Town & Country

C M Y K 4 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 GILBERT PLAINS SCOUTEN'S GARAGE at Benito, Manitoba will be celebrating 102 YEARS IN DOING BUSINESS IN BENITO AND AREA. We wish to thank everyone for their support from 1918 to 2020. PH. (204) 539-2572 204-629-2215 info@edificeengineering.ca Let us design your next project! 31 - 3rd Avenue NE Dauphin, Manitoba 19 2nd Ave NW Dauphin, MB 204.638.3441 N estled in Manitoba's Parkland region is Gilbert Plains, located at the Valley River between Riding Mountain National Park and Duck Mountain Provincial Park. It's here where you'll find Zee Valley Organic Farm (www. halychanka.com), owned and operated by Vern Zatwarnicki, who specializes in halychanka, also known as Red Fife organic wheat. Halychanka is the Ukrainian name for the wheat, and depend- ing on whom you talk to, it came to Canada with the Ukrainians, the Hutterites, the Mennonites, or the Scottish. But regardless of where it came from, this resilient, resourceful grain was very nearly lost when farmers stopped growing it. "We had a family farm. We all grew up on it and my father farmed until he passed away in 1996," Zatwarnicki says. His mother maintained the farm, renting it out to neighbour- ing farmers until 2015 when Zatwarnicki purchased the farm and began working the land himself. He says it helps to connect him with his late father, who farmed the land successfully without us- ing any chemicals, fertilizers or herbicides. "I took over the operation. Up until then it was mostly hay land," he says. In addition to the halychanka, Zatwarnicki also grows organic oats, golden flax, organic alfalfa for a local organic beef producer, and he plants clover as a cover crop to increase the nitrogen levels in the soil. Additionally, he grows garlic as a specialty garden crop. He explains the wheat is originally from Ukraine, in spite of being renamed after a Scottish farmer, Dave Fife. As a retired his- tory teacher, it's a fact Zatwarnicki finds fascinating. "Now I say: Halychanka wheat, roots in Ukraine, grown in Manitoba," he says. (It's no longer grown in Ukraine.) It was the first wheat to have real success in the Prairie prov- inces. It yields well, and it's so resilient, that when Zatwarnicki tries to let a field go fallow, the halychanka pops up as a volunteer. "I call it the grandfather of all wheat," he says. It's the "root stock" of all modern wheat (he discovered the strain when he was researching organic farming) which he says is nothing like the wheat that was grown here in the early 1900s. "It's very competitive with weeds because it has a very good, strong root system, which it develops before it starts growing and goes way down to search for water and nutrients, but with modern wheat, the nutrients are supplied on top so they don't go searching," he says. When ground, halychanka flour is distinctive because it gives a dark red colour when used in baked goods. "People love the look of it because it's so rich," he says. The high quality flour is one of the reasons he's established a close relationship with one of Winnipeg's most popular bakeries. "Having a relationship with Tall Grass as an organic bakery is so important because I know people are relying on us, and it makes me want to keep going," he says. "When I go there, it's like being part of the family." Tabitha Langel, one of the founders at Tall Grass Prairie Bread Co. (www.tallgrassbakery.ca), and arguably Zee Valley Farm's best known customer (they buy about 32,660 kg of halychanka yearly) says Zatwarnicki showed up at The Forks about seven years ago with a couple of bags to try. It took about two years to get things going, but they haven't looked back since. "He's very passionate about the wheat," Langel says. "He showed us pictures of his farm and I was so impressed with what he was doing and that he was certifying organically." They started baking with it and discovered its unique, nutty flavour. "At the same time the Wheat Belly book was coming out and people were turning away from wheat, but people would come in and say: We can't eat wheat, but when we eat your bread we're OK," she says. Langel believes that new varieties of wheat just aren't the same. "I think that modern wheat has been bred to serve the com - bines and factory baking," she says. "But halychanka is more complex and I think there's something wonderful and truer about this variety." Langel says there's more to the bakery's relationship with Za- twarnicki than simply providing him with a reliable market for his grain. "It gives us great joy to have this connection, and for him, like us, there is a spiritual component to our relationship with the earth which we don't take for granted," she says. "He gets the priest to come out and bless his field, which I love!" That respect for the earth extends to respect for the wheat it- self. Zatwarnicki says he does not sell seed wheat (he really only has enough in reserve in case of crop failure). He's had other farm- ers show interest, but he says governance is important to ensure the wheat is grown organically and not farmed with chemicals as most modern varieties are. He says his neighbour is going organic which will allow for them to continue growing the wheat. "Our only concern is that if it's grown conventionally and it goes into the public it will lose its integrity," he says. "We want people to know it's a heritage organic wheat." BY WENDY KING ZEE VALLEY FARM Reconnecting with our Prairie past Zee Valley Farm's Vern Zatwarnicki took over his family-owned farm in Gilbert Plains in 2015 which now specializes in halychanka, which is also known as Red Fife wheat. Halychanka wheat, which is also known as Red Fife organic, was one of the first wheats to enjoy real success in the Prairie provinces. Tall Grass Prairie Bread Co. at The Forks has been one of Zee Valley Farm's best customers. "It gives us great joy to have this connection, and for him, like us, there is a spiritual component to our relationship with the earth which we don't take for granted"

• Cover