A Mill and a Dream: The Alaska Flour Company

"Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands."

–Thomas Jefferson, 1785

It's not by accident that I'm publishing this piece on Thanksgiving Day. 

I actually had the pleasure of interviewing Delta Junction farmer Bryce Wrigley last week and have been thinking about the adventure he and his family are undertaking next month quite a bit. Every time I glance at my flour canister, each time the local grocery is out of milk, whenever it snows extra hard and I remember the things we talked about.

Alaska Flour Company rolls out on the first of December. It's the first milling operation, to the best of my knowledge, in Alaska. This is a big deal, and the more I recount what we talked about, the more folks may be apt to agree with me.

The Wrigleys came to Alaska more than 30 years ago.

"We're from Idaho," Bryce said. "And we came up here to try our hand at farming."

Over the years. the crops have changed, but the Wrigleys stayed, raising a family up along with the produce, grains, and animals that crossed their soil.

But flour? Where on earth did the family get that idea?

"We've talked about it for years, but this June we were visiting Idaho and had the opportunity to tour two large-scale flour mills."

While the scope of the Alaska Flour Company is smaller and more artisan in nature, encouragement from people in the business helped the Wrigley make the decision to begin the process. The last pieces of equipment arrived just a few weeks ago and the packaging material hit Alaska last week.

"We're on schedule," Bryce said. And the response so far?

"It's been instant. I put together a Facebook page and we were getting hits before I'd even finished. People are so excited to be a part of this. It's encouraging."

From here our discussion veered toward talk about food supply. I'm new to the local food movement, but when the Alaska Flour Company mission includes doing a part to help Alaska be more food secure, I was interested.

"Right now, Alaska has no emergency warehouse or stores of food if something were to happen," he said.  "We've got what's on our store shelves and what's in our own pantries. If something prevented that weekly barge from arriving in Anchorage's port, the effects would be felt pretty quickly."

A local flour company is a step in the right direction. They'll mill Sunshine barley and wheat they grow themselves in Delta Junction. As the enterprise grows, it's their hope to purchase grains from other farmers to keep our country's roots in agriculture strong. The more people who know the earth, who know how to grow the food we depend on, the better. And cities full of anxious consumers ready to support them? Even better.

"We're starting small, but our aim is to grow bigger and bigger. The less we have to depend on the Outside for our food, and at the moment, we ship in 95 percent of our food, the better off we'll be."

The family hopes Alaskans will embrace the mill as their own.

"We could have named it Wrigley Flour Company, but I wanted Alaskans to know this was for them--for all of us." 

Bags will hit shelves in early December and will be available in various sizes, including 5 and 10 pound resealable bags from home use. The company is compiling a list of retailers who will carry their flour on their shelves, and the company web site will keep an updated list as it becomes available. The site will also feature an online store for folks not able to track down the flour in their towns.

My son and I have been baking a lot this season. Cupcakes, spice cookies, and breads. And each time I spin the lid off my flour canister, I think about the Wrigley family and their hard work. And I can't wait for their product to make it to market so I can be a part of it, too.

Happy eating!