FOUR LEAF MILLING

Here in South Australia we are very lucky to have a company like Four Leaf Milling. It is rare indeed to be able to buy all your grains and flour knowing they are grown on local, totally natural, organic farms. They operate three properties in the Tarlee, Kapunda Region, 80kms North of Adelaide and totaling some 1150 hectares.

Here is an excerpt from the website: The farming operation has been looked at as one ecological unit right from the biological activity in the soil through to a tree planting program. The 'Four Leaf' property is fronted with two miles of planted trees with various other plantations throughout the property. These change the property outlook, but more importantly impact upon the environmental conditions. Many years ago two ecology areas were fenced off to allow the regeneration of native flora. This was long before it became fashionable to fence off areas of nature vegetation. These are now delightful areas with native vegetation regrowth and wildlife, particularly kangaroos and some echidnas. On the second property 'South Gums' work has been done on extensive planting’s of 1200 River Red Gums for woodlot production. Russell who now operates the ‘home’ farm has developed an intriguing operation using Cell Grazing techniques to produce prime organic lamb. He has also developed a plantation of nut trees. Particularly pine nuts, on drip irrigation.

Here is an excerpt from the latest monthly BFA (Biological Farmers Assoc.) e-newsletter which you can subscribe to here.

....."Over 40 years, what began as a passionate family hobby became a promising market opportunity for clean, fresh and organic food for Gavin and Rosemary Dunn, proprietors of Four Leaf Milling organic grain production.
Four Leaf Milling this month celebrates its national presence as one of Australia’s biggest distributors of organic products including spelt and rye flours, Egyptian gold flour, rolled oats & bran as well as chickpeas, muesli and a range of baby food.
Officially established in 1968, Gavin and Rosemary attribute their long lived success to the quality of their product lines, their knowledge of organic farming practices and their ability to follow their passions in the absence of industry norms.
“For us it was important to follow what we felt at the time, not being swayed by the norm, we never doubted ourselves”, said Rosemary.
The 100% family owned and run business has never once used herbicides, pesticides, fungicides or fumigants on any of their South Australian Tarlee properties.
“We just couldn’t see the benefits for yield, health or economical gain.”...Read more


"Rolled Oats (Unstabilized)The Original Style also known as Porridge or Flaked Oats. Four Leaf Original Style Rolled oats are not subjected to steam; hence the name, unstabilized oats. The natural oat kernel is rolled immediately after hulling, which ensures the retention of their high vitamin content, nutritional value and freshness. For the best porridge ever!"

This is a pretty different kind of oats, if you are used to the processed ones available at supermarkets. These are oats with attitude! They require long slow cooking but are absolutely superb cooked by our son Hugh's method:

Hugh's Porridge

for 4 - 6 people
1 cup oats
1.5 cups water
1.5 cups full cream milk or soy milk (I like the texture of soy milk in porridge)
4 grated apples
1/2 banana / person
maybe a little honey
extra milk or soy milk or a good dollop of cream!

Place the oats, water and milk into a pan and heat to simmering. Add the grated apples, mixing in well. Don't worry, it won't be too much apple! Slowly return to simmering (so it doesn't stick). Simmer gently for about half an hour or even longer - until it is all thick and the oats are well-cooked (but they won't be all dissolved and homogeneous). Add the chopped bananas and cook enough just to heat the bananas, not to cook them.

Serve with extra milk / soy milk / cream and the option of sugar / honey but try it first - it rarely needs more sweetening because of the fruit.
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A little snippet of information I found for you today:

34% of documents printed are used for less than 5 minutes, while 22% are never used!

Dreadful, isn't it.

Blogs and emails are good. Read them online, don't print them.