WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Like many people, Joe Bozzi did a lot of baking during the pandemic. He wanted to use locally grown flour, but it was scarcer than hens’ teeth. That led to the start in January 2023 of Local Millers, which produces farm-to-table stone-ground flour, cornmeal, and grits from grain grown by local, regenerative farmers.

“Joe bought a small mill that he kept on our counter, and he started milling flour but it was still hard to find the grains,” said Joe’s wife, Doris. “He drove two hours up to the Toledo area to get some. It was difficult to find different varieties of local wheat to mill.”

They already bought beef and eggs from local farmers, Doris Bozzi said. But farm-to-table grains were hard to come by. Joe wanted to change that.

“If we were looking for quality grains grown here maybe other people were too,” Bozzi said. “The idea being that buying local grains is going to be better for your local community, you are helping your local farmers but then it is also going to be better quality.”

It was serendipitous that, while watching a video about regenerative farming, Joe learned of the late David Brandt, that the Brandt farm was less than an hour away, and they grew wheat. Bozzi reached out to Jay Brandt, David’s son, and bought some grain from them. But then Jay mentioned that they were trying to start a mill business on their farm.

“We have a seed sales business, Walnut Creek Seeds, on our farm,” Jay Brandt said. “We do primarily cover crops and pasture grass. We had been introduced to several local farmers who were growing some heirloom wheat. They were getting into flour. I got interested in that.”

Brandt purchased a stone flour mill. They began growing open-pollinated corn to make corn meal, along with the wheat they and some of their neighbors grew. However, the flour mill business was a little too intense with all the other things going on at the Brandt farm.

Jay asked Joe if the Bozzi family would like to take over the mill business. They had bought a bigger flour mill from Italy and it had been sitting idle in their garage for more than a year. Joe, Doris, and their adult daughter Isabella, agreed, even though they all had full-time jobs. The Bozzis moved their mill to the Brandt’s mill room where three mills were in operation.

Local Millers got off to a slow start in January 2023, Bozzi said. It picked up in April of that year when Doris quit her job and started full-time with the milling business. They launched a website and began marketing at the Clintonville Farmers Market, stores, restaurants, and bakeries, promoting their products.

Fresh stone milling retains the most nutritious parts of the flour – the wheat germ and bran – unlike commercial flour which has the majority of the nutrients removed to create a long shelf life. Natural Vitamin B, Vitamin E, minerals, antioxidants, bran, and healthy fat are all present in stone ground flour.

The flour and corn they grind are not all organic, but it is all locally grown on regenerative farms, farms that are focused on soil health. The farmers don’t till and they use cover crops.

“The Brandts find the farms,” Bozzi said. “They act as a grain hub. Jay already had a group of farmers who were bringing grain to him to be cleaned, stored, and milled. We purchase the grain from Jay. We mill it and then sell it.”

The Brandts know the local farmers and their farming methods. They have been farming there for a long time. Jay’s son, Chris, will be 5th generation.

“We have been involved in conservation since the early 1970s,” Jay said. “My dad (David) was one of the early adopters of no-till in the area. He, with the help of some others, was able to figure out how to make it successful. He participated in more of the national meetings and then was able to share his experiences. He gained some notoriety for doing that using not only no-till but also cover crops and how to put them in the rotation.”

The Brandts had livestock so they needed straw, Brandt said. They had always grown a soft red wheat but then started growing some hard red varieties. They were growing rye, barley, and oats for their cover crop seed business – rye is also a popular bread flour. They are currently working mostly with three other farms, Dresbach, Branstrator, and McConnell Farms. All, including the Brandts, can be found on Instagram.

However, some of the grain they grow ends up at the Brandt’s farm. Storing it, keeping it free from bugs, and at the right moisture level is a challenge, Brandt said. First off, maintaining plant health in the field is important.

“If the disease level is high, I can use my seed cleaning equipment to get it down to acceptable levels,” Brandt said. “Post harvest, we use some diatomaceous earth and then we’ll also vacuum pack the seed. We have large, sealed bags we can vacuum evacuate and we push in carbon dioxide for dry storage.”

Customers seem pleased with their methods and the results. In April 2023, their first month, they milled about 700 pounds of grain. In February of this year, that amount was 3,300 pounds of grain. Local Millers offers five types of corn meal and grits and nine varieties of flour.

For information visit localmillers.com or @localmillers on Instagram.