Einkorn Harvest July 13, 2011

Some of you have followed the einkorn growing season with us from the day the first seed was planted. Yesterday was finally time to harvest and it was magical. Back in the fall of 2010, we anguished for months over not being able to sow our fields because of insistent, heavy rain in Italy. We would literally wake up in the middle of the night with a pit in our stomach, as the rain poured down outside. It rained every day for months and the fields were too wet to plant our crops. Stefano Nannini is a friend and one of the farmers growing this most ancient wheat for us. His children go to elementary school with ours and one thing led to another when we happened to sit next to him at the end of the year dinner at school a few years back. Last year, in order to plant our crops, he waited patiently until late December  when the ground was frozen enough to be able to drive over the dirt without having the tractor sink.  We met him there one very foggy, dark morning, the mood was very tense, but he was able to skillfully plant the seeds.  When the first seeds sprouted, we all were relieved.  We followed the growth from seed, to sprout, to grass, to wheat and yesterday we harvested with a deep appreciation for nature and the bounty it brings.