Hello from Cedar Isle Farm and Urban Grains!

Thank you all so much for your patience this growing season. Again, we are sorry that we did not offer shares for our certified organic wheat in the spring but the cool, rainy weather had us very concerned about the crops. The great news, though, is that the wheat ripened well during the late summer and the harvest is now complete! So, finally, we are able to offer you the chance to buy flour or grain for your baking months ahead!

This year we have two types of wheat available. The hard red spring wheat has a higher gluten content and can be used for making bread. We call this wheat “bread wheat” although it can be used in other baking as well. The soft white spring wheat has a lower gluten content and is less suitable for bread making, but has a lovely flavour and is great for pastry and pancakes, muffins, cookies — all your favourite baking recipes. This wheat is commonly called “pastry wheat”.

If you choose to purchase a 20kg share of wheat, it will be packaged in four 5kg bags. You can select either bread wheat, pastry wheat or a combination of both. Also, you can have your wheat milled into whole grain flour or unmilled as kernels so that you can sprout it or mill it at home. Simply indicate on the registration form how you would like to receive your wheat and we’ll do our best to meet your request. Please don’t delay, as supplies – and the number of memberships – will be limited. Memberships and wheat selections will be filled on a ‘first-come, first-served’ basis. Mail your registration form soon to avoid disappointment and ensure maximum choice!

The cost for a 20kg share is $95 and we would really appreciate receiving your orders by September 17th so we can proceed with milling. To place your order, please print this registration form, fill it in and mail it, with your cheque, to:

Urban Grains CSA
Cedar Isle Farm
3270 Chaplin Road,
Agassiz, B.C. V0M 1A2

We have been in contact with Anita’s Organic Mill in Chilliwack and expect to have the flour and kernels ready for pick up in Vancouver (or Chilliwack) in early October. We’ll let you know the details as soon as we have them, but for now we invite you to join our CSA and share in the harvest!

With many thanks, and very best wishes,
Jim and Diane
Cedar Isle Farm

A new season is underway and we send greetings from Cedar Isle Farm in Agassiz.

We thank each of you for your patience and continued interest in Urban Grains CSA. It was great to hear from those of you who emailed us. We are pleased to provide a short update on the season so far.

Once again this year, we planted the wheat fields in the sunny days of April. Since then, however, the weather has been cool and wet, creating some challenges for the growing crops.
While we remain confident that the weather will eventually turn more favourable, we’ve decided to delay the share offer until harvest. Once the grain is safely in the bin and we know how much is available, we’ll give you a chance to buy a share. In the meantime, we’ll keep working hard and try to keep you informed as the season progresses.

Thanks to everyone who has asked about shares for 2012. We really appreciate your interest in local, organic grain and are sorry it has taken us so long to decide how to handle this soggy season.

We look forward to contacting you all in early September … with news of a good harvest!
All the best for a happy summer,
Jim and Diane
Cedar Isle Farm

What a delight it was to welcome Urban Grain members to Cedar Isle Farm on August 21st. We’d like to thank everyone who journeyed out to Agassiz and shared their enthusiasm for local grain. Here are a few of Yoshi’s photos to remember the day. Stay tuned for news of the harvest soon!

After a cool, wet spring, the wheat is now maturing fast.

Members hand-threshed some heritage wheat, and viewed one of the cleaning machines separate the wheat from the chaff.

During the hay ride, members checked the different varieties of wheat.

Jeff was the lucky winner of a spectacular basket of specialty flours kindly donated by Anita’s Organic Mill, where Urban Grains CSA flour is milled.

A local bear and cub made a special guest appearance during the tour.

Thanks to Yoshi Sugiyama for all the photos!

Greetings Urban Grains CSA Members!

We have a new date for the Urban Grains CSA Farm Visit and Grain Tour… Sunday, August 21st. Again, we apologize for having to postpone this event, and really hope you can attend on the 21st.  Looking forward to seeing you!

We cordially invite you to join us for a visit to Cedar Isle Farm, hosted by Jim, Diane and their children. The main attractions are, of course, the grain plantings that are working hard this year to outgrow the weeds and mature as quickly as possible. You’ll have a chance to see the fields before the grain is harvested.

After a tour of the farm, we’ll sit down for a picnic lunch (please bring your own) and enjoy the scenery.

Driving out to Cedar Isle takes about an hour and a half if you’re coming from Vancouver centre, so please budget your morning accordingly.

When: Sunday August 21st – meet at the farm at 10:30am

Where: Cedar Isle Farm in Agassiz, B.C. (directions will be emailed to you when you RSVP)

What to bring: A picnic meal for you and your guests, water if it’s hot, a blanket for sitting on and reasonable shoes for field-walking, hat for sun etc.

How to get there: Group transportation will not be provided, but we strongly encourage car-pooling as much as possible to lessen the environmental impact of the trip, and to make sure everyone can find a space to park. We have set up a blog post for the purpose of matching up folks who need rides with drivers who have space in their car. In case you’re hesitant to provide personal information, the post is password protected, so it will only be visible to the Urban Grains community. Details are provided in an email sent to all members.

Please RSVP if you’ll be joining in and tell us how many people will be in your party. (Feel free to bring your families along, or the person who’s splitting your share, but please refrain from bringing too many guests. We will be a large enough group descending on the farm!)
We look forward to seeing you there!

- The Urban Grains Team

The Farm Visit and Grain Tour – originally scheduled for this Saturday, August 6^th – has been postponed due to a family health issue.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience the change causes and greatly appreciate your understanding.

We’re looking forward to seeing you and really hope that you can make it on a new date, which will be announced soon.

Thank you, and best wishes from

Jim, Diane and the family and the Urban Grains CSA team.

Green, green, green. This is what Cedar Isle looks like now.

We are thrilled to be growing grain again, and excited that the 2011 wheat-growing season is well underway. Despite an unusually cool, wet spring, this year’s wheat crop was planted on time and is developing well.

Now, we invite you to join the Urban Grains CSA, and receive a delicious share of local, freshly-milled, whole grain wheat flour.

Here’s how it works: Urban Grains CSA members pay up front to receive four 5kg bags of whole grain flour, milled at Anita’s Organic Grain & Flour Mill in Chilliwack from grain grown at Cedar Isle Farm in Agassiz. This 100-mile whole grain flour is milled from the entire wheat kernel. Unlike other flours, it contains all of the nutritious germ and all of the bran of the whole grain. This year, CSA members can expect to receive flour from hard red spring wheat (suitable for bread and other baking) and soft white spring wheat (for pastry, cookies and other baking). Members are also invited to view their grain growing in the field during the popular, children-friendly farm visit … on a date in August, soon to be announced. After the harvest, members pick up their share of flour at a central Vancouver location(s) that will be announced well in advance.

We hope you will join Urban Grains CSA to support locally-grown grain and benefit from the fresh, healthy flour from the 2011 harvest. But please don’t delay. Shares normally sell out quickly.

On the registration form (download form here) you will see further details and instructions for payment. Urban Grains CSA shares are $95.00 per share. There are three options for payment – (1) cheque or money order, made out to ; or (2) direct deposit to our Vancity bank account (branch #31; account 151951; Independent Business Account) from any Vancity branch in your neighbourhood (see form for confirmation details) or (3) direct transfer from your Vancity account to ours.

Choose whichever is easiest for you. If you choose to make your payment via Vancity – online or in a branch – please be sure to note your name with the transaction and attach the details to your registration form. This helps us to match your registration payment to our deposit records.

Then simply forward your completed registration form (download form here) with payment or receipt/confirmation to “Urban Grains CSA, Cedar Isle Farm”, at the address noted on the form. Shares will be available until we fill all 250 of this season’s spots. We will send a confirmation email to alert you that your registration has reached us.

We hope you will become a member of Urban Grains CSA.

Here’s to another great Urban Grains CSA season! Stay tuned to our website as we share news of the season at the farm and upcoming events.