Curated news and information worth Sharing
In this section of the site you'll find news and information we come across related to local businesses in Lafayette Colorado as well as local food initiatives along the Front Range and beyond.
The Uproot Pie Co.
via Instagram
Posted August 2, 2022 9:57 pm by Paul Bonneville
I'd be lying if I said I didn't see wood-fired pizza in our future, either at home or as part of our bakery venture.

I just came across the Uproot Pie Co. in a reference on an Instagram post, which is how I come across of lot of the businesses I track in our database. 

They have an inspirational story that is sprinkled in their website and Instagram feed. Definitely worthy of a perusal 🍕
Locations
Thomaston, ME,
United States
Organizations

Chloe Newman of Crust Worthy offers baked goods worth salivating over
via Pittsburgh City Paper
Posted July 29, 2022 10:48 am by Paul Bonneville
Stories like Chloe's are definitely inspirational, but when we look across the country, not entirely unique. I don't say that to marginalize her story, but as an indication that there is a trend of consumers and communities longing for more authentic and local food experiences coming from community members like Chloe:

“We're pretty transparent as a business about how important it is for us to source our ingredients locally. Most of the fruits and vegetables that we get that are incorporated into specialty breads and pastries are locally sourced from the market often,” she says. “All of the flour that we get is also locally sourced, and there's really a lot of heart and soul that goes into that kind of regional pride and wanting to support that local economy”
Locations
Pittsburgh, PA,
United States
Organizations
Baking
Sales

The Modern Épicerie: France’s Corner Store Gets a Revival
via Eater
Posted July 28, 2022 10:37 pm by Paul Bonneville
When I think about what we want an eventual Daily Grains storefront to become, this article about a revival of épicerie's in France (think smaller specialty grocer stores with local goods) has a line that really resonates with me:

The épicerie is firmly grounded in brick-and-mortar tradition, gaining customers not through novelty or Instagrammable branding, but by reviving the regional culinary know-how and personal relationships with farmers and customers that empowered épiciers of the past.

I'm not saying we want a specialty grocery store, we are building a bakery to be clear, but it is how I'd like us to go about getting customers. We really want to build a space for community as much as the bread 😊.
Sales
Marketing & Promotion
Baking

Gratuitous Grain Video Courtesy of the Colorado Grain Chain
via Instagram
Posted July 27, 2022 11:33 pm by Paul Bonneville
We weren't able to make it down to the San Luis Valley for the UCCS Grain School in the Field & the Colorado Grain Chain Roadshow event this past weekend, but we are sharing this gratuitous video of grain.
Farming
Milling & Malting
Advocacy & Education
Baking

A 150-year-old San Luis Valley farm stops growing food to save a shrinking water supply. It might be the first deal of its kind in the country
via Colorado Public Radio
Posted July 26, 2022 10:30 pm by Paul Bonneville
These stories about the water issues out here in the western part of the country are part of a sad reality. The Colorado Grain Chain just finished hosting an educational event out in the San Luis Valley this past weekend, so this headline stuck out to me.

To restore a balance of supply and demand, farmers and ranchers across the valley need to drastically cut how much water they pump out of the ground, according to the Colorado Division of Water Resources. If they don’t, the state has threatened to step in and shut off hundreds of wells, which local water managers say would devastate the valley’s agriculture-driven economy. 

As to why I keep posting these types of articles: I'm tracking these stories as part of research we're doing for sourcing local and regional grains for our bakery out here in Colorado.
Policy & Legal
Advocacy & Education
Farming

Colorado River crisis: The West's most important water supply is drying up
via The Denver Post
Posted July 22, 2022 6:51 pm by Paul Bonneville
This is one of the most thorough articles I've seen on the water situation here and out west. Agriculture will be a significant target for water use reductions, and one question I have is whether or not known agriculture techniques that reduce water usage can be applied to help. I do understand that swapping out farming models is not simple or easy and would likely reduce yields, but financial models aside, are different farming practices a possibility.

“This is an extremely challenging situation,” Meiman said. “There aren’t simple solutions. There aren’t easy solutions. We’ve exhausted all of those.”

Grocery bills have already increased as farmers face tighter water budgets, Shields said. And they’ll climb higher if additional cuts plague the industry.

Agriculture consumes the vast majority of Colorado River water across the basin, so policy makers see the industry as an obvious target for conservation efforts.
Advocacy & Education
Policy & Legal
Farming

A Painful Deadline Nears as Colorado River Reservoirs Run Critically Low
via The New York Times
Posted July 21, 2022 10:58 pm by Paul Bonneville
It is no secret that there are major water issues out here in Colorado and westward, but an open secret that I learned recently is that anywhere from 75-80% of the water we use here out west is used for agriculture. Matching water shortages due to drought with a desire to develop and grow local and regional food systems does add up to a bright future. 

Water managers from the states, irrigation districts, Native tribes and others are discussing proposals for steep 2023 cuts, which must be submitted to the Bureau of Reclamation next month. The reductions are expected to fall most heavily on agriculture, which uses about three-quarters of Colorado water, and on the lower basin states.

There will be a dark future of course, unless we start thinking differently about how we are farming with a goal or reducing wasted water by sticking to old agricultural practices that don't work without massive amounts of water. 
Advocacy & Education
Science & Research
Farming
Policy & Legal

Denver’s bakery scene is on fire: Here are 3 hot new shops to watch
via The Denver Post
Posted July 20, 2022 9:16 pm by Paul Bonneville
Just a few years ago it was breweries that were popping up all over the country. This last couple of years, we can thank the pandemic for making bakeries the next trend in new food related businesses. Obviously this is a trend I can get on board with 😁 Inspirational stories, no doubt:

Thanks to Colorado’s Cottage Foods Act, social justice fundraisers and social media, everyone from enthusiasts to pros started baking comfort foods and finding their own dedicated audience. By the end of 2020, pastry and bread devotees were even waiting outside of some Denver bakeries for hours just to get a bite.

Now many of these small-business success stories that came about during the baking boom of 2020 are graduating into full-scale bricks-and-mortar restaurants and shops.
Locations
Denver, CO,
United States
Sales
Food & beverage creation
Baking

Pico plus ovens are coming for you America 🇺🇸
via Instagram
Posted July 19, 2022 7:40 pm by Paul Bonneville
We ordered our Tom Chandley Compacta Pico Plus ovens back in mid-April of this year. We were given a July estimated delivery date. One could only hope ours are in this shipment :)

Pico plus ovens are coming for you America 🇺🇸
Organizations
Baking
Equipment
The Bakery

Meet the Distiller Dedicated to Reviving Heirloom Grains
via Modern Farmer
Posted July 18, 2022 9:28 pm by Paul Bonneville
Interesting article that focuses more on the distillery area of the grain chain, but the sentiment below goes for bakers as well. If you can't grow your own grains, get to know your farmers.

Swanson encourages other distillers to get as involved as they can in the agricultural side of the process. Some, like him, might be able to grow their own grain, a tradition that dates back hundreds of years. Others might not have that opportunity, but he would encourage them to buy local grains and speak with the farmers about which variety they use and why. By developing the agricultural side of distilling, the end user experience gets better and better.

We are seeing a number of direct baker-to-farmer relationships in our region out here in Colorado, but we have yet to see these relationships facilitated through any sort of centralized market or exchange. Most of these relationships are simply one-to-one, which from my perspective is not sustainable or scalable for any given farmer. We definitely want to help grow a grain exchange marketplace wherever and however we can.
Locations
Hallock, MN,
United States
Organizations
Farming
Food & beverage creation
Sales
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