California rewards North Bay farm-to-school food projects with seed money

When Elizabeth Deruff asks for divine intervention during harvest on a partial-acre wheat field in Petaluma, her prayers are apt to be heard.

The baker established the Larkspur-based Honoré Farm and Mill educational regenerative farming nonprofit in 2016, and points out it helps to double as an Episcopal priest. The self-proclaimed “agricultural chaplain” connects healthy food and healing the Earth.

After all, her organization is named after St. Honoré, a sixth-century French bishop who became the patron saint of bread bakers.

The theologian turned to the Holy Land and to a wheat grain derived from a 2,000 year-old seed called “Hourani” — Arabic for farmer — considered high in protein (14%).

In 2018, the Washington State University Bread Lab chief “wheat breeder,” Steve Lyon, retrieved the heirloom wheat seed for Deruff from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which obtained the ancient treasure about a half-century ago.

After meeting Deruff at “grain gatherings” and hearing her enthusiasm about growing wheat, Lyon sent her a bag of the seeds.

The North Bay nonprofit mills whole wheat flour from the drought-resistant grain and provides online classes and events to teach how to produce healthy food.

Lyon said Deruff sought a more healthy alternative to common Communion bread for her congregation.

The lab’s director of field research said he’s not surprised by Deruff’s success since the seed’s agricultural origins in the Middle East seem to line up with Sonoma County’s latitude.

“Here it didn’t work,” he said of eastern Washington’s Skagit Valley located farther north of the North Bay.

The region, known for its tulip farms, has better luck with other types of wheat — hence, the need to create a bread lab on the campus.

At Tara Firma Farms off I Street south of Petaluma, Deruff teaches the managers there how to grow and harvest the grain on the one-eighth-acre designated for Honoré Farm’s use. The farm grows a range of heirloom grain varietals.

“The yield is astonishing. When you think about it, wheat has kept civilizations alive. Life and wheat — that’s really at the heart of what I’m doing,” she said, while reminiscing about her Midwestern roots and strolling the wheat field on a recent hot summer day.

She thinks of her efforts as following in her grandfather’s farming footsteps, a spiritual journey expected to make its way into a book she’s writing titled “The Gospel of Wheat.”

For this year’s harvest, her second at Tara Firma Farms, Deruff expects to discover what a lot of farmers are finding after winter’s wrath — planting was delayed and the crop was impacted by the heavy rain.

“Oh, the weeds. I’ll have to get 50 people out here,” she said, reiterating every gardener’s plight. Deruff relies on an army of volunteers to hand harvest the old-fashioned way — “threshing, winnowing, blowing, sifting and separating,” there’s a language all its own. Harvest was set for July 29.

Still, Deruff is resourceful. She has turned a bag of about 25 seeds into more than 3,000 pounds of Hourani flour used to bake premium bread with the help of a milling operation in Ukiah and $150,000 from the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s farm to fork educational program.

Along with Sanzuma Farms out of San Rafael, Honoré Farm and Mill is one of two farms in the North Bay selected for the state grant. Point Reyes Pastures was identified as the third in the region.

The demand is so high, the food and ag department received 240 applications seeking $58 million in requested funding. The state ended up earmarking less than half that ($25.5 million) for 120 farm-to-school projects across the state.

“I think the program has accomplished great things with room to grow,” farm-to-school program Manager Nick Anicich said.

The program started in 2021 by building “a strong grassroots effort,” he added, referencing California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom as a dedicated advocate.

“Our investments in farm to school are investments in our health,” Siebel Newsom said in a statement regarding the program.

Deruff applied last year, and in April, received funding to buy, in part, a $35,000 stone mill to accompany her mobile version for making flour.

Her organization services schools in Sebastopol, Marin, Corte Madera and Contra Costa County. She’s also applied for a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for efforts to grow the grain in school gardens.

In addition, Deruff said she’s provided Hourani flour for bread served at restaurants from the French Laundry to Rustic Bakery cafes. Rustic’s spokeswoman, Shaila Garde, said her company serves the bread as a seasonal item.

“We try to share the information (about it), speaking about the significance of the grain,” Garde said.

Rustic Bakery’s social media describes the Hourani loaves as having a “shell-like crust and perfectly moist crumb.”

Even to those who work with the Hourani grain every day, the heritage of the durum wheat has a hardy quality. Durum is mainly used to make pasta.

Mendocino Grainery owner Rachel Britten, who specializes in small-batch milling, said she’s excited to accept the new stone mill Deruff ordered to crank out more loaves of the heirloom wheat bread.

“You can hear it as it’s being milled. It’s pretty magical. It mills soft without that sandy texture,” Britten said. “Every time I tell the story I get goose bumps.”

A plum of a garden

The state of school farms is alive and well, and California wants to reward them with seed money.

Adorned with a gardening hat and Australian shepherd Robin by her side, Lori Davis is on a mission to save the world by feeding it fresh, healthy food.

She started Sanzuma Farms with a garden on the grounds of San Pedro Elementary School in San Rafael in 2012.

The nonprofit grows tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, oregano, mint, apples, melons, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and a variety of flowers. There are even two beehives, which produce honey Davis sells. Word has gotten out about the floral variety to local caterers and wedding planners.

“Look, this flower turns into a pomegranate,” she said in a childlike voice as if seeing it for the first time. “This is my passion.”

Davis shares that passion with the school’s students, who work in the garden at least a few times a day.

In turn, the produce feeds students in Marin County schools. She also sells the bounty to such local restaurants as Via Piccola Trattoria’s Pedro Ulloa, who said he has come to rely on Sanzuma’s tomatoes for his Tiburon restaurant’s caprese salad.

During the height of the pandemic, Sanzuma set up an emergency food distribution site in the San Rafael school parking lot. People were hurting, and Davis wanted to help.

But it’s the educational program that represents Davis’ biggest task at hand.

Davis used $10,000 from the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s farm to fork office to establish a school classroom from a hut in the garden costing $12,000 to build. She filled the budgetary gap with donations. Davis often partners with the Elks Lodge and the Rotary Club.

Classes such as “Eat the Rainbow” challenges students to find plants and food in colors of the rainbow during scavenger hunts in the garden.

“This is what kids need to know about,” she said. “And every school should have this. I think the only thing stopping them is the funding.”

Davis expanded the educational program to include field visits from Dominican University nurses to share tips on how the students can eat a healthy diet.

The 2022 California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program offers opportunities to build on a variety of projects to benefit K-12 school districts, early and education centers, and other farm to school partnerships.

“Each of these projects will help us build a healthy, equitable, resilient food system, and will give California farmers more opportunities to share fresh, nutritious, delicious and locally grown products with our school children,” state Food and Ag Secretary Karen Ross said in a statement.

Susan Wood covers law, cannabis, production, tech, energy, transportation, agriculture, banking and finance. She can be reached at 530-545-8662 or susan.wood@busjrnl.com