Our Story

It was the fall of 2009 when Andrea and Christian were driving back from a weekend visit to Maine, with 3 kids asleep in the back of the van. A recent article had them talking about wheat being grown locally for breads at their favorite bakery, the Hungry Ghost. This was a moment in life that captured the Stanleys curiosity. Why had they never thought about grains and where they were grown? Not only wheat for bread but what about all the craft beer that was being brewed locally, where was that grain coming from?

Fast forward 7 months to July 2010 when Andrea and Christian had just harvested their first 10 acres of malt barley from a field in Hadley. The grain was laid out to dry on tarps in their 2 car garage because Valley Malt had little money, no location, and no infrastructure for drying or storing grain.

That’s the story of Valley Malt, now 10 years old and making malt for breweries all around the Northeast.

In 2018, coming full circle from that one little newspaper article, the Hungry Ghost owners asked Andrea and Christian if they would be interested in putting in a flour mill.

Ground Up was born and with the help of the same farmers supplying barley, wheat and rye for malting and the availability of the New American Mills.

The goal of Ground Up is to look back in another ten years and see more acres of grain, more thriving farms, more fresh and nutritious flour - all important signs of a more sustainable and resilient food system.