Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company

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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

Christmas is coming!

It’s countdown to Christmas. Our holiday treats are sweet. During this busy time of year, Tall Grass can make some of the culinary components of your holiday preparations easier.

Place your orders now to ensure you’ll get them in time for your timing.

Choose from:
• Vinarterta – we thank the Icelandic community for this delicious multi-layered treat, popularized worldwide from Manitoba. We especially thank Carrie and her grandmother for teaching us their time-honoured method. Available with or without icing.
• Tall Grass fruit cake – fruit and nut-laden, follow all the best traditions with this recipe. The fruit is aged in brandy and fresh cider before being carefully baked and, yes, we wrap it in cheesecloth soaked with apricot brandy. It’s really something!
• Seasonal cookies – choose from our selection of traditional cookies to add sparkle to your dessert table or to have on hand for snacks and lunch bags. In addition to our year-round assortment, we’ve got holiday favourites including Mocha Kisses, Russian tea biscuits, hazelnut chocolate dreams, and florentines.
• Assorted pies – apple, Saskatoon rhubarb, prairie fruit, pecan as well as pumpkin. Lovely to have with tea or to finish a meal with friends and family.
• Tall Grass fruit bread – when you add fruit to a lovely light bread dough, there’s a sweet simple harmony that pleases the senses.

• Christopomo Bread – An ancient bread from the Greek Orthodox, rich in butter, eggs, honey, and anise, decorated with almonds.
• Kings cake (Galette de roi) – Our customer favourite to start the new year is available in January. A French tradition dating back to the Middle Ages features a treasure baked into the cake that rewards its finder as king/queen for the day.

Also stop by for more holiday specials!

And if you’re looking for something savoury, Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen has a lot choose from, some of which are even available at our bakeries:
• Kutia – a festive appetizer from the Slavic tradition, made with Red Fife (Halychanka) wheat, buckwheat, poppy seeds, honey, and sugar.
• Raw cranberry relish – a great accompaniment for turkey dishes nd a tasty alternative to cranberry sauce.
• Soups – from our fridge and freezer, including our delicious chicken, and borscht.

• Tourtière – traditionally made, but with a combination of local pork and Manitoba bison to put our own spin on this French Canadian classic.
• Complete traditional turkey feast – a holiday meal we all look forward to, adapted for one or two diners. Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and carrots. For you to heat up at home. (Please place your order two weeks ahead of time).
• Plum pudding with sauce – A reminder of Christmases past. Served with a rich sauce, it makes your feast complete.
• Mincemeat – vegetarian with lots of butter, this nod to English festive culture combined a mixture of chopped dried fruit, delicious spirits and spices. (By special order only, available as mincemeat, or baked into tarts or pies).
• Exquisite apple cider – sure to please the palate.

Drop by our Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen counter in the Forks Market when you’re in the neighbourhood to find other special holiday dishes. Maybe you’d like to try something new, such as our bison/pork meatballs, brushed with a light tomato sauce.

Tasty treats from both Tall Grass and Grass Roots are available now through Christmas and the 12 Days of Christmas (Jan 6, 2022). For those who follow the Orthodox tradition and/or the Julian calendar, we will continue to make foods that are important to you, by special order.

We make the Galette de roi during the month of January.

Any day is pie day

Pie is a celebration in a pan!

Whether you and yours are gathering for dessert and a coffee, or having the whole gang over – consider pie, as the tried and true festive treat.

Our deep dish pie selection varies throughout the year. Seasonal pie choices include apple, Saskatoon rhubarb, prairie fruit, pecan as well as pumpkin.

Place an order by phone to reserve yours.

• 859 Westminster – 204-783-5097
• The Forks Market – 204-957-5097

Baked to please… Our cakes are amazing

Take a Tall Grass cake to your next special gathering. Choose from our classic luscious chocolate cake, our tangy lemon poppyseed cake, or our carrot cake with that creamy icing we’ve all loved since childhood.

Each of our three cake now come in two different sizes: six inch for a you and your closest friends, and nine inch when the whole gang might show up!

Call ahead to ensure your cake is waiting for you at the right moment.

• 859 Westminster – 204-783-5097
• The Forks Market – 204-957-5097

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)