Grain Project finds new owner
Willits woman taking the reins from Doug Mosel
In a warehouse north of Ukiah last Thursday afternoon, two farmers were experimenting with a 100-year-old piece of equipment.
“We’re trying to separate millet seeds from mustard seeds,” said Doug Mosel, founder of the Mendocino Grain Project, as thousands of seeds rolled down the curves of a double spiral separator, creating a noise that Mosel said reminds him of a “giant rain stick.”
“The grain is coming down and getting spread out, but the cool part is that it’s flying around these spirals, and things that are round (such as the mustard seeds) will spin faster and fly off the edges of these internal spirals,” said Rachel Britten, who will be working closely with Mosel over the next growing season as she prepares to take over the Grain Project.
“I’m excited, yet also terrified,” admitted Britten of her decision to keep the project alive after the 76-year-old Mosel fully retires. “But I just turned 33 a few days ago, so this is a good birthday present — a new life mission.
“And what we’re doing right here, thinking creatively about helping a farmer who approached Doug about separating his grains, is another reason why I was attracted to this project,” said Britten, who admitted that she could not take over the business if Mosel had not agreed to walk her though a season of planting, harvesting and processing.
Because while Britten has a lot of experience with farming and describes herself as an enthusiastic “soil nerd,” she does not have the wealth of knowledge and experience that Mosel has, particularly when it comes to the equipment needed to grow and process grain.
“Sitting on my uncle’s lap while he drove the combine didn’t teach me how to run it,” Britten said, describing just some of her childhood memories in Iowa. “But it did teach me that I love farming.”
As a native Nebraskan, Mosel also grew up in a Midwestern farming community, and this shared history has helped shape an easy rapport with Britten.
“Did I tell you my farmer bumper sticker joke yet?” Mosel asks. “It might be one you haven’t heard yet.”
“Just one I haven’t heard yet, Doug?! We’ve got a whole year to go!” Britten says with her easy laugh.
‘She has the passion and ideas’
After studying agricultural science at Evergreen State College in Washington State, Britten worked on farms near Port Townsend before coming to Mendocino County to work with local gardening pioneer John Jeavons.
Jeavons stresses soil vitality and maximizing the life-sustaining potential of your garden. For instance, if you are growing food to sustain life, a row of grain provides far more calories than a row of lettuce. Also, Britten said, grains don’t strip the soil of nutrients every season like nitrogenhungry vegetables do.
“A rye plant, with its extensive root system, traps carbon and nitrogen and keeps it in the soil, plus all those roots add organic material,” said Britten, who not only wants to continue growing the grains Mosel already does, but suggested adding legumes as yet another source of protein and calories.
But before she can help ensure the food security of her community, Britten needs to ensure the future of the Grain Project. And while she still has plenty to learn about how to use a combine, Mosel said he is encouraged by Britten’s dedication and ideas.
For example, she suggested connecting the grain-processing machines inside the project’s warehouse so they “communicate with each other and can complete many processes without such intense human involvement,” said Britten, explaining that those changes will allow the facility to process more grain and serve more farmers.
“Which I hope encourages more people to grow grains, because a big obstacle is not being able to invest in all the equipment needed to clean and process the grain,” she said, adding that yet another reason she wanted to take over the Grain Project is because of all of the relationships Mosel has cultivated with local farmers, bakers and other food producers not only in Mendocino County, but in Humboldt, Lake, Marin and Sonoma counties. “Doug has done a great job educating people about the importance of local grain production.”
As for how others can help support her efforts to take over the Grain Project, Britten said she was “still looking for investors,” and that people can contact her at 707-841-1256.