Milling Business Thrives On Locally-Grown Grains

Milling Business Thrives On Locally-Grown Grains CROPS Miscellaneous Stone-ground flour made from locally-grown grains is hard to find in many areas but not if you’re within the two-state marketing area of Lonesome Stone Milling in Lone Rock Wisconsin That’s where Gilbert Williams Judy Ettenhofer and Gary Zimmer mill rye and wheat grains into specialized flours for a growing niche market
    Their business venture started a decade ago in a building that’s more than 100 years old They use a 60-year-old Clipper 29-D wooden fanning mill to clean rye and wheat grown by local farmers Williams says their first venture into milling happened when Jeremy Lynch their first employee ground rye and wheat seed in his small home coffee grinder He blended the ingredients together and what began as an experiment is now the locally-famous Lonesome Stone pancake mix
    “After we made larger batches I drove the mix around to farmers’ markets and it became very popular That’s when I realized farmers in this area had the right soil chemistry for very flavorful grains ”
    They began stone milling those grains into a variety of flours using an outside vendor and eventually purchased their own new 30-in Meadows mill Also known as a grist mill the device has a stationary bedstone and two revolving millstones all made from granite quarried in North Carolina Williams says their 30-in model can mill up to 1 000 lbs of grain an hour
    Lonesome Stone Milling sources their grains mostly from farmers whose land is in the Driftless Region of Southwest Wisconsin Incoming grains are cleaned then stored in one-ton tote bags until they’re ready to be milled
    Says Williams “We really try to bring the farmers as close to the end users as possible which our customers really seem to appreciate ” The business also produces brewer’s grains used by distilleries
    To produce the ideal grains their mill needs Williams has leaned on his Masters Degree in Agronomy and had assistance from the University of Wisconsin at Madison They’ve developed a special variety of hard red winter wheat that can thrive east of the Mississippi River and withstand Wisconsin’s harsh winters
    Lonesome Stone Milling currently markets its flour in Chicago Madison and Milwaukee “Chicago has become a real ‘foodie’ city and we’d like to tap into that market even more ” says Williams Independent distilleries also use Lonesome Stone Milling products
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Lonesome Stone Milling

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