organic flour
Fastuchera
You're right on time! Adopt a wheat field while they last.
The project
Adopt a wheat field from the orchard "Fastuchera" in Cammarata (Italy) and receive your harvest in the form of organic flour at home. The Farmer Nicola will take care of your adoption and take its picture. Also, you will be able to download the adoption certificate and, if you wish, plan your visit to the farm. You do not enter into any long-term commitment: once you receive your harvest and you enjoyed the experience, you may decide to renew and extend the adoption.
What do you adopt?
Adopt a wheat field that we cultivate under the Organic Farming regulations of the European Union since 2011.
The Tumminìa, Maiorca and Russulidda varieties are traditional Sicilian grains grown and processed using natural methods that preserve all of their nutritional and organoleptic characteristics. These grains are milled in a stone mill with the aim of safeguarding the associated microbiota, vitamins, minerals and proteins, which make them into a healthy product that is easy to digest.
All three grains have been selected and preserved by generations of Sicilian farmers for their own consumption and for their subsistence: they embody the history, identity, and a bond with their surroundings.
Tumminìa (Triticum durum Desf., similar to the Koern variety)
Tumminìa, or Marzuolo wheat, is most likely Sicily's native grain, and has been cultivated on the island for around 2500 years. Its unique, characteristic aroma is reminiscent of almonds and malt. Tumminìa flour is recognised by the Slow Food movement as part of Italian culinary heritage for its nutritional qualities and its culture, which brings together tradition and respect for the land.
Unlike other varieties it is a very rustic, short-cycle grain, cultivated especially in very rainy years when it has not been possible to sow other, more productive varieties, leading to the risk of famine. In this case the sowing would take place in early spring and, in the memory of many elderly people, the black flour of Tumminìa was the flavour of the toughest years: in the past it was not by chance that the saying went 'Nìvuru lu pani e nìvura la fame' (literally: 'Black the bread, black the hunger') or, to ward off bad omens, 'tumminìa rara e tardìa fora di la mia!' (literally: 'tumminìa not very productive and late to bloom, get away from my house!')
Russulidda (Triticum durum, hordeiforme variety)
Russulidda and Maiorca, on the other hand, were introduced to Sicily just a few centuries ago (a bit like prickly pears, pistachios, and citrus fruits), and have adapted well to the island's environmental and pedoclimatic conditions and have long characterised the agrarian landscape of the innermost areas. With a colour that tends towards red, which is the origin of its name, Russulidda was considered the most valuable durum wheat for preparing bread and pasta, so much so that in some places it was called 'la priziusa' (meaning 'precious'). It allows you to prepare fresh and dried pasta or hard dough bread that is very easy to digest, all of which can be kept for several days and give off a slightly herbal aroma.
Maiorca (Triticum vulgare Host. var. albidum Koern)
Maiorca, formerly called Roccella, is the traditional soft grain from which Sicily's rich and renowned confectionery tradition was born. Farmed for centuries, this variety was abandoned before being rediscovered and grown organically. A soft white flour is obtained from its characteristic white wheat, rich in proteins and low in gluten. It is excellently suited to baking, especially for desserts.
Each wheat field bears an average of 6kg per season.
What will you receive?
Each season we will send you a box with:
1x __Tumminìa organic wholemeal flour__ (1kg, paper pack)
1x __Tumminìa organic “stone milled bread and pizza flour“__(1kg, paper pack)
1x __Russulidda semi-wholemeal organic “stone milled bread and pizza flour”__(1kg, paper pack)
1x __Russulidda organic wholemeal flour__ (1kg, paper pack)
1x __Maiorca organic whole wheat flour__ (1kg, paper pack)
1x __Maiorca organic “stone milled all purpose flour”__ (1kg, paper pack)
Packaging and storage: we will pack your flour in paper packs, without plastic.
These flours can be stored for up to six months in a cool and dry place.
Variety: we have recovered and reproduced these authentic and original varieties without the use of GM.
When will you receive it?
Please, check the deadline for participating in this project (deadline for adoption) below. As of this date the Farmer will start preparing the orders that are to be shipped.
You may select the delivery date of your box as suggested by the Farmer at check-out.
The flours are dispatched in November, during the period when the first millings of the new wheat are carried out, harvested in July and left to rest for around two months.
Why should you adopt?
* Learn who produces your food, how and where. Receive your food in a conscious manner.
* Buy directly from the farmer. Help to generate wealth and better jobs in the rural areas.
* Plan ahead and enable the Farmer to produce on demand. This way we can avoid overproduction and fight food waste.
* Reward Farmers who make an effort to use environmentally-friendly packaging and cultivation techniques.
Organic
Small Farm
How does it work?
Meet the Farmers
Adopt and plan your harvest
Let the Farmer and nature work
Receive your harvest at home
Adoptions available until the 17/10/2021
Delivery starting on the 15/11/2021
Adopt a wheat field
Name
Delivery country Spain
Final price:
40.82€ / Season
Includes adoption, preparation and shipment of the order.
Environmentalist
Organic
Small Farm
Family Farm
Nicola De Gregorio
My grandparents were farmers and from an early age they passed their love for the land on to me.
After the First World War, my maternal grandfather Nicola spent forty years cultivating ancient cereals, almond trees, a vineyard and a large vegetable garden. In the early 1980s this paradise was destroyed and dedicated to modern wheat cultivation.
My paternal grandfather Vincent was a shoemaker by trade, but he spent half of his days tending the olive trees. During his life (almost a hundred years!) he acquired other land, which I cultivate and now attempt to enrich.
After studying Demoanthropological Heritage, I carried out research into Sicilian food and agricultural traditions in the name of the Linguistic Atlas of Sicily and rediscovered ancient cereals, agricultural knowledge, traditions and techniques, and forgotten flavours. This research experience led to the publication of a monograph on these topics.
In the course of these conversations, I saw that wealth and biodiversity were disappearing in the face of intensive agriculture projects. One day a tractor sprayed herbicides on the surrounding fields – my decision was clear: to take care of my land and rid it of these poisons.
It was this story of my family, of my region, that made me decide to return to the land definitively in 2010 and to bring together several abandoned family plots to recover, conserve and develop Sicily's native agrobiodiversity, focusing on this traditional local grain.
I almost always work alone but in some cases, owing to the lack of agricultural vehicles, I also work with subcontractors. Sometimes, especially at the most intense times of the agricultural year, my friends and relatives also help me out with manual work. It is difficult to describe my daily work because it varies greatly depending on the time of year. In winter I take care of deciding the type of cultivation for each plot and I prepare the land for sowing. During spring I take care of checking that the plants are healthy and getting rid of excessive weeds. In the case of legumes, manual weeding is carried out every year. In summer I take care of collecting and storing legumes and cereals, as well as milling the latter.
Nicola De Gregorio
"Being a farmer today means much more than simply cultivating the land: it means taking back possession of the land, conserving and defending it, producing healthy food and passing knowledge and flavours – which were at risk of being lost forever – on to future generations. Being able to offer my products directly to the end consumer, telling their story, the production process and the possible ways of using them supports our project to conserve and cultivate these forgotten varieties, and CrowdFarming makes it possible!"
Fastuchera
Fastuchera
Fastuchera farm is located in the heart of central-western Sicily, between Agrigento and Palermo, in the territory of the municipalities of Cammarata and San Giovanni Gemini.
This region, inhabited since prehistoric times, was considered by the Romans as the 'granary of the empire' and is now considered one of Europe's most disadvantaged socio-economic areas.
I have been running the company since 2010, when I decided to return to work on my grandparents' lands, which had been abandoned for years. These lands have always been cultivated with wheat, so I decided to continue this tradition using ancient Sicilian grains.
Unlike other companies, Fastuchera is not made up of a single large plot of land but composed of different plots, all falling within the same territory but distant from each other. It covers 18 hectares, most of which is dedicated to the cultivation of ancient grains (Maiorca, Russulidda and Tumminìa) in rotation with legumes (chickpeas and lentils). In the remaining plots we keep more than 400 Sicilian fruit trees (including prickly pear trees, olive trees and pear trees), all belonging to varieties that are at risk of extinction. The aim is to promote their protection and conservation, to support their diffusion and reintroduction, and to create paths of knowledge and education in this sector for future generations.
Certain parts of the company are deliberately left over to natural flora in order to support and increase biodiversity. Very few interventions are carried out on these areas, mainly aimed at protecting against fires. The natural flora is monitored, and wherever possible rarer species are allowed to go to seed. Some wild plants (such as inula viscosa or arboreal mugwort) are intentionally cultivated in the olive grove both for their attractiveness to beneficial insects (in particular antagonists of the oil fly) and for their repellent capacities against others (like aphids).
The varieties of ancient grains that we grow have been selected by generations of Sicilian farmers who came before us, and tell the history and identity of my land. They are grown naturally, without any phytosanitary treatment and without the need for irrigation. The Fastuchera farm obtained its Organic Agriculture certification in 2011.
A symbolic element of the Fastuchera company's work is the 'Germplasm conservation field', created with funds from the PSR (Rural Development Programme of Sicily 2007), an exceptional genetic resource that promotes biodiversity, and protected by the Natura 2000 network. It involves recovering Sicilian trees and agricultural cultivars such as pears and plums. The careful study of indigenous varieties and the habit of cleaning the earth by hand have led me to play the role of custodian of the region, not only from an agricultural point of view, but also a naturalistic one. Through this intervention, some species of flora (white asphodel) and fauna (mainly arachnids) have been able to repopulate these fields, increasing the site's environmental value.
Our fields of ancient grains and legumes are irrigated with rainwater only. The only plot of ours where we use water to irrigate (for a few months and also thanks to crowdfarmers) is the field for the conservation of ancient fruits. The plant we use is equipped with an accumulation tank and the saplings are drip-irrigated.
At harvest time, during the hottest months, I store the grain, and from September I go to a stone mill to grind the grain around once a week. Each of the wheat varieties has different organoleptic characteristics and I start from these to choose how to grind each one in order to obtain the type of flour that suits it best. Some flours obtained are more suitable for baking, while others are better suited to pasta. A part of the flour obtained is put into bags and prepared for shipping while the remaining (more consistent) part is packaged in larger bags and delivered to an artisan laboratory that I have been collaborating with for about ten years, where it is drawn, dried, and made into the different pasta varieties.
Wheat or flour production waste (sorting waste, bran) are sold to other companies and individuals for animal feed. Some of the residue from the cultivation of cereals and legumes is buried, and some of it preserved as straw. Finally, the remains of the pruning are mainly used for our wood-burning oven, and principally to power the biomass boiler that keeps us warm during the winter. There are also several small composting areas on the farm
Technical information
Address
Fastuchera, Cammarata, IT
Altitude
550 m
Team
1 man
Size
17 hectares
Cultivation technique
Organic Agriculture
Location