municating with very different types
of people—from high-end chefs to
High Plains farmers—and Brown is
equally at ease with all of them. He
persuades Texas farmers from Tokio
(near West) to Lamesa to grow his
seeds; he hunts down rare corn va-
rietals to produce limited-run bour-
bons; he drives to Dallas and Houston
and Marfa to make sure bakers have
access to his product.
But the mill’s success is about more
than one man’s talent for salesman-
ship. The company is part of a nation-
al trend in reviving local grains, which
make for healthier and more flavorful
products. In 2009 farmers’ markets
in New York City began requiring
bakers to use at least 15 percent local
grains in their baked goods. On the
other side of the country, the Cali-
fornia Grain Campaign has set a goal
of getting farmers’ market bakers to
use 20 percent local grains by 2020.
Abby Love, a former pastry chef at
hyperlocal Austin restaurant Dai Due
who teaches baking classes at Bar-
ton Springs, compares the difference
between freshly milled whole-grain
flour and the stuff you find in the su-
permarket baking aisle to “a freshly
clipped piece of heirloom broccoli
versus Green Giant.” She also notes
that different types of wheat have dif-
ferent purposes, which is why Barton
Springs offers a wide variety of flours.
“It’s like apples,” she says. “There’s
Red Delicious; there’s Granny Smith.
Some are good for eating, some are
good for applesauce, some are good
for pies. It’s no different with wheat.”
The process starts with seeds:
Barton Springs Mill stocks its own,
searching for heritage varieties that
were commonly grown in Texas over
a century ago. It then finds farmers
who are willing to grow the seeds,
which it gives to them as a loan. Rich-
ardson Farms, in Rockdale, grows
corn in collaboration with Brown.
Owner Jim Richardson says the
partnership has been instrumental
in transforming his business. “It’s
allowed me to sell to these high-end
restaurants that demand extreme-
ly good quality,” he says. “If I didn’t
have James in the middle helping
me, I couldn’t have the markets that
I have.”
The mill is also benefiting from the
growing number of Texas distilleries.
Barton Springs’ biggest distilling
partner is Daniel Barnes, the found-
er and head distiller of neighboring
Treaty Oak Distilling. He, like Ozarow
in Dallas, had been looking for a local
grain provider for quite a while before
he met Brown. He now uses Barton
Springs Mill grains for bourbon and
rye and is working on a series of whis-
keys made from the mill’s heirloom
corns, including Bloody Butcher Red
and Oaxacan Green.
The distillery itself sits outside
Dripping Springs on a beautiful, live
oak–studded, 28-acre property, two
and a half acres of which will soon
house the new Barton Springs Mill
headquarters; the current facility
is full to bursting. At 17,500 square
feet, the new building will be three-
and-a-half times its current size. It
will include storage for four hundred
tons of grain; malting facilities; a hull-
ing machine that’s being purchased
with a grant from the Austin Food
and Wine Alliance; and a dedicat-
ed classroom for baking classes and
demonstrations.
The new setup will allow Barton
Springs to vastly expand its offerings.
Currently, the mill sources einkorn,
emmer, and spelt from out of state be-
cause their hulls have to be removed
before milling. The new hulling ma-
chine will make it more practical to
grow those ancient grains in Texas.
Brown is also leasing 2,500 square
feet of the building to Love, who will
operate a bakery, pizzeria, and retail
space. Brown plans to live on-site,
above the mill, with his wife.
“We’ll see what happens with the
market in the next couple years,” he
says, “if this is a fad or if it continues.”
Far from wanting to monopolize the
market, he thinks Texas is big enough
for another mill, another grain hub.
“There’s room,” he says, “for another
one of me.” T
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