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Seed to sandwich in Washington State

By Sibyl Leon-Lamica and Gretchen Cruden.

Harvest time. Copyright: Bread Encounters

On a bright spring morning in Orient, an old mining town in Washington State, just of few miles south of the US / Canadian border, a small patch of playground earth became something more than soil. Under the guidance of local regenerative farmer Joel Fancy of Fancy’s Regenerative Farm and ‘Miss Sibyl’, students planted heritage wheat seeds in a project that would grow into a lesson about food, history, community and responsibility.

Seeds of an idea

Bringing a seed-to-sandwich project to life in the US required a remarkable sequence of events over many years. It began with the founding of the nonprofit Bread Encounters by Sibyl Leon-Lamica and led to the eventual creation of The BreadHaus & Traditional Skills Workshops in Kettle Falls. This space, dedicated to reviving traditional skills and building community, is part of the global Bread Houses Network founded by Dr. Nadezhda Savova.

Sibyl’s determination and passion for the project led her to obtaining a copy of Bake Your Lawn from the Real Bread Campaign in the UK, as well as finding a local regenerative farmer willing to collaborate and a local school open to participating in a pilot project. They were Fancy’s Regenerative Farm and Orient School District. It aimed to teach the journey of bread, from soil to table, to students who were mostly unaware of the many people and steps involved in its production.

In spring 2025, every K-8 grade student (aged from about 5 to 14) at Orient School helped sow dryland wheat in a corner of their playground, which soon earned the nickname The Field of Gold. With guidance from ‘Farmer Fancy’, students learned about regenerative farming practice, which improve soil health, increase biodiversity and can help farms remain productive for generations.

Harvesting and milling

When students left for summer vacation, tiny shoots were just breaking through the soil. Returning in September, the children were amazed to discover that their playground field had transformed, with tall stalks of golden wheat standing ready for harvest. With scissors in hand, the students took an active role, carefully cutting the wheat themselves and laying the stalks out to dry.

Under the guidance of Miss Sibyl and Charles Lamica, the students learned ancient techniques of threshing and used winnowing screens, handcrafted by Mr. Lamica’s 1804 Youth Group. Threshing was a particularly engaging process for the students. They placed the wheat heads into pillowcases and vigorously thrashed them against a wall, a hands-on activity that resulted in much laughter.

The final stage involved understanding the evolution of milling. The students tried their hands at traditional milling, using a quern, a Mesoamerican-style mano and metate, and various hand-turned mills to turn their own wheat into flour.

Shaping and savouring the harvest

Bread making was split into two days, with the younger kids getting to shape their own mini loaves from pre-made sourdough. The school bus drivers fondly recalled the delicious aroma of the students’ warm, freshly-baked bread filling the bus on the ride home, while a pair of brothers proudly announced that their little loaves were ‘special’. The younger students also received Bread Encounters’ Benignity Bread Mix to take home and bake with their families.

The older students learned about the nutritional benefits of baking with sourdough and wholegrain flours. They also learned how to cultivate their own sourdough starter, empowering them to make loaves from scratch using the wheat they had helped grow. To support their ongoing baking journey, each older student received a personalised dough bowl to serve as a lasting reminder of their baking journey and inspire them to carry forward the tradition of homemade bread into their families and communities.

Lessons learned

As well as imparting a great sense of accomplishment to the students, we know the experience had deep and meaningful impacts on the students’ understanding of agriculture and food. Lavette, an eighth grader, said: ‘I was surprised to find out how much space was required to just make one loaf of bread. It really makes me think about how important farming is to us to survive. We need to take care of our land.’

Another student, Natilyn, reflected: ‘I mean, think about it! There are the people that have to grow the food, harvest the food, and process it. Then they have to sell it. That is actually a lot of people working together to just make it so you have food on your table.’

Maxine, a seventh grader, shared: ‘I loved doing this project. Not just because we got to go outside and then bake and eat our bread, but because we could see why what we were learning mattered. That doesn’t always happen in school.’

Younger students loved watching the wheat grow, visiting their playground field, and tasting bread they helped create. ‘It was awesome,’ was the general sentiment when asked to write a sentence about their experience. Their excitement showed how deeply hands‑on learning can reach all children.

In a time when children are increasingly disconnected from land and food systems, projects like this offer something vital. They teach gratitude, patience, teamwork and responsibility. They also show children that their communities hold deep knowledge that is worth preserving.

More than flour, water and salt

Here in rural Stevens County, agriculture is not just an industry, it is heritage. School Principal, Gretchen Cruden, said: ‘The Orient School has had a long tradition of serving farming families, so this felt like a natural fit for us. As a team, we certainly value being able to connect our students to the kind of hands-on learning that impacts them daily and see this as an extension of so much learning we already have in place. We were so excited to have been able to work with Farmer Fancy and Miss Sibyl in such a farm-to-table way…!’

When Orient students received the chance to plant their wheat and bake their bread, they tasted something more than flour, water, wild yeasts and salt. They tasted their own work, their community’s wisdom, and a deeper understanding of what sustains us. They will remember the year they planted wheat on the playground and learned that the simplest things in life are often the most important.

@breadencounters

Originally published in True Loaf magazine issue 66, April 2026.

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