FOLLOWING THE GRAIN

When someone asks where your food comes from, the common answer is the store. Many don't give much thought to where the food is grown or processed. One Trout Creek family knows the process well.

The Beachy family has operated Granite Mill Farms since 2012. Wendell, Lisa and their seven children are involved in the business, which produces sprouted grains.

Wendell Beachy owns and operates Beachy Construction as well. When the construction industry slowed in 2010, he and his family looked for a way to supplement their income. "I was looking for something completely different from the construction industry. You can't get much further away than the food industry," Beachy said from his business in Whitepine.

Wendell and his family started researching sprouted grains. They educated themselves and started Granite Mill Farms as a side business. The Beachys sprout and mill grains from their facility in Whitepine. The business started with four grains and after a decade, they now process eight different grains, including hard white wheat, hard red wheat, rye, spelt, barley, emmer, red fife wheat and soft white wheat.

It took the Beachy family two years from idea to selling their product. Wendell said they learned a lot between the setup and becoming a certified organic product. While Granite Mill was started as a side business, they saw a bump in sales during the pandemic and in the winter of 2022 with the war in Ukraine and threats of supply issues in the grain industry. "A lot of people started baking at home," giving their business a boost. He said when they started, the entire family would help in the process from sprouting the grains to drying, milling and packaging. In 2022, they hired a full-time employee, Jon Good, to manage the daily operations.

Beachy said last week that their side business has grown enough that he was forced to make a decision and choose construction or grains. He chose to back away from construction and focus on Granite Mill Farms. He noted that he grew up on a grain farm, so he is familiar with farming.

Granite Mill Farms offers milled flour as well as the sprouted grains. Generating sprouted grain involves bringing grains from throughout the Northwest to the Trout Creek facility, soaking the grain until it begins to sprout, then drying the grains. From there the sprouted grain is stored or milled, with both the milled flours and the whole sprouted grains available for sale. Grains are brought to the facility in one-ton totes. While the sprouting process is relatively simple and involves essentially flooding the grains in a large metal tub that Beachy designed, the drying process is more technical and takes just the right temperature and time. Beachy also said the varied weather conditions and changing humidity of Northwest Montana air affects the drying process. When the grains reach the desired level of moisture content, they are ready for packaging.

Beachy designed the soaking and drying equipment used at Granite Mill Farms, and he said they are still adjusting the process. In 2012, the family started with 400-pound batches of grains, using scoops to load and package the grains and flour by hand. Now they have equipment that allows them to sprout and dry 6,000 pounds at a time. The business has reached its capacity in the current building. With the process being perfected, the next step will be to add space for the business to continue to grow.

When the business first started, milled flour was more popular, but Beachy said that more people are milling their own flour, increasing the whole grain part of the business. Hard white wheat is the most popular type of grain they sell. He explained that spelt and emmer are ancient grains and are becoming more popular. Granite Mill Farms products are certified organic and they undergo yearly inspections by the state Department of Agriculture.

According to the Whole Grains Council, the sprouting process "transforms long-term storage starch into simple sugars that are more easily digested by the growing plant." This makes the grain easier for humans to digest. "This includes gluten, which is a protein found in some grains such as wheat, barley and rye. Because the germinating seeds' enzymes basically 'pre-digest' the gluten, those with non-celiac gluten sensitivities tend to be less reactive to gluten in sprouted grains," the Whole Grains Council website states. While sprouted grains are not gluten free, they may be easier to digest for people with diabetes or for those who are gluten intolerant. Beachy said feedback from customers has supported that the sprouted grains are easier to digest.

Beachy said he likes being involved in the grain industry, and his family likes eating the food. He said they have experienced challenges, such as hard white wheat prices increasing nearly 50% due to a bad growing season and being hard to find, as well as perfecting the drying process. The business worked through the challenges, however, and Granite Mill Farms products are shipped throughout the United States.

Granite Mill Farms also sells unsprouted grain and flour. The products are milled to order, and the flour and grains are available on Amazon, eBay, or through their website, granitemillfarms.com. Products are available in 30-ounce, 5-pound or 25-pound packages. Beachy said that they are not licensed as a retail store, but online orders have the option of local pickup.