G. Harvest was a man who experienced more in one month than most men experience in one decade.  His adventures inspire the breads that we make.  One of our most popular sweets is our Chocolate Brownie Bread.  Here’s the story behind it:

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Every woman has a story about The One Who Got Away.  For many of the women I have loved I have the unfortunate pleasure of being that person.  It’s not something I have ever set out to do… it’s just that the women I fall for learn that my adventurous spirit isn’t a passing fancy after they have developed feelings for me.  By the time they realize the adventures I talk about having aren’t just dreams but are plans I’m actually developing, they have to decide whether or not they want to join me or stay in the life that they know.  Most have chosen the life that they know.  And I have become The One Who Got Away.

It wasn’t always this way.

I was a young man living in my native South Louisiana and was on the introspective journey of discovering who I was.  (I highly recommend this time of inward focus for any person in their early twenties.  It will save you from so many regrets later in life!)  I had walked away from the family business and was living in a garage… not a garage apartment but an actual garage.  I hung a hammock from the roof above the hood of my car, mounted a hot plate on the wall, bathed in a work sink, and stored my clothes in the trunk of my car.  For this glorified parking space I paid $25 a month.  I was doing seasonal work at the time, jumping from farm to farm, harvesting whatever crop was in season.  It was quiet work that allowed me to think deeply about my life’s meaning and I was also able to start saving money for a trip I wanted to take to my ancestral village in France.

My deep thinking stopped on the day I met Emily.  She was from New England and would never give me a more specific locale than that.  Her red hair and joyous spirit made my heart spin and sink at the same time.  I felt both light headed and grounded any time when she walked onto the field full of pecan trees that we were both working.  She would be my wife.  I knew it.  The money I had set aside to travel became savings for an engagement ring.

Emily and I would talk all day long about the adventures we would have together and the ones she had already been on.  She told me about hiking the Appalachian Trail and serving as a research assistant in the deserts of Nevada.  She wanted to see Thailand but I wanted to stick to English speaking countries like Malaysia… we compromised and agreed to visit a beach town in both.  She talked about the chocolates of Belgium and how she couldn’t wait to try them in an actual café in Brussels.   I took note of her love for chocolate and started working on a bread to bake for her.

We finally confessed our feelings for each other on a Friday late in November.  I had brought a thermos of coffee and, as we shared it during an early morning break from harvesting, I told her how much I loved her.  My heart exploded out of its solitary spot in my chest and pumped throughout every limb and rang like church bells in my ears when she told me she felt the same way.  Our work for the rest of the day was easy despite the cold and the constant hunching to gather pecans.

That weekend I bought a meager engagement ring and went home on Sunday to bake this bread I had been formulating in my mind.  Because Emily was allergic to dairy I had to make a totally vegetarian creation.  I used baking soda and vinegar as the leavening agents.  I folded cocoa powder into the sugar and flour.  I added chocolate chips with reckless abandon.  I wanted Emily to be transported in her mind to that Belgian café she had been dreaming of when she took her first bite the next morning.

I showed up the next morning to the field full of pecan trees with a thermos of coffee in one hand, the loaf of chocolate bread in the other, and a ring in my pocket.  As I sat and waited for Emily to arrive I noticed that all of the leaves had fallen out of the trees and our work would soon be done.  I couldn’t wait to start our travels together! 

I waited by my car until late in the morning. 

When Emily didn’t show up, I asked the land owner if she had called in sick.  He informed me that she had quit the previous Friday.  He didn’t know where she had gone or where she had been living.  She left me no note.  She gave me no message through the farmer.  She simply vanished.

My heart shrank a little that day.  I drove back to the jeweler and sold him the ring for 80% of the purchase price.  I sold my car later that week and bought a ticket to St. Etienne du Montluc.  The distant relatives I met there helped me get over Emily.  But I’ve never forgotten her.  I think about her every time I make Chocolate Brownie Bread.

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Chocolate Brownie Bread is available every day of the week between now and the end of the year.

One of the first things I learned when I started at Great Harvest is that most of us are Foodies.  It shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise, considering what we do for a living in the bakery.  If you eavesdrop on one of our conversations, you’re just as likely to hear us talking about the best way to make a gumbo or the latest episode of Top Chef (is it just us or does Kevin already have this season in the bag?) as you are to hear us talking about the bread or sweets that we make.

One culinary trend we’ve recently talked about that confounds us is Decomposition.  Decomposition is breaking down a dish into its component ingredients so that each one can be tasted individually but, when mixed, you taste the original dish.  We don’t get it.  Why make the eater work so hard and swirl everything together on their plate?  Why not just make the original dish?

I had an a-ha moment this week at the bakery.  We’re rolling out a new sandwich this week – The Pilgrim.  It’s a turkey sandwich with a cranberry relish, lettuce, tomato, and a celery/onion/sage spread.  This sandwich is a really good example of how deconstruction can work instead of being a trend to make a plate look cool.  The relish with dried cranberries and horseradish has a sweet yet tangy flavor that pairs well against the turkey.  The celery/onion/sage spread, when combined with the bread, is transformed into a stuffing.  We’ve accidentally deconstructed your Thanksgiving meal into its component ingredients and then rebuilt it in a nontraditional fashion.  When you take that first bite, you’ll feel like you’re sitting down to Thanksgiving Dinner.

The Pilgrim will be available through Christmas during regular lunch hours.  Football game and recliner aren’t provided but we will do the dishes!

(Submitted by Michelle)
As I mentioned in an earlier post, our family was fortunate to enjoy some Rocky Mountain adventures a couple of months ago (thanks to our awesome crew holding down the fort here!)  After our escapades in Colorado, we spent the second part of our trip in cool, dry Montana.  We found ourselves driving through miles and miles of golden wheat fields.  We saw farmers cutting & baling hay.  We watched combines harvesting wheat and massive sprinkler systems nurturing fields of alfalfa.  It was extra-special to us because all of our whole wheat in the bakery comes from this area!  We contract with family farms throughout Montana to bring us the finest hard red wheat in the world.

After an awesome week, our drive home consisted of 36 driving hours (over 2,000 miles) with 4 kids in a Suburban.  Thank you Dallas for that DVD player!  With lots of time on my hands, I began reading Food and Faith, a book of essays compiled by Michael Schut.  How appropriate!  Have you ever wondered where exactly the food that we eat comes from?  Who is growing our food?  This book has opened my eyes to the ecological impacts of agribusiness and how family farms are sadly being replaced by huge corporations.  I've learned about the sacramental aspect of food and the power that I have to eat responsibly!  This book has prompted me to be mindful of what I'm eating; to contemplate the work of the farmers and those who have had a hand in allowing me to eat the plate of food before me. 

Now when I eat a slice of our whole grain bread, I can see the farmers working in the fields and picture the beautiful plants that died so that I might live!

One more thing.....If you'd like to visit a family farm in our own backyard, check out Gotreaux's.  If you'd like to get your own hands in some of that fertile dirt, check out Earthshare Gardens.