Closed loop, small scale flour mill takes off in Bruce County

Angela Devitt mills and bags flour at her small scale stone mill in Kincardine, Ont. on Aug. 30, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

When Angela Devitt started a small scale flour mill a couple of years ago, she thought she’d created a nice part-time job for herself.

“It’s really taken off. Originally, I thought it would be three days a week, and now I could work everyday,” the mother of two said.

In her tidy and tiny production studio, in a food-grade shed behind her Kincardine, Ont. home, Devitt is stone-milling six types of flour and nine baking mixes, using wheat from her family’s 600 acre grain farm, near Ripley.

“So there’s two stones in the mill. And they incorporate, rather than separate the flour, because there’s three parts to the seed, and so I’m incorporating all of them within my blends,” she said.

Deviit makes blends and flours for 15 retailers, five bakers, and all her online customers, across Ontario, who appreciate her healthy, locally produced products. The products use all parts of the wheat seed: the endo-sperm, germ, and bran.

“When you have a flour with all endo-sperm, you’re just getting the starches, and they’ve added back in or enriched it. I don’t need to enrich it, because I don’t take anything out of it. So, it’s all there. All healthy. Right out of the ground, right to your plate,” she said.

Stone Bridge Flour is a rarity in the grain industry. Whereas most grain and wheat grown in Canada ends up in industrial mills and is shipped all over the world, Stone Bridge is a closed loop production, turning Devitt’s wheat into Devitt’s flour.

“That rarely exists in the grain market, where a consumer can connect with the grower, the miller, and vendor of the grain product. So, the flour is unique in that way, that it has direct connection from grower to consumer,” said Tyson Devitt, Angela’s husband who grows the wheat she turns into flour.

And that’s what Angela loves about her small scale mill— it is connecting farmers with the people eating their food.

“I just love it. It’s a great combo of the labour intensive work, which is great. I love to come out and mill, but I’m also out there meeting the customer at a market, and they’re telling how great it is to meet you, because you grew it, you milled it, you bagged it, and here you are selling it. So, how’s that for shopping local,” she said.

To learn more about Stone Bridge Flour, you can visit their website.