Common Grain Alliance and Friends of Peirce Mill are hosting the Mid-Atlantic Grain Fair on Sunday, October 22nd at Peirce Mill in Washington, DC, and we’d love to see you there!
Location: Peirce Mill
2401 Tilden Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20008
Peirce Mill is located in Rock Creek Park at the corner of Tilden Street NW (same as Park Road) and Beach Drive. Thank you to the National Park Service for hosting the Mid-Atlantic Grain Fair in Rock Creek Park!
The Mid-Atlantic Grain Fair will celebrate the long history of whole-grain farming, milling, baking, and cooking in the Mid-Atlantic, and will feature some of the practitioners working to keep those traditions alive today. This free, family-friendly, public event will include a wide variety of farming, milling, and baking demonstrations, a whole-grain cooking classroom, hands-on activities, and live music. Learn more about our event contributors, activities, and food vendors below!
MID-ATLANTIC GRAIN CLASSROOM
Class Schedule:
10:30AM - 12:00 PM - Sourdough Kamut Crumpets
12:30 PM - 1:45 PM - Indian Breads (Naan and Roti)
2:15 PM - 3:45 PM - Pizzoccheri, Lombardy's Buckwheat Pasta
Ticket Info:
Each class has 48 available seats and will be filled on a first come first serve basis. In order to attend one of these classes, please come to the Fair starting at 10AM to line up for free class tickets.
Sourdough Kamut Crumpets with Third Space Bakery
Come learn how easy it is to incorporate whole grain flours into your everyday baking! Third Space Bakery Coop of Pittsburgh, PA will demonstrate a flexible and kid-friendly recipe that you can make at home. Our Sourdough Kamut Crumpets require just a little planning ahead for a quick and easy breakfast option. They are so fluffy and delicious, no one will believe the crumpets are whole-grain! We’ll also provide tips on how to buy, store, and use whole grain and specialty flours, such as kamut. We will be offering yummy samples of what we make as well.
About the Teachers
Third Space Bakery Coop is co-run by member-owners Erika Bruce, Chloe Newman, and Beth Taylor. Erika Bruce, formerly of Le Beau Gateau LLC, has been baking professionally for over 20 years and is a cast member on Milk Street TV. Chloe Newman, formerly of Crust Worthy LLC, has nearly a decade of sourdough bread baking experience, as well as years in pastry and teaching roles. Beth Taylor, formerly of Sampson Family YMCA Teaching Kitchen and Common Threads, is a culinary instructor, food tour guide and writer.
Make Pizzoccheri, Lombardy's Buckwheat Pasta
Join local chef Jessica Botta for a demonstration on making pizzoccheri, the buckwheat pasta from the Valtellina area of northern Italy’s Lombardy region. Jessica’s recipe and procedure for pizzoccheri draws upon the traditional method for creating this rustic mountain dish, a hand-rolled buckwheat flour noodle commonly served with Savoy cabbage, potatoes, the Alpine cow’s milk cheese, and abundant garlic-infused butter. Jessica will be using freshly milled buckwheat flour and produce from Common Grain Alliance member, Next Step Produce.
About the Teacher
Jessica is a chef, culinary educator, and local food advocate with a master’s degree in food studies from New York University. Her academic research focused on Italian cuisine and culture, exploring issues of authenticity and tradition in constructing Italian identity. Jessica has been a chef-instructor at two culinary schools in New York City, and she was director of culinary development and training for a premiere Italian restaurant group based in D.C. Prior to her career in Italian food, she studied Italian literature, and specifically, the Divina Commedia. But as one Italian historian has pointed out, what is the glory of Dante compared to spaghetti?
Learn to Make Indian Breads
Participants will learn how to make two popular Indian breads, roti and naan, using regionally grown grains. We will explore unleavened, sourdough, and yeast options. Participants will be able to taste the breads with raita and chutney prepared by Jay Iyengar.
About the Teacher
Jayashree (Jay) Iyengar is the owner of Popping Mustard Seeds, specializing in teaching Indian vegetarian cuisine. Having grown up in Chennai, India, Jay moved to the United States for graduate studies more than four decades ago. She has experience as a chef and has been teaching cooking classes in the Pittsburgh area since August 2015.
FARMERS MARKET
Join us on Shoemaker Street for a Farmers Market celebrating regional grains and local vendors, including:
MILL YARD
Peirce Mill and Orchard
The National Park Service and volunteers will offer milling demonstrations and interpretive tours between 11:00am and 3:00pm. Built in 1829, Peirce Mill is the last working gristmill in Washington, DC, and one of the last remnants of the city’s agricultural history.
Orchardist and artist Tim Makepeace will give tours of the orchard, located just behind Peirce Barn. Planted in 2012, these trees grow some of the same varieties the Peirce family once cultivated. Tim will also explain how he uses grains–and other plants–as cover crops in the orchard.
Food and Farming
FRESHFARM FoodPrints embeds gardening, cooking, and nutrition education at 21 DC public school partners across the city. Our team will share hands-on lessons that get kids excited about growing, preparing, and enjoying fresh, local whole-grain foods.
Growing Grains with Grapewood Farm
Located in the historic Northern Neck, Grapewood Farm proudly offers "Virginia Grown, Virginia Ground" organic small grains and superior stone ground flour for customers in the Mid-Atlantic region. They’ll showcase a variety of local grains, and demonstrate how grain is grown, harvested, cleaned, and winnowed.
Indigenous farmer, artist, activist, and teacher Vanessa Bolin will share her wisdom and showcase beautiful dried corn, wild Indigenous rice, amaranth, quinoa, and beans. Vanessa will discuss the importance of growing Indigenous grains and their practical uses and health benefits.
(More information coming soon.)
Cooking
Tortilla-Making Demonstration with Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas
Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas is a nonprofit Latino arts and culture organization that seeks to support, promote, and increase public awareness of the richness, beauty, and diversity of Latin American cultures and their roots through performing and visual arts, and dynamic educational programs.
DC-based non-profit Solar Household Energy (SHE) strives to unleash the potential of solar cooking to improve social, economic and environmental conditions in sun-rich areas around the world. They’ll be demonstrating their amazing solar cookers!
Milling
Deep Roots Milling operates out of historic Woodson’s Mill in Nelson County, Virginia. Built in the 1790s, Woodson’s Mill has been in continual operation throughout most of its history. Today, the mill uses renewable waterpower to turn locally grown grain into high-quality products packed with flavor and nutrients.
The Friends of Peirce Mill work with the National Park Service to preserve, restore, and interpret the last working gristmill in Washington, DC. Before you see the mill’s machinery in action, stop by the FOPM tent in the mill yard and try grinding and sifting grain by hand!
Milling Grains on a Small Scale
Learn how to convert a wide-variety of local grains into freshly-milled foods for baking, cooking, or enjoying raw. Mark Woodward and Paul Le Beau will show how to use a tabletop stone mill to make luscious flours and coarser meal from whole grains of any description. Discover the huge difference freshness makes!
Society for the Preservation of Old Mills
The Society for the Preservation of Old Mills Mid-Atlantic Chapter, also known as SPOOM-MA, promotes interest in old mills in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, DC.
Crafts
Grain-based crafts for all ages! Make a traditional Native American corn-husk doll–with a few non-traditional materials. Or use our ink stamps to make a flour-sack print.
Music
Award-winning DC-based singer Carly Harvey combines blues, jazz, soul and Americana roots styles to create a unique sound that calls to mind Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, and Nina Simone, with a little Ella Fitzgerald thrown in for good measure.
Musicians Meghan Mette, Julius Bjornson, and Kai Knorr bring the pulsing groove of Appalachian music to the Grain Fair. From haunting ballads to driving fiddle tunes, original music and traditional pieces reimagined, Devil in the Mill leaves listeners inspired and ignited after every show.
To volunteer during the Mid-Atlantic Grain Fair and Conference, please submit this form.
Please email hello(at)commongrainalliance(dot)org with any questions.