When I was a young girl Grandma would have us over for dinner (you may call it lunch) at least once a week. We’d sit down in the dining room, which is our dining room now, and she’d set down the piping hot slow cooked crock of meat and veggies on the table. Thinking about it, I’m transported back in time. I can almost smell the pork hocks and sauerkraut, which are my favorite til this day. We didn’t think of serving up until after somebody shared grace. Grandpa would bow his head “Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you for your many blessings.” And like any good farmer he would include something about the weather, if there was enough rain he’d share his gratitude for it. If there was drought, he prayed for rain. Shortly after he’d walk over to the corner of the room and turn on the big Bose radio and within seconds a jingly tune would come through the speakers and announce the Linder Farm Network midday market report. This is one of those core memories I have as a kid, it’s so vivid and nostalgic. Linda, the main broadcaster, would share the current day market prices of commodity corn, soy, wheat, beef, etc in a very melodic, quickened tone. “November corn 584 down three and a quarter. November wheat 498 up two. November beef …” and it would go on for a matter of minutes. We knew to sit in our chairs quietly while the markets were on but had no idea what this lady was talking about or what those numbers meant. Every once in a while, we’d be listening to the almost hypnotic market report and Dad would scoff or Grandpa would shake his head. Little did I know how much weight were in those numbers. Literally the livelihood of farmers in the Midwest were and still are dependent on those unpredictable numbers, numbers of which are completely out of farmer’s control. Having the outlook and understanding that I do now, farming is completely a gamble. Farmers can and do spend literally hundreds of thousands of dollars upfront on input costs such as fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, and fuel. There’s so much unknown going into the process of farming nowadays, the biggest one is not knowing what you’re going to be paid for the very commodity crop you grow. Farmers are some of the most hardworking people out there. Can you imagine showing up to work all day everyday not knowing if or how you were going to be paid? Welcome to farming.

In the summer of 2023, we harvested 33 acres of hard red wheat. Half of what we harvested we took to Falk’s Seed in Murdock and got it cleaned by a food grade cleaner and bagged, this is what we set aside for our business. The other half of the harvest my dad hauled for us to the nearest elevator (where commodity grains are sold). They had free storage until August that we decided to take advantage of, we’d keep our eye on the market and sell our wheat when the time was “right”. We watched the markets fervently for months, BUT HOW DO YOU KNOW when to sell?! If you sell it too soon and continue to watch the price go up, you’re going to kick yourself. But if you sell it after the market continues to fall apart, you will also kick yourself. When we initially brought our grain to the elevator, prices were a little over $6 a bushel. The market climbed up to $7.40ish and we were optimistic considering prices the previous summer were close to $14 a bushel (abnormally high). We were feeling confident in holding strong while the market value increased, but unfortunately that’s not what happened. By the time we sold our grain at the end of our free storage period it had crashed to $5.40 cents a bushel. Two dollars difference may not sound like much but when you’re dealing with thousands of bushels, you’re dealing with thousands of dollars difference. And we’re tiny. I can’t imagine the pressure of deciding when to sell grain when dealing with tens of thousands of bushels. I can’t help but wonder why it’s like this? There’s no doubt in my mind that big corporations win big when farmers lose. Getting paid $5.40 for a bushel of wheat was a bit of a slap in the face, it barely covered our costs to grow it. To put it into perspective a bushel of wheat is 60lbs. If we take that same wheat, mill it into flour, and bake our legacy loaves we would profit 100 times that. Thankfully we only had to sell half of our hard red wheat on commodity. We’re working through what’s in our storage and are able to make a profit thanks to you guys. This experience is what drives us to pour our efforts into direct sales has opened our eyes to the importance of buying local, specifically supporting local farmers. 100% of the meat we eat is purchased directly from a farmer or produced locally. We really make it a point to purchase local produce when in season and make the most of preserving nature’s bounty when she offers it, recently it was apples. Please know that when you purchase bread or flour from us, we are reinvesting that money into sustainable farming practices and giving back to the local community. When people support local businesses, it's estimated that about 60-70% of their money stays within the local economy. Supporting local businesses helps create jobs, foster community ties, and boost local economic resilience. Please keep this in mind with holiday shopping. I know it can be easy to be trigger happy with Amazon but big corporations aren’t doing mini happy dances when they see sales coming through.

So, even though moving 30 acres of wheat directly to consumers by ourselves seems like a distant dream, we know we’re on the right track. And last week with our holiday sale we moved the most amount of fresh milled flour and bulk grains than we ever have in a week’s time. Thankfully people are really understanding the value of fresh milled flour and buying local. We’re so grateful to the people who support us (you for reading this) in this vision that gives us purpose every day.

When It’s a Gamble

More than just bread.

Thoughts from a wannabe old timer.