Einkorn Harvest 2018- A Decade of Growing Einkorn for Jovial

There is an incredibly beautiful expanse of land in the hills near Montalcino, an Etruscan town in Tuscany that dates back to the year 800, where the famed Brunello wine is produced. Gian Paolo and his family have owned this piece of heaven on earth since the 1970’s, and the respect and pride they show for their surroundings is admirable. They have a passion for horses, and more than twenty can be seen riding out in the fields on any given day. The farmland spans thousands of acres, with each field being surrounded by woods, streams and untouched land. This beautiful place is where the majority of jovial’s einkorn wheat is grown.

This year marks our 10th anniversary of growing einkorn and this farm has been with us since our beginning. Our partnership has grown into a friendship and I feel very grateful to be the liason between my customers and the farmers who have always been there for me in 100% support of my mission to revive einkorn. Together, all of us have created a beautiful business model, where both sides have been rewarded. If you’re passionate about einkorn, you would have loved to spend the afternoon with me on this farm. Conversation was not only about hectars, yields, and protein, but also about children, hobbies, and vacations, just like it would be with old friends. The love of good food and always striving to do the best we can is what unites us.

Each einkorn harvest has a story, and this year is no different. Just a few weeks ago, unseasonal and uncharacteristic torrential rain storms have been rolling through most of Italy every afternoon. This rain has caused the wheat to lodge or bend over, making it harder to harvest. This is exactly why wheat plants were dwarfed using cobalt radiation in the 1940’s during the Green Revolution. Ten days of upcoming sun will dry things out just in time for the harvest, but much of the wheat that is down will be difficult to cut and yields will be lower than usual. The farmers here were definitely discouraged at the time of my visit, since they’ve come off of two really good years, but this is the life of a farmer. We will have plenty of einkorn for the upcoming year, so no need to worry, and prices will always remain the same.

We grow einkorn in this area of Italy for a reason. This is marginal farmland with clay soil, it’s hilly and extremely dry in the summer months. Keeping wheat dry at the end of its growing cycle inhibits the growth of molds or mycotoxins, which are dangerous to your health. That’s perfect for us and for Gian Paolo. Growing modern wheat here would be crazy. He would never turn a profit if he tried to compete with the yields of wheat farmers in North America, so einkorn is a niche market that guarantees income for him every year. What’s better for us is that he has the space to properly rotate his crops, so einkorn is always grown in a different field, where he has cultivated legumes and pasture years prior. Conventional farmers can add chemical fertilizers rich in nitrogen to raise yields and protein in their crops, but here, this is all done in a natural, organic way.

While on my visit, I think I managed to convince Leonardo, the farmer, and Gian Paolo to plant jovial’s einkorn at the highest point of the farm, which is marked with a holm oak tree. Next year, the views of our einkorn swaying in the wind with Montalcino off in the distance will be fantastic.

I want to thank you again for supporting our company and our farmers. What we do would be not possible without your loyalty and support. When you unpack your next shipment of wheatberries, know that they are not only grown and harvested on this farm, but also cleaned and packaged right here. Hopefully, that thought and these pictures will help make you feel even closer to where your einkorn is grown! I wish you another year of joyful and delicious einkorn baking.

All my best,

Carla