Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company

order from Wolseley

order from The Forks Market

In-person shopping at our bakeries

• 2 people in the bakery at a time
• people waiting to come into the bakery should stand behind the black line socially distanced apart

• counter service continues
• people are asked to stand socially distanced apart, waiting to be served

We thank you for your amazing support as so many things continue to shift for everyone. We’re all finding ways to adapt with the important changes. There has been something profoundly communal and transformative in each encounter with you, our customers. The degree of kindness, gentleness, and loyalty has been truly extraordinary. We continue to find ways to bake and make available your favourite items within the shifting parameters.

Tall Grass Bread Company continues to be all about local, organic, fresh-milled, and made from scratch whole food.

Tall Grass updates and news

queen Elizabeth cake

Just in time for Victoria Day, our Queen Elizabeth Cake will delight your taste buds. It’s an enchantingly rich spring sensation! Treat yourself and those you love royally!

Created especially for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, this cake was so loved by Her Majesty she declared that all people in The Commonwealth should have access to this recipe.

The cake was popular on the Canadian prairies, where money would be collected for the poor, following the wishes of Her Majesty. The story goes that even in tough times, community gatherings included a shiny tin can for charitable donations, on the table next to the cake.

Imperial cookies

At our bakeries we always feature Imperial Cookies over Mother’s Day season and through the summer. Sometimes known as the Empire Biscuit, these traditional favourites have several likely points of origin. One story suggests they derive from the Austrian Linzer Torte. Another theory sees them as a blend of a Scottish recipe for shortbread-based sandwich cookies with Icelandic and Ukrainian influences.

As far as we know, they’ve always featured a jam centre and a glaze of white icing. They’re simply delicious and a wonderful sweet treat to look forward to!

Ten breads or more – 10% off

When you purchase 10 breads or more, you will receive a 10% discount on those items. This applies to purchases of multiple loaves of one type or many types. It’s up to you to decide! The offer is available in the bakeries and for pre-paid orders. To assure that your choices will be available, call two days ahead so we can prepare your order. Tall Grass in Wolseley 204-783-5097 or Tall Grass at The Forks 204-957-5097. This offer does not apply to other baked goods.

Catering continues

Enjoy a variety of our baked goods and other items with Tall Grass Catering. Ask us about the extra care we are taking with packaging during the pandemic. Call Mona to discuss your order, 204-947-1297 Monday to Friday: 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM.

The pies have it!

Tall Grass was a featured bakery in the Sunday digital edition of the Winnipeg Free Press, March 11, 2021.

“Our pies are centred largely on what grows here, locally,” said Tall Grass co-owner Tabitha Langel. “What I love about our pies is we can usually tell people where the fruits are from and the pumpkins are from.” The newspaper article was written in recognition of Pi Day (3.14, or in this case March 14), first celebrated in San Francisco in 1988, by physicist Larry Shaw.

Tabitha emphasizes the Tall Grass commitment to local. She refers to Saskatoons as the ‘sacred berry’, that was integral to survival on the prairies, and is today considered a super-food which is high in vitamin-B and boosts the immune system. She also remembers how the the old women in the Hutterite colony would say that the Saskatoon berry and rhubarb needed one another.

Tall Grass bakes Saskatoon pies, along with Saskatoon-rhubarb, apple, pumpkin, fieldberry, as well as others throughout the seasons. Every day is pie day at Tall Grass.

Other bakeries featured in the Free Press piece were Lilac Bakery and Goodies Bake Shop.

new: menu boards at our Wolseley bakery

New time you are in our Wolseley bakery, check out our new menu boards! Each board highlights a different category.

Breads & Buns: daily breads, Desem breads, rolls, buns

Treats & Sweets: cinnamon buns, cakes, deep dish pies, croissants, muffins & more, cookies & more

Deli & Snacks: sandwiches, salads, savoury items, bakery combos, beverages, heat & eat meals, canning.

Check out our vegan choices

Vegan food choices are offered every day at Tall Grass.

They change with the season and we invite you ask us if you have any questions. Please note that most of these items are available at both bakeries. When that is not the case, the bakery that carries it is indicated.

For additional information of our vegan menu, please enter the word “vegan” in the search bar of the Home page of our website for more information.

Granola Chronicles

Want to get the newest, and most complete story about Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company and the Wolseley neighbourhood? This locally-produced page-turner is yours at the most reasonable price of $10.00.

The Granola Chronicles Culinary Tales from Tall Grass Bakery and Winnipeg’s Wolseley Community is a 64 page magazine-style publication. It’s the work of locally-based Yoko Chapman of Anthologie by Ayoko Design.

The soft-cover book is filled with stories of favourite Wolseley area businesses old and new. Add to that great recipes, and keen tips contributed by local entrepreneurs. Should that not be enough for you, or someone you know who may have been thinking about actually making Tall Grass cinnamon buns – this is also where you’ll find that recipe!

From the sale of every book, $2.00 will be donated to The Wolseley Residents’ Association’s Community Garden Project.

Get your copy of the book at anthologieproject.com or at the pick-up and delivery service through our Wolseley Bakery. Just ask for it when you place your order.

Calling our pie plates back home!

If you’re one of our pie customers, Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company is asking you to look through your kitchen cupboards to see whether you might have some of our metal reusable pie plates waiting and eager to return to our bakeries.

Years ago, we began using sturdy metal deep dish pie plates for all our pies, out of respect for our Mother the Earth. Since that time, our deep dish pies have become customer favourites. Return these pie plates and we will give you $5 for each one.

MLA Lisa Naylor leads Tall Grass tribute

“This is an achievement worth celebrating!” Such were the words of Lisa Naylor, MLA for Wolseley who recently congratulated Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company on their 30th Anniversary on the floor of the Manitoba Legislature.

Lisa, Environment and Climate Change Critic for Manitoba’s NDP, noted that Tall Grass represents so many things things that our community values now, more than ever. She talked about the origins of the bakery in response to concerns about the well being of local small organic farmers, and a desire change people’s perspectives how food should be grown, made and how it should taste.

Of course, she made reference to the classic Tall Grass cinnamon bun and good nutritious food. “Fair wages, community engagement, and environmentally sound business practices can change the world. Congratulation Tall Gras Prairie Bread Prairie Bakery on changing our little corner of the world!” Lisa concluded.

Tall Grass anniversary featured on CBC Radio

Our 30th anniversary has been celebrated in many small ways, and we were pleased to happily share our story with host Nadia Kidwai of CBC Radio’s Weekend Morning Show, who interviewed co-owner Tabitha Langel. Listen to the radio interview and read the profile published on the CBC website.

In the radio interview, Tabitha talks about some of the early memories as well as the challenges over the past 30 years, and how gratifying it is that the neighbourhood supported them from the very beginning in the creation this bakery with a brand new approach.

a walk down memory lane

In recognition of our 30th anniversary this year, we’re working on a new page on our site that will begin to tell our story. The first instalment is a story written by Stuart McLean that was broadcast back in 2006 on CBC Radio’s Vinyl Cafe.

The page is called Our Story and we look forward to adding it to its own location on our menu bar in the future. Enjoy the story, you maybe even have heard it on the radio over the years.

Nurturing Community: Tall Grass turns 30

An article in the September issue of the Wolseley Leaf, written by Mike Maunder, is a well-researched piece that details how it all began, complete with photos and interviews.

This is a great piece to sit down and read, in print or here online, with a cup of tea and a fresh Tall Grass cinnamon bun or a Spelt morning glory muffin!

Learn about:

• city kids and country cows
• deliveries of bread using a little red wagon
• Stuart McLean’s 2006 Vinyl Cafe broadcast on CBC Radio.

It was thirty years ago…

This past September, 2020, Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company celebrated its 30th anniversary!

Tall Grass opened a cosy little bakery in the Wolseley neighbourhood of Winnipeg in 1990 with a desire to support Manitoba farmers and bring the production of good food to Winnipeg. Twelve years later, we were privileged to bring organic grains and fresh milling to The Forks.

By 2005 the Tall Grass commitment to whole food was expanding. We had so much more to share. We developed hearty, oven-ready meals as well as home style soups, jams, jellies, preserves and pickles, all prepared with the care you’ve come to expect from us. And so Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen was born.

Every day Tall Grass celebrates the ancient tradition of bread making. Our foundation continues to be daily fresh milling of whole organic grains, including ancient varieties such as Red Fife and Spelt. Our bakeries are where from scratch creations are born and begin to sing their own songs.

At Tall Grass and Grass Roots we are all about local, organic, and made from scratch. These principles guide us in every step as we create the food we are proud to provide at our three locations and through our catering.

From all of us at Tall Grass and Grass Roots, we extend our gratitude and thanks for the support and loyalty that you have extended to our bakeries and our kitchen over the past thirty years. Watch this spot over the next little while as we bring you:

• our anniversary story just published in the September issue of The Leaf newspaper (see page 6)
• a re-posting of the Stewart McLean story first presented in 2006 on CBC Radio’s The Vinyl Cafe

Poetry in Wolseley

Winnipeg Poet Laureate Duncan Mercredi made Wolseley the subject of his recent poem And so it begins

Here’s an excerpt from the poem. and it begins the city shakes the cobwebs off the streets laughter echoes down arlington then back again cars exhaust hangs in the air tires squeal trying to beat the others he races alone

Use this link to read the entire poem on the page 3 of the issue of The Leaf.

DRM/2020 Duncan Mercredi

Published in the July 2020 edition of the Wolseley and West Broadway community newspaper – The Leaf. Published with the permission of Duncan Mercredi, and with the permission of The Leaf Editor, Terese Taylor. Photo by KC Adams.

Top of the pops

Winnipeg’s original organic bakery, Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company, is pegged as #85 in the CBC Manitoba 150 listing on Instagram.

We are delighted to be part of this selection of 150 Manitoba icons.

With many thanks, The Tall Grass team

Check it out at the links below:

• MB 150
• CBC Manitoba Instagram
• Tall Grass Instagram

featuring Desem Breads

Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. European-inspired and naturally leavened. Read more…

traditional canning

We can do it. Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen takes a can-do attitude to traditional canning. Read more…

Opening hours

Fresh baking and local food, made from scratch. Check out our hours. Read more…

Featuring Desem breads

The loaves come out of the oven – crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. These are the hallmarks of the European-inspired, naturally leavened loaves featuring a sourdough starter. Desem breads are also well known for what’s not in them – no added commercial yeast, oil, sugar or honey. In the ‘Desem’ fermentation process, a natural culture occurs that allows the bread to rise. At Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company, it all starts with our own freshly ground organic whole grain flour made from Red Fife, Spelt and Rye, as well as other grains. A growing appreciation for the Desem style of nutrient-rich sourdough baking demands the use of a brick oven to bring out the finer details, as was done in Europe for centuries. This is where our brick oven upstairs at our bakery in Wolseley is at its best. Try these finely crafted Desem breads, including our:

• Fig walnut / Olive rosemary
• Heavy German Rye
• Multigrain sourdough
• Onion Rye.
• Potato dill
• Spelt sourdough

Also emerging fresh from this oven are Ciabatta buns and baguettes, and the occasional pizza. Enjoy!

Traditional canning

Who has the time for traditional canning, the way Granny did it? We do! At Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen we follow the time-honoured steps that bring you delicious local canning from the farm to your table. Come and watch us at working during the late summer and into the autumn at our kitchen in The Forks Market as we bring you summer in a jar through this prairie custom. Our delicious choices include, but are not limited to:

• Apple and wild cranberry jam
• Manitoba Saskatoon jam
• Apricot sunrise jam
• Homestyle apple sauce
• Rhubarb apple chutney
• Salsas (mild, medium, or hot)
• Homestyle dill pickles
• Bread and butter pickles
• Pickled beets
• and much, much more!

At Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen, we are preserving more than food. We are preserving a heritage. A selection of our canned items is also available at Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company in Wolseley, 859 Westminster Avenue, and Tall Grass in The Forks Market.

Our hours

Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company in Wolseley, 859 Westminster Mondays – Fridays: 7 AM – 6 PM Saturdays: 7 AM – 5 PM Closed Sundays and all holidays

Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company in The Forks Market
OPEN every day, 7 days a week Mondays – Sundays: 7 AM – 6:30 PM

Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen in The Forks Market
(closed during COVID, some items available at Tall Grass Bakery)

At The Forks, we are open most holidays except: Remembrance Day (November 11) & Christmas Day (December 25)