another piece on agriculture
[The protagonist, Eric Andrus, is married to Liza’s cousin Erica
(sic) Hurwitz.]
Burlington (Vermont) Free Press - August 2, 2007
Ferrisburgh bakery rises to challenge
By Ashley Matthews Free Press Staff Writer
FERRISBURGH — Erik Andrus could’ve chosen a smoother ride through
his pasture on a sunny afternoon, but there’s a reason the 35-year-
old farmer chose to harvest his wheat using Civil War-era technology.
The jolting journey is just part of Andrus’ dream to create European
artisan bread that’s as old-fashioned as his equipment — a reaper-
binder pulled by Molly and Star, his powerful Percheron horses.
“To me, it feels like driving a Lamborghini 120 miles per hour on the
freeway because it’s such a rush,” Andrus said of his trek through
the field. “I feel about those horses the way many people would feel
about a sports car.”
Andrus and his wife purchased the 110-acre Boundbrook Farm in 2005
and, after preserving the land through the Vermont Land Trust, they
launched Good Companion Bakery in April.
Last week, Andrus moved closer to his goal of creating all organic,
local bread made from his own flour when he circled the field of
gently swaying wheat perched in a precarious seat atop the reaper-
binder he purchased for $1,100. Andrus estimates the tool he’s using
was built in the 1940s, and he believes his is the only business in
Vermont using such technology for commercial purposes.
As the black horses lurched through the field, Andrus and a friend
took turns in the machine’s two seats, one directing the horses and
the other using levers to adjust the reaper’s blades just high enough
to miss the low tangle of green weeds but collect the golden stalks
of wheat.
The severed stalks collapsed onto a canvas conveyor belt and fed into
the binder, where a complex series of twirling wheels and spinning
implements bunched it, tied it with green twine and spit the bundle
into the field. As the horses plodded along, they powered the
machinery, which Andrus joked is solar powered, since Molly and Star
eat grass nourished by the sun.
It’s true that it would be easier for Andrus to use modern equipment
– a fuel-powered tractor or a combine — but it wouldn’t fit his
business model, which is to produce local bread using as little fuel
as possible. It would also be easier and less costly for Andrus to
purchase pre-made flour, but Andrus doesn’t measure cost in
traditional terms.
“I don’t consider labor part of my cost. I consider it a benefit
because it’s a pleasure to do my work the way I do it,” he said.
“Would it be better if I did the work in five minutes and spent the
rest of the day playing Xbox?”
It took about six hours for Andrus to harvest the five-acre field,
which he believes will produce enough flour to last his bakery 25 to
30 weeks, assuming he makes 400 loaves a week.
He still needs to thresh, winnow and mill the flour, and he hopes to
use it in his operation this fall, which is also when Good Companion
Bakery will launch its 25-week winter bread CSA, or community
supported agriculture. Because the bulk of the bakery’s sales are
made at the Bristol, Hinesburg, Middlebury and Vergennes farmers’
markets, Andrus said the CSA will guarantee customers a steady supply
of bread throughout the year, and he also plans to begin baking pies
and cobblers using local products.
Wednesday morning, Andrus prepared bread for the Bristol Farmers’
Market later that day. As rustic Italian ciabatta bread baked in the
oven, Andrus formed loaves of French batard bread, and butter for
croissants softened on the counter, in the light of the sun. Crusty
baguettes and rolls cooled on wire shelves near the oven.
“There’s nothing that can duplicate real, fresh bread,” Andrus said.
“I can’t get tired of it. In Europe, having fresh bread every day is
a basic part of your quality of life, and that’s how I feel about it.
Having real, fresh bread improves people’s quality of life.”
Andrus recently became a baker by taking classes from King Arthur
Flour in Norwich and “trial by fire.” In college, he majored in
Arabic studies and for years before he bought Boundbrook Farm, Andrus
worked as a restoration carpenter in St. Albans. Even with little
training as a farmer or a baker, Andrus said his operation has
prospered in its four months.
“According to conventional agricultural economics, there’s no way a
farming operation like this can succeed,” he said. “We’re making
insignificant quantities. We do so many things that we’re not
supposed to acquire any proficiency at any of them. We have almost no
market reach, and we’re using outdated technology.”
He built the oven, a retained-heat masonry oven in the bakery’s
kitchen, located in an old pole-barn at the farm. From one window,
Andrus can see the home he shares with his wife and two young sons
and a spread of green pastures. Another window displays the barn that
houses the farm’s livestock, and behind that lies the wheat field
where Andrus recently completed his harvest.
As chickens strutted through the yard outside, Andrus began bagging
the baguettes he’d just baked using only four ingredients: organic
bread flour, water, yeast and salt. It’s all part of his goal for
Good Companion Bakery at Boundbrook Farm to be “more than just a
production bakery on a dirt road.”