Our Story
We are the Groves’, fourth (Graeme and Christine), fifth (Jeremy and Kate) and sixth (Delilah, Jake and Brady) generation farmers that produce stone ground wholemeal spelt flour on our Mt Barker family farm in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. Our grain is grown on our original home farm in Tambellup which was taken up and farmed by Graeme’s Grandfather Alfred and Father Peter before him. Traditionally wool producers our farms now produce wool, prime lamb, grains and pulses.
In 2019 we were offered the opportunity to take on a traditional stone flour mill by family friends Pleun and Hennie Hitzert from the Lily Dutch Windmill in Amelup WA and jumped at the opportunity. Pleun a native Dutchman brought the mill to WA from from the Netherlands after he discovered it on a trip home to visit family. The stones came from the De Roosdonck windmill in the town of Nuenen, interestingly this was home to Vincent Van Gogh in the 1880’s and he drew and painted the windmill numerous times.
We started siteworks for a new shed to house the mill on our Mt Barker farm in July 2019 and the shed was completed by the end of that year. The mill was moved to its new home in early 2020 and we constructed a purpose built room around it. With the tutelage of Pleun, who has been milling for near on two decades, we fine-tuned the milling process and in early July 2020 we produced our first batch of flour for market.