We're the millers: Islanders grinding flour for sale

An Island farming couple is milling their own organic flour for sale.

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Kathy and Brian MacKay of Crystal Green Farmsin Bedeque, P.E.I., are one of only a handful of millers on the Island.

"We're pretty excited about it, it's a little niche that'll be nice to be able to grow," Kathy said.

"And," the 53-year-old added, "we're not getting any younger!"

It's not by any means the big commercial production that the big companies do. Kathy MacKay

The MacKays sell flour and baking mixes by the kilogram at the Summerside, P.E.I.,and Charlottetown farmers markets, alongside meat from their own animals, and organic vegetables. The flour and mix sales now account for about 10 per cent of their sales, but they hope to grow that to 30 per cent or more.

They plan to soon expand the flour and mixes to more retail outlets including the Farmed Market and butchery in Summerside and other small local markets, gradually increasing distribution. They are also considering a mail-order business and Maritime distribution.

Grist for the mill

The couple started organic farming together about a decade ago on Kathy's family farm. They sell pre-ordered boxes of vegetables, but were looking for more products to round out the boxes in the winters.

"We started with a pancake mix made out of our own milled flour," she recalled, adding a muffin mix and a cookie mix over the years. They ground the flour using a small counter-top mill designed for home use.

Now, the MacKays grow their own organic Red Fife wheat, a heritage variety, and have purchased a largermill to grind it.

They're selling it at the Charlottetown Farmers Market for $4 for a one-kilogram bag. The mixes cost between $5 and $6 a bag.

$15K investment

The flour and mixes appeal to "anybody who's eating local," Kathy said. Bakers who make their own bread love the flavour, she said. And since Red Fife is a heritage variety, MacKay said it seems to be better tolerated by consumers who have shunned wheat in the past.

"People are telling us it's more easily digestible for the system, because it hasn't got all the changes that have been made to give higher yields," she said.

The MacKays estimate they've invested about $15,000 in the milling business to date.

"We didn't know if we could do the flour to the point we could sell it in the quantity we are now," Kathy said, so they'd been reluctant to invest in a mill until they stumbled upon a deal they couldn't pass up.

They were selling straw in New Brunswick to a baker who was downsizing, who offered to trade his mill for a load of straw.

I get to see where it is grown and the mileage it takes to get here reduces the carbon footprint. Angel McKann

The MacKays have had the mill for a few years but have just completed a steel-clad milling room on their property that will soon be inspected by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

New federally approved nutrition labels for their mixes and flour are also almost ready to go, and they've done tests on their products through food consultants at Canada's Smartest Kitchen.

Now, Kathy said they feel ready to get down to some serious milling.

"It's not by any means the big commercial production that the big companies do, but it's certainly bigger for us," she said.

90 kilograms of wheat an hour

The mill can grind about 90 kilograms of wheat per hour. Currently, the MacKays grind about 150 kilograms fresh per week, but are planning to increase that.

"A fair amount of packages go out between our veggie boxes right now and the markets," Kathy said. "If we start getting those out into retail spots, hopefully that'll work, too."

P.E.I.'s Handpie Companyuses Crystal Green Farms' flour, and calls it "amazingly good," as does Angel McKann, who runs True Loaf bakery at the Charlottetown Farmers Market.

"I like to use local organic flour being a local farmer I like to support other local farmers," McKann said.

"I get to see where it is grown and the mileage it takes to get here reduces the carbon footprint. The freshness of the flour is incomparable to others in quality and taste."

Not the only millers

Steve Knechtel, who owns Island Baking and Milling in Lewes in eastern P.E.I., has also been milling whole wheat flour for about 30 years.

He sells it wholesale for $7.50 per 5-kilogrambag, but mainly uses it for his baked goods for the Charlottetown Farmers Market. It can also be purchased at Riverview Country Market in Charlottetown.

Knechtel grinds wheat from the local grain elevator, using a 16-inch cast-iron grist mill by Meadows he lucked into purchasing from a defunct mill in Nova Scotia decades ago. He grinds 25 to 30 kilograms per week, using it fresh every week.

"I don't move a lot of flour," Knechtel said. "Flour is a volume business there's not a lot of money in it at my level."

However, creating the flour for his own baking saves Knechtel a lot of money, he said. "It's a really good deal for me."

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