Hi! I’m Don Lewis
Founder of Wild Hive Farm
I am an expert baker, miller, beekeeper and farmer with a lifetime of experience.
I consider myself a naturalist who is passionate about cooking and growing real food. Running my own commercial bakery and flour mill has taught me a lot about food chemistry and the importance of using quality ingredients.
Some of my favorite things are developing recipes, creating new products and building food systems that enrich my community.
I started this blog as a way to share what I’ve learned after 30 years of baking with freshly milled flour. It has truly been life changing for me and my family and I know it will be for yours too.
My Story: A very personal read…
I’ve been lucky to have some great mentors throughout my life.
When I was born in 1954, my father owned a large chicken farm, a restaurant and catering business. He was a city kid and the child of immigrants, who moved to the country to be a farmer because he saw the value of being self sufficient. My dad wasn’t afraid to take chances and think outside the box. I learned from him a great deal about being resourceful, building systems and working in harmony with nature.
I also had the great fortune to grow up around my grandmother. She was a multi talented person and a kind soul. She could cook, bake, sew and paint in such a way that left me in awe of her creativity.
At 18 I left my parents home and found myself living and working on a communal farm. This is where I first started working with honey bees. That summer, there was a particularly bad infestation of Varroa Mites affecting the bees. As a result, I learned a lot about genetics and fighting disease.
In my mid 20’s I began working as an apprentice to a beekeeper named Nicolas Shafer. This was in the mid 1970’s and Mr. Shafer was 85 years old. I really enjoyed working with him and learning the old world techniques of this sacred profession.
When he eventually retired, I started my own commercial beekeeping operation. With limited resources, I began using swarms of wild bees to produce local honey. This was how my business got it’s name: Wild Hive Farm
I was selling my honey in farmers markets in New York City when I was asked to vend at a new market in Union Square. Little did I know, the Union Square farmers market would become my home for the next 30 years…
I quickly began making baked goods as a way to sell more honey. I discovered that I loved to bake and my customers loved the products. I built out a bakery in the basement of my house and went into baking full time.
During those early years, I learned a lot from books. Also lots of experimentation and trial and error. I developed hundreds of recipes. Later, I realized that many of my recipes were directly inspired by my Grandmother and all of the exquisite baked goods she used to make so effortlessly.
For years I continued to expand my product line along with my knowledge and skill. I hired and trained many bakers to help me grow my business. As business grew, so did the Union Square Farmers Market. What had started with just a few farmers, turned into over 100, and became known as a mecca for quality local food. This was my platform.
One day, in the late 90’s, I went to buy some chicken feed from a farmer friend of mine named Alton Earnheart.
His farm produced all types of grains for animal feed. On this day, Alton had a small flour mill set up and was experimenting with milling some wheat. He said “Here, you’re a baker… Maybe you can do something with this…”
I stuck my hand in the flour and I was amazed! The texture was so much more silky smooth than the flour I used in my bakery. It had a rich and earthy smell to it. I instantly realized that this is the way it was supposed to be. And then, the idea hit me like a ton of bricks: I needed to mill my own flour.
I bought a mill and set it up in a trailer on my driveway. Finding the mill was easy, but finding grain was another story…
I quickly learned that there were absolutely NO grains being grown for human consumption in my region. All the wheat was being used for animal feed to support the dairy industry. I turned to my friend Alton who agreed to grow some higher quality grains for me to bake with.
Over the next few years I honed my craft. Through trial and error, I learned how to create different types of flour with my mill. Simultaneously, I was reworking my recipes and converting my bakery over to 100% freshly milled flour. By 2005, I had achieved that goal and was able to start selling my flour retail.
It was around this time when I experienced a major supply crunch.
Alton only had a certain number of acres to plant and I needed more grain. Still, there was no other grains for human consumption being grown in my region. So I began speaking to dairy farmers, trying to convince them to grow my grains. It was difficult at first, but eventually I had created a small network of farmers to support my mill. What I didn’t realize was that I was building the foundation of the first regional grain-based food system that the Northeast had seen since before The Great Depression.
It’s hard to believe that was 25 years ago!…
Since then, my business has grown and changed a lot. In 2008 I opened the Wild Hive Restaurant Cafe before eventually closing it a few years later, along with the bakery. I did this to focus on the important work I was doing with my milling company: Wild Hive Grain Project.
As a baker, miller and farmer, I had developed a unique perspective of the grain industry. I understood what it took to make a good loaf of bread. I knew what grains made the best flour and I knew all about the struggles of the farmer. That is how I began my work with wheat genetics.
I sought out and carefully selected wheat varieties which I knew would create quality flour. I focused on heirloom and ancient grains of stature which I believed would best acclimate to my region. In some cases, I was gifted a few seeds which I grew out by hand over some years until I had enough for a mechanical planting.
Now, present day, I’m left with an impressive bank of wheat genetics and a strong line of quality flour products.
At this point in my journey, I’m most interested in helping others learn how to bake and spending time with my family. I love to see the enthusiasm and creativity of the young bakers I meet. I know that this industry is being passed off to very capable hands.
