Where do you get your wheat?

[Emerald]

I know my local (10 miles away) Wal-Mart does not carry the Wheat Montana berries, but I will check at another store when I am in the area & hope for the best. I went to their website and it costs twice as much to have it shipped as for the item itself. How do you ever order any????
I do have a Mennonite country store I go to that I am going to check with. I have never seen them carry the berries, only wheat that is already ground & packaged. They were listed on the website as a dealer, so maybe even if they don't carry it they would be willing to order some for me when they are placing another order.
Any other suggestions?

[ozarksnick]

I would bet that your Mennonite store can get them if they don't already have them in stock. Definitely ask them.

Also check to see if there is a food co-op in your area. We are members of one here and we can order bulk stuff like you want. Check out http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/.

Also check out http://www.azurestandard.com/. You don't have to join the azure co-op you can just order. And they'll ship if you don't live close to a drop off point.

[Shamrock1121]

Avoid shipping, if at all possible. I ship rye, corn, and spelt from western Kansas (Heartland Mill, Inc., Marienthal, KS- www.heartlandmill.com/) - I'm located in central Kansas - but shipping is still cheaper than driving there. It all comes out of my $50/week food budget and I order once or twice a year from Heartland Mill.

If you have a Mormon church nearby, they may be a source. As ozarksnick pointed out - check for food-coops. I've been involved with a couple of them, one through a friend at her church in a town 30-minutes from here.

Our coop was linked with Ozark Natural Foods out of Fayetteville, Arkansas
http://www.ozarknaturalfoods.com/retailer/store_templates/shell_id_1.asp?storeID=4352A164B6274DFC8F4930A85CE F1307

I haven't seen wheat at Wal-Mart for a long time now - since April. :(

Most health food stores will order in large amounts for you, but they may be expensive. Ask for a 20% discount if you take the entire order (say a bushel, or however many pounds they have to order (25# or 50# bags, etc.). But don't ask for the discount UNTIL they tell you what the price would be.

The last 100# of hard white wheat I got was from Farmer Direct, Inc. www.farmerdirectfoods.com You don't say where you are located - Farmer Direct Foods, Inc. is located in Atchison, KS with mills in several areas.

They are associated with a small stone mill just outside of town and dropped-shipped the wheat, and I picked it up, so I didn't get charged shipping.

You need to be careful what and where you get wheat. Not all grain is for human consumption. You want wheat that is at least 11-12% protein - and I prefer hard white spring or winter wheat - over red wheat varieties. My last 100# was 13.1% protein, which is excellent for bread. Protein levels much higher than that and you'll get tough bread, and dough that takes a L--O--N--G time to get the gluten properly developed and a LOT of kneading.

I also keep soft wheat in storage for making cookies, quick breads, pastry - everything where you don't need or want a lot of gluten-development.

If you find a good source for grain, be sure to post it so someone can reference the retail outlet in your area.

-Karen

[Emerald]

I am checking out the info on co-ops. I think my best bet is probably getting the country store to order what I want so I am going to check with them as soon as possible. I am located in Southern Illinois and am 40 miles from Southeast Missouri or Western Kentucky, so if anyone knows any place close I would appreciate it.

[ozarksnick]

A friend recently ordered wheat from the Azure co-op. The wheat including shipping came to a little more than $1 per pound. That's a pretty good price for organic wheat berries.

Go to this link:
http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/RESOURCES/FABC/FABC_Home.htm

And you can email them and see if there are any buying clubs in your area.

[Emerald]

Score! I can get the wheat I want at the country store. They are about $10 higher for a 50# bag as Wheat Montana's web prices, but no shipping, so it's a bargain. They actuall have it on hand, but they just don't keep it out in the store as most buy already ground.

[Klapton]

Anyone know a good place to buy wheat in Eastern PA? I have found wheat berries at my local grocery, but as you can imagine, the price is unreasonable. I did some searching, but haven't found anything online yet that doesn't end up costing too much for shipping.

[mom]

I just got my wheat and buckets for storage from Frontier Survival. *Shipping is a flat $12.95, no matter how big the order (Alaska and Hawaii is more). *I ordered and received my shipment in less than a week and that week included the Thanksgiving Holiday

modified to add the link

http://www.frontiersurvival.net/shop/cgi-bin/cp-app.pl?usr=51F4268390&rnd=1218029&rrc=N&affl=&cip= 12.14.174.210&act=&aff=&pg=specials

[grower]

I bought wheat from AAOOB www.aaoobfoods.com, but the shipping was expensive. Some friends buy from Breadbeckers www.breadbeckers.com, because it's not far away, and they have a delivery route through our area.

That said, it looks like some of the sources y'all have posted already would save you a lot on the shipping.

[cubcadet]

Hey Klapton,
I am in Susquehanna County. I ordered a couple of hundred pounds of grain from Champlain Valley Milling in NY state, near Lake Champlain. It`s about a 5 hour drive from me, I figure. If you want, I could get you their phone #.

Joe

[Klapton]

I ended up ordering over the phone with these folks in Meyerstown: http://www.dutchvalleyfoods.com/food/default.aspx It was a nice hour drive, and we stopped for a nice breakfast on the way back.

We got 50 pounds each of Hard Red, Soft White wheat, and oat groats. I'm gonna have to get back there for some hard white next.

[cubcadet]

Good for you. I have been looking for a PA outlet for about 2 years. I think I`m gonna cancel my order in NY and go down there, I`d be cutting off about 6 hours driving time. Thanks for the info.

Joe

[aprilconnett]

I am still looking for wheat in NC. Anybody have any ideas?

[flourgirl]

We sell certified organic wheat at .55 per pound and am working on a website. We will be advertising in BHM starting with the next issue. We also sell certified organic stoneground flours at .60 per pound.

[aprilconnett]

Flourgirl,
Where are you located? Do you ship? What are your shipping rates?

[flourgirl]

We are located in MN and ship via FedEx ground and SpeeDee delivery. I would have to know pounds and a zip code to determine shipping rates.

[cubcadet]

Hey flourgirl, About how much to ship 200 lbs.of hard red winter wheat to NE Pennsy, Susquehanna County? Is it in grain sacks? Do you handle other grains? I`ll email you personally for my location if you need it. Thanks

Joe

[flourgirl]

cubcadet- I sent you a PM regarding the grains. :)

[cowboy66]

We received our Wheat today from flourgirl ! The wheat looks very clean AWESOME and shipping was fast :)
We will definitely buy from floufgirl again !!!!!

[flourgirl]

HI
Glad you like it! Thanks again for ordering it.

[Klapton]

Anyone know where to get Durum wheat? The place I bought my other grains has durum flour, but not whole wheat berries.

[mom]

Anyone know where to get Durum wheat? *The place I bought my other grains has durum flour, but not whole wheat berries.
i'm looking for Durum also and not finding any.

[Klapton]

I emailed a couple places, but haven't heard back yet. I did find these:

http://www.aaoobfoods.com/shopping.htm#top

http://www.barryfarm.com/Grains.htm

The second linkie would end up being WAY too expensive with the shipping costs for me.

From the first link (you have to try pretty hard to find it... not a well-designed site)

A063 Wheat–Durum for pasta 25# bag 9.87
C040 Wheat – Durum for pasta 6 gal 40 lb RB 22.05
E040 Wheat – Durum for pasta 6 gal 40 lb SP 26.65


Bulk and Multiple Food Orders except for Packaged Deals have to be purchased by Email, Fax or Telephone. Our Shopping Cart is unable to handle the complicated shipping calculations. Please, call toll free 1-888-201-6785 to order these items.

I haven't called them to find out about their shipping costs yet, because I'm not ready to order right now.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I buy all my grains from a local Amish store. We all live in the country, and they have their own community mill just a few miles from here. I buy all dried goods there and most of the "farmer's market" type produce that we don't grow ourselves.

[Jimmy7114]

Anyone have any idea of where to purchase good wheat in Eastern Washington - Cheney/Spokane area??? Co ops?????

[flourgirl]

We grow and sell certified organic wheat berries for both bread and pastries, pancakes etc. The wheat is very high quality and is 14%protein for bread. We have an ad in this months magazine.