source: Farm and Food Report
Jack and Gwen Klassen are pretty happy about their successes these days.
Their Victoire-area Carlton Trail Guest Ranch is taking more bookings than ever. Their Texas Longhorn cattle roam in a natural and chemical-free environment, producing lean, tender and healthy organic steaks for their guests.
And this spring, they are growing six acres of Red Fife wheat that is likely to fetch $28.00 a bushel this fall, according to Jack Klassen.
“Red Fife was first introduced to the central Ontario Otonabee region in 1842 as Halychanka, originally from Ukraine,” says Klassen. “Until 1888, it flourished as Canada’s main variety of commercial wheat. But with its 134 days to maturity requirement, it was not suited for the prairie provinces. As a result, some Calcutta wheat was brought in from India and crossbred with Red Fife, which led to the 107-day Marquis wheat and its higher yields.”
Klassen explains that all modern day varieties of commercial wheat trace their ancestry back to Red Fife.
“It was a fantastic baking wheat because it is low in gluten and it has a crumbing effect when ground into flour — meaning that it makes a hay yellow crumb — with a scent of herbs like anise and fennel. In the mouth, it has an herby, spicy flavour to it. Interestingly enough, Red Fife was almost extinct in 1988.”
According to Klassen, the Heritage Wheat Foundation in Alberta, under the direction of Sharon Rempel, was able to access a few seeds from the Canadian vault.
“These were reproduced and reproduced,” says Klassen, “until Marc Loiselle, a Saskatchewan organic producer, accessed them and planted them successfully. The harvest of 2004 yielded 65 tonnes. There was an interest in this legendary old variety’s baking properties. Wildfire Bakery in Victoria heard about Marc’s accomplishment and convinced him to sell them 40 tonnes of his wheat that it stored in a specially installed downtown grain bin.”
Klassen believes that sale marks the biggest sale of Red Fife in the last 75 years. In the meantime, Loiselle was invited to the Salone del Gusto (Hall of Taste) in Turin, Italy, to showcase his new old wheat.
“One hundred and forty thousand visitors there were exposed to the return of Red Fife. We have now been commissioned by Marc to grow this wheat on our ranch because we live in a secluded area. The wheat needs lots of sunshine and a soil that is not too heavy. Here, we have sandy to sandy loam soil.”
In early May, Klassen had some Red Fife wheat milled, brought to Saskatoon, baked into bread and served to 1,400 visitors from Canada and around the world at Rendez-vous Canada. Rendez-vous is the country’s oldest and most prestigious international tourism industry trade fair.
“Red fife wheat is back, thanks to the foresight of Marc Loiselle and other organic producers. We have kind of a gentlemen’s agreement that, because it is the organic industry that is commercializing it again, it should remain an organic product.”
For more information, contact:
Jack Klassen
Carlton Trail Guest Ranch
(306) 427-4440
http://www.sasktelwebsite.net/gwensk/
Jack and Gwen Klassen are pretty happy about their successes these days.
Their Victoire-area Carlton Trail Guest Ranch is taking more bookings than ever. Their Texas Longhorn cattle roam in a natural and chemical-free environment, producing lean, tender and healthy organic steaks for their guests.
And this spring, they are growing six acres of Red Fife wheat that is likely to fetch $28.00 a bushel this fall, according to Jack Klassen.
“Red Fife was first introduced to the central Ontario Otonabee region in 1842 as Halychanka, originally from Ukraine,” says Klassen. “Until 1888, it flourished as Canada’s main variety of commercial wheat. But with its 134 days to maturity requirement, it was not suited for the prairie provinces. As a result, some Calcutta wheat was brought in from India and crossbred with Red Fife, which led to the 107-day Marquis wheat and its higher yields.”
Klassen explains that all modern day varieties of commercial wheat trace their ancestry back to Red Fife.
“It was a fantastic baking wheat because it is low in gluten and it has a crumbing effect when ground into flour — meaning that it makes a hay yellow crumb — with a scent of herbs like anise and fennel. In the mouth, it has an herby, spicy flavour to it. Interestingly enough, Red Fife was almost extinct in 1988.”
According to Klassen, the Heritage Wheat Foundation in Alberta, under the direction of Sharon Rempel, was able to access a few seeds from the Canadian vault.
“These were reproduced and reproduced,” says Klassen, “until Marc Loiselle, a Saskatchewan organic producer, accessed them and planted them successfully. The harvest of 2004 yielded 65 tonnes. There was an interest in this legendary old variety’s baking properties. Wildfire Bakery in Victoria heard about Marc’s accomplishment and convinced him to sell them 40 tonnes of his wheat that it stored in a specially installed downtown grain bin.”
Klassen believes that sale marks the biggest sale of Red Fife in the last 75 years. In the meantime, Loiselle was invited to the Salone del Gusto (Hall of Taste) in Turin, Italy, to showcase his new old wheat.
“One hundred and forty thousand visitors there were exposed to the return of Red Fife. We have now been commissioned by Marc to grow this wheat on our ranch because we live in a secluded area. The wheat needs lots of sunshine and a soil that is not too heavy. Here, we have sandy to sandy loam soil.”
In early May, Klassen had some Red Fife wheat milled, brought to Saskatoon, baked into bread and served to 1,400 visitors from Canada and around the world at Rendez-vous Canada. Rendez-vous is the country’s oldest and most prestigious international tourism industry trade fair.
“Red fife wheat is back, thanks to the foresight of Marc Loiselle and other organic producers. We have kind of a gentlemen’s agreement that, because it is the organic industry that is commercializing it again, it should remain an organic product.”
For more information, contact:
Jack Klassen
Carlton Trail Guest Ranch
(306) 427-4440
http://www.sasktelwebsite.net/gwensk/
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