs of small-batch malting, along with malting marvel Bruno Vachon of Malterie Frontenac in Quebec.  Other exciting topics include growing dry beans and starting a distillery.

NOFA-CT Winter Conference: "Update on Heritage and Ancient Grains" workshop 
March 1, 2014 Western Connecticut State University
The Value-Added Grains Project continues to work on how to grow, process, and market heritage varieties and the ancient grains emmer, spelt, and einkorn. GRGP's own June Russell and our partner Elizabeth Dyck of OGRIN will share what they have learned (including new options for dehulling), discuss these grains’ potential nutritional benefits—and give you a taste of their unique flavors.

NYC Brewer's Choice
February 26, 2014 The Wythe Hotel, Brooklyn
This year, the marquee event of the annual NYC Beer Week is focusing on beer made with malt from grains grown in New York state! Over 25 brewers will each personally pour you his/her most special beers, and over 
20 NYC restaurants and food artisans will serve food that pairs perfectly with the beer.

PASA 23rd Annual Farming for the Future Conference: Rebuilding a Local and Regional Grains Food System: Where We Are - Where We Need to Go
February 6, 2014 The Penn State Conference Center, State College, PA
At this year's annual conference of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, spend a fascinating day learning about what is still needed to make a regional grains food system work. Hear from bakers, millers, farmers and growers, including GRGP partner Elizabeth Dyck of OGRIN, and Greenmarket cheesemonger and baker Nina White of Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse.

NOFA-NY Winter Conference Screening of "A Local Grain Renaissance in the Northeast, Part 1: Baking Bread with Local Flour," Panel Discussion and Baking Demonstration
January 25, 2014 Saratoga Hilton and City Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
At this year's Northeast Organic Farming Association's Winter Conference, June Russell of the Greenmarket Regional Grains Project and Stefan Senders of Wide Awake Bakery will discuss the video co-produced by GRGP and our partner OGRIN. Stick around for "Into the Dough," the session immediately following, for a hands-on baking demonstration. Learn to see and feel stages of dough development and learn crucial hand skills, then taste the results!

Making Pasta With Local Grains, a Cooking Demo with Gisella Isidori
October 25, 2013 Union Square Greenmarket
Learn How to make Pizzoccheri Della Valterllina with local buckwheat and wheat flour!

NOFA-NY Field Day: Harvesting & Processing Value-Added Grains
November 5, 2013 White Frost Farm, Danville, PA
Learn about growing, marketing and processing advancements for small grains, particularly ancient grains like Spelt, Einkorn and Emmer. Witness processing equipment in action, including a portable processing unit with the ability to clean and de-hull tough grains, developed through the ongoing research incorporating input from host farmers Kit and Cathy Kelly. Supported by NOFA-NY, OGRIN, OREI and PASA.

Film screening with the Greenmarket Regional Grains Project! NYC Premiere: A Local Grain Renaissance in the Northeast
July 10, 2013 Astor Center Screening Room
The video, produced by GrowNYC and OGRIN (Organic Growers Research and Information Sharing Network) shows the importance of pioneering entrepreneurs who are now milling, malting, sprouting and distilling local grains, and the continued resurgence of this once lost sector of our regional food system. 

Second Annual Spirits of New York Event
July 10, 2013 Astor Center, NYC
Slow Food NYC and Astor Center are pleased to collaborate on the second annual Spirits of New York Event featuring spirits made in New York, with most ingredients grown and produced in New York or, otherwise, fair/direct traded. Selected regional producers’ beverages — vodka, gin, shine, white brandy, rye, Bourbon, and jack — will be served up neat and in tantalizing, season and place-inspired cocktails for truly local libation. This is your opportunity to taste some of the best booze in the state and also meet their makers. To complement their products, New York distillers will be joined by local producers of bitters, syrups, and mixers.

Cornell Small Farms Program: Reinventing the Hudson Valley Breadbasket
June 24, 2013 Migliorelli Farm, Red Hook, NY. (See photos from the event here.)
Join us for a tour of Cornell’s Hudson Valley regional wheat and barley variety trials. Dr. Mark Sorrels will discuss Cornell’s initiative to develop regionally-adapted small grains varieties for local and specialty markets. We'll also discuss small grains production considerations for the humid northeast, and there will be a discussion panel and Q & A with representatives of emerging markets for: Artisan baked goods; Craft brewing; Micro-distilleries; and NYC-metro Greenmarkets.

Greenmarket Wheat Beer Launch
June 19, 2013 River Park Restaurant, NYC
GrowNYC and Brooklyn Brewery are excited to announce the launch of Greenmarket Wheat, a beer collaboration between local farmers, malters, and brewers that captures the flavor of regional agriculture in a bottle. Greenmarket Wheat is a wheat beer made with raw wheat from North Country Farm in Watertown, NY, Pilsner Barley Malt from Valley Malt in Hadley, MA, and Wildflower Honey from Tremblay Apiaries, Chemung County, NY. The idea for Greenmarket Wheat grew from New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 2012 Farm Brewery License legislation aimed at expanding the growth of craft breweries and increase demand for locally grown products to brew beer statewide.

Adding Value, Heritage and Ancient Grains
August 11, 2013 NOFA Summer Conference, Amherst, MA
Led by Elizabeth Dyck, Coordinator, Organic Growers’ Research and Information-Sharing Network (OGRIN); and June Russell, Manager of Farm Inspections and Strategic Development, Greenmarket, GrowNYC. Join researchers from the Value-Added Grains project to learn about grains with high potential: heritage varieties and the ancient wheats – emmer, einkorn, and spelt. We’ll discuss their nutritional attributes, how best to grow and process them, and the growing markets for them. Seed sources and dehulling options will also be considered.

Shortcourse on Grain Processing in the Northeast
March 2, 2013 Glynwood Center, Cold Spring, NY
Join us for an intensive one-day short-course to learn about starting up a grain-processing enterprise and get specific instruction on how to mill, sprout, and malt grain from experts.

New Amsterdam Bread Pavilion
April 29, 2012 New Amsterdam Market
This year's opening market includes a Bread Pavilion featuring 14 bakers, each using flour from grains grown in the Northeast.

Philly Farm and Food Fest
April 1, 2012 Pennsylvania Convention Center Annex, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia-area bakers and mills collaborated on a variety of products for participants to sample, and the Greenmarket team spread the word about the great work being done in regional grains to the folks of Philly.

Home Baker's Meet-up and Grain-to-Glass Pop-up Bar
March 13, 2012 The Astor Center, 399 Lafayette St.
Home bakers and professionals compared notes on flavor and what techniques, flours and starters yield the best crust and crumb. Cocktails that feature whiskies with mashbills that include locally grown grains were shared, and the distillers at New York Distilling Company and Tuthilltown explained how using local grains impacts their spirits. For complimentary admission, home bakers brought a loaf of their own home baked best, made with local flour, of course. (Visit Greenmarkets website for a list of where to purchase locally grown and milled flour.)

PASA Farming for the Future Conference
February 3, 2012
Greenmarket's Regional Grains Project teamed up with the Organic Growers Research and Information Sharing Network (OGRIN) to host a formal tasting event. Over 100 eager participants tasted breads made from Pennsylvania-grown heritage and modern wheats to help determine which varieties were superior in flavor. Diverse products made with locally grown grains, including buckwheat, corn, and the ancient grains emmer and spelt were sampled, and folks got acquainted with einkorn, the "newest" ancient grain starting to be grown in our region. Participants learned about the new Value-Added Grains Project for growers, bakers, processors, and consumers.

NOFA-NY Winter Conference Scaling up the Northeast Grains System: Linking Farmers, Millers, and Bakers 
January 20th, 2012
This day-long workshop followed the organic grains value chain from seed to final product over the course of four panel discussions. Topics covered included: growing high-value grains; identifying and sourcing varities; building farmer-miller-baker relationships; and making local grains work for your bakery. Read moreWorkshop agenda.

A Shortcourse on Breadmaking with Locally Grown Grains
January 18-19, 2013 Wide Awake Bakery, Trumansburg, NY
Join bakers Stefan Senders and David McInnis of Wide Awake Bakery for an intensive, one-day course on baking with locally grown and milled wheat. The course will include a practice-based session in the wood-fired bakery working with flours from the local mill, a round-table discussion of best practices in baking with “challenging” flours, and an introduction to baking with the ancient grains einkorn, emmer, and spelt (led by June Russell of Greenmarket). Issues such as cost and sourcing of locally grown grains and flours will be covered. Plus, Stefan and David will share their experiences with their community-supported-baking or Breadshare. This course is for artisan bakers, home bakers, students, farmers.

Grain Summit at NOFA Conference
January, 2010 NOFA-NY Conference, Saratoga Springs, NY
Greenmarket played a key roll in advancing regional grain production by participating in a day-long grain summit at The Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) NY's 2010 Farming and Gardening conference.

Premiere Events

GRAINS WEEK
November 13-21, 2010
Grains Week was one of GRGP's premiere events -- seven days of collaborative programming to promote the reemergence of local grains in our regional food system. Grains Week Highlights: Pancake breakfast, Grains discussion panel, Class on baking with local flour

A DISCUSSION & TASTING ON LOCAL GRAINS
January 11, 2010
Greenmarket and NOFA-NY's Organic Wheat Project held a Local Grain Discussion and Tasting at the French Culinary Institute. Orwasher's, Sullivan Street Bakery, FCI, City Bakery, I Trulli and Hot Bread Kitchen all baked bread, pastry, pasta and tortillas from locally grown heritage grain, which participants tasted and gave feedback on.

Every year, GrowNYC holds our Annual Spring Plant Sale in order to provide community groups with affordable perennial and annual flowering plants, herbs, ground covers, and vegetables grown by Greenmarket farmers and sold in wholesale quantities.