grand grain roadtrip

hi there,
Im not sure if this is the right place to post, and im happy to be re-directed if not. my name is paloma and im a 28 year old baker/herbalist/farmer-in-training. my current farm apprenticeship in California is ending soon, and I have a vague, budding dream of doing a roadtrip from coast to coast, with grain as my red thread/through line. without going into too many details, I would say my intention is to visit people and places working within various stages of the transformation of  grain into flour into bread. That means visiting people growing the grains (especially on a small-scale and organically, and I'm especially interested in ancient and heritage grains), the people milling the flour (extra cool if its a stone-mill, or tapped into a regional grain network) ,and the people baking (sourdough, wood-fired ovens, all the good stuff....). I feel a bit overwhelmed at all the research this entails, as I spent much of my 20s living abroad and feel like I haven't explored the US much. Im keen to see different scales of projects, different environments, different landscapes, and just expand my awareness of the cool efforts that I know exist here. If anyone has any ideas/recommendations at all, I am so open to receive!! Whether it's a general area, a specific person, or something in between, I would be grateful to be pointed in some fruitful directions. Also very open and curious about what's happening north of the border in Canada. I'm keeping this all a bit vague and superficial, as (again) not really sure if this is the right place to post and I'm not sure what the engagement is like here. Happy to give many more details though. Much love.

I'm recommending a place I've never visited before, so I don't know how good of an idea that is, but I've been interested in The Land Institute's work for a while now.  They're trying to breed a commercially viable perennial grain.  They now have one on the market called Kernza.  

It looks like The Land Institute has plenty of tour opportunities throughout the year.

Welcome to the forum!

You might look at Barton Springs Mill in Texas.

https://bartonspringsmill.com/

There are several others.

Here is a thread you might enjoy:

https://permies.com/t/83546/local-grain-milled-site-sourdough

I hope you will come back and tell us about your road trip.

Welcome to Permies!

Indigenous Californians have a long tradition of cooking with acorn flour and using many wild seeds and grains such as chia. I would start there if I were you. This is acorn season now, anyway!

I make an effort to go out gathering acorns to cook and eat every fall. Sometimes I am more successful than others either from personal factors or mast crops. But I do get the impression that acorns are a very healthy, strengthening “grain”.