12 thoughts on Red Fife Our Daily Bread 09

• Luigi Guarino commented 3 years ago.

  As we ponder the possible effects of war on food security, a piece in Modern Farmer reminds us that Ukraine contributes to the world’s wheat crop more than just its annual harvest.

  “If you’ve ever eaten a slice of bread, you can thank Ukraine. That’s not an exaggeration. The flavorful grains that transformed the North American prairies during the nineteenth century into a continental breadbasket were varieties native to Ukraine’s famed Black Earth districts of Crimea and Galicia [what is now southeastern Poland and western Ukraine].”

  It has to do with the “Turkish type” hard red winter wheats that German Mennonite farmers, originally invited into the Russian empire by Catherine the Great, took with them to the US from the Crimea when things got tricky for them in the late 1800s.
  Dr Tom Payne, formerly the head of the wheat genebank at CIMMYT, tells me that such varieties as Kharkov, Kherson and Kubanka were the foundation for Great Plains modern wheats, with Kharkov being the “check” against which new varieties have been compared for more than 50 years.
  A few years ago, Jeremy told the story of Red Fife on his podcast. A foundational variety for Canadian wheat farming, that too can perhaps trace its ultimate origin to Ukraine.

  One legend states that a load of wheat grown in Ukraine was on a ship in the Glasgow harbour. A friend of Farmer Fife dropped his hat into the red-coloured wheat, collecting a few seeds in the hatband, which he then shipped off to Farmer Fife. The wheat grew. The family cow managed to eat all the wheat heads except for one, which Mrs Fife salvaged. This was the beginning of Red Fife wheat in Canada.

  Lately, some American and Canadian farmers, millers and bakers have been going back to older heritage varieties such as Turkey Red and Red Fife; and now, alas, these are sadly making their way back home, after a fashion:

  Janie’s Mill, which grinds grains from Janie’s Farm in central Illinois, sent customers a note about being the “direct beneficiaries of countless generations of Ukrainian wheat farmers.” In service of that direct connection, the mill is sending profits from sales of Turkey Red grains and flour to World Central Kitchen, which has been providing hot meals in the region to feed the more than two million refugees that have fled Ukraine since the attack began in February.

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• Chris Aldrich commented 6 years ago.

  Listened Red Fife | Our Daily Bread 09 by Jeremy Cherfas from Eat This Podcast

  If possible, click to play, otherwise your browser may be unable to play this audio file.
  For more than 40 years, one wheat variety dominated the Canadian prairies. Red Fife — the red-seeded wheat grown by David Fife, a Scottish immigrant — gave the highest yields of the best quality. It almost didn’t happen, if you believe the stories. And then, having set the standard, Red Fife was eclipsed by its own offspring and slowly slid into oblivion. Until, in 1986, Sharon Rempel set about rescuing it.

  Thanks to Kara Gray and Richard Gray for their help.

  Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:33 — 5.3MB)
  Subscribe: Android | Google Podcasts | RSS | More

  Syndicated copies to:

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• petit Famous 🌿 📐 🖍 🌋 liked this post 6 years ago.

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• urbantomatolady commented 6 years ago.

  @eatthispodcast weird! There is a plaque! And more info here https://thekawarthas.ca/red-fife-wheat-a-peterborough-discovery/ .. Hope that helps! I’ve grown it here, in my urban seed farm, beautiful crop!

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• urbantomatolady commented 6 years ago.

  @eatthispodcast there is one! Dm’ed :)

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• eatthispodcast commented 6 years ago.

  @urbantomatolady Oooh. That would be great. Please let me know.

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• urbantomatolady commented 6 years ago.

  @eatthispodcast I’m not sure! I think there’s an exhibit and more information through Lang pioneer village in Keene. I’ll look into it!

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• eatthispodcast commented 6 years ago.

  @urbantomatolady Is there a statue? Or a plaque?

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• eatthispodcast commented 6 years ago.

  @kenalbala Thanks Ken. Noodles will appear at some stage.

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• karimamoyer commented 6 years ago.

  Enjoyable and informative.

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• kenalbala commented 6 years ago.

  Miniseries has been fabulous so far!

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• urbantomatolady commented 6 years ago.

  Part of our heritage here in Peterborough ON!

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