Tall Grass Bakery

Larry was a farmer in the truest sense of the word; he was of, and with the Earth. It was an identity he wore humbly and proudly.

It is hard for us to speak of Larry in the singular. Larry and Pat were a farm team: they were visionary and counter-cultural. They stayed small and simple, using appropriately scaled technology to work with their land in a co-operative, chemical free way.

They were pioneers. They said “yes” to growing Spelt, organic Spelt, when it was not yet a thing in Manitoba. In retrospect it is quite amazing, given how little we were using at the time, they were willing to invest for us. If you fear social change, beware of people like Pat and Larry, activists who are willing to work hard and willing to wait to reap the harvest!

Spelt use continues to grow exponentially, not only at our bakery, but at many around Manitoba, and Pat and Larry were no small part in that growth. They not only grew the hearty grain, but also set up on-farm milling, again, following the “small is beautiful” model.

As the Spelt grain runs to the city continued to increase, so did the tradition of sharing lunch after unloading. Simple soup and bread shared at The Forks Market. Larry was in love with Spelt and would talk about how smart it was. Sometimes customers passing by would join, and these moments are cherished for their ability to bond the Spelt lover of the city with the Spelt lover from the farm, truly farm-to-table moments. Larry was also a baker and we would exchange bread at these meetings. But in the end it was a simple cinnamon bun he wanted for dessert: not for him the fancier danishes. Thank you Larry and Pat for this gift of presence at our bakery.

Hospitality was also extended in the other direction: twice over the years the Pollocks hosted a busload of our staff and children for a farm tour, to see the source of the grains we worked with day in and day out, to learn about how Spelt likes to lie flat when it's laden with grain, to peer into your fantastic and wondrous mill, with its many sifting drawers. The thought, care and work you put into these trips you hosted remains legendary and always a beautiful memory for us at the bakery. What a treat for a busload of bakers to be served homemade Spelt bread, baked by Larry the same morning, on the farm it was grown.

Pat and Larry we owe so much to your faithfulness to the land, your willingness to work and risk every year! Pat you know that our lunch table at The Forks is still there for you; as you continue to journey now without your co-farmer, know you are not alone. We are deeply grateful that the land you loved will stay organic, as you longed and we all prayed for, and the spirit of your work continues in your fields.

Farewell Larry, a farmer who walked with the city folks, a sacred pilgrimage. Even on your last few deliveries, when you didn't always quite remember the faces of the bakers you were unloading with, you were just as happy to greet them again, anew, and knew your beautiful Spelt had gotten to where it was needed. The last part of your journey was not easy but as always with you, you walked it with your farm boots on, and you worked and waited out that different and difficult season. Blest may your spirit be as we continue to remember you fondly and with deep respect always.

Lovingly,
Tall Grass Bakery and Grass Roots Kitchen
owners, staff and customers

Scroll down for more news and updates…

Pre-Paid pickup and delivery orders

We welcome you to our bakeries for in-person shopping, and also continue to offer pre-paid and delivery service at both our locations. Choose your most convenient bakery below!

–– your friends at Tall Grass and Grass Roots

order from Wolseley

order from The Forks Market

Whenever possible we are using electric, hybrid-electric, hybrid-propane and vegetable oil powered vehicles and also a small 4-cylinder gasoline van with a large load capacity in order to meet our own standards for environmental integrity and your need for great bread!

In-person shopping at our bakeries

In the Wolseley bakery this means:

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

At Tall Grass bakery in The Forks Market this means:

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

PS: You can also pick up our baking at many Vita Health locations, the Food Fare at Portage & Arlington, and through Fresh Option Organic Delivery.

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

Tall Grass featured in magazine for Canadian baking industry

Bakers Journal editor Colleen Cross recently interviewed Tall Grass co-owner Tabitha Langel for their business and operations profile section. Recognizing how few bakeries across the country are led by women, this article highlights some of them, including our own Tabitha Langel. The award-winning trade magazine follows the trends and people of Canada's baking industry.

Thanks to the Winnipeg Free Press for giving permission to use the photograph by Mike Sudoma.

Read the whole article on the Bakers Journal website.

Vegan choices in March, and throughout the year

Winnipeg VegFest celebrated VegOut back in March. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people revelled in delicious foods from natural sources at restaurants throughout the city. We keep the momentum going all year with a variety of vegan food choices available every day at Tall Grass.

Our vegan-friendly line-up changes with the season and we invite you ask us if you have any questions. Most items are available at both bakeries, except as noted.

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.

Baguette regular
Baguette multigrain
Whole wheat bread
Whole wheat multigrain bread
Light sourdough rye bread
Light rye (Wolseley)
Northern festival bread (Forks)
Brown rice & corn bread
Spelt sourdough
Multigrain sourdough
Big buns, hamburger & hotdog (Forks)
hamburger & hotdog buns, whole wheat (Wolseley)
Ciabatta buns (Forks)
Spelt pita (Forks)
Vegan chocolate cake (Wolseley)
Spelt morning glory muffins
Spelt fruit squares
Spelt date squares

Vegan burger
Beet borscht
Cabbage soup
Red lentil soup
Black bean & quinoa salad
Classic bean salad
Wild rice citrus salads
Baba Ghanouj
Hummus
Organic sunflower oil
Half Pints black bean chili
Chickpea & potato stew
Vegetarian chili
Vegan veggie burgers
All Grass Roots canning
All Grass Roots jams, jellies, and syrups

Spending more time outdoors? Not enough time to cook?

Heat-and-eat at home

Pick up our delicious dinners to pop in your oven, including yummy vegan, vegetarian, and meat selections.

At Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen, creating take-home meals using traditional recipes, methods and local ingredients are something we love to do for you and your family.

Our meals are crafted to connect you with the prairies. We place a great deal of importance on selecting locally sourced ingredients wherever possible. As an example, for hundreds of years, the ideally adapted great plains bison were the key to the well-being of many generations of Indigenous and Métis people. Today, this same lean and nutritious meat is also available to you in a number of our delicious dishes.

Call or drop by. Selections change almost daily and rotate with the seasons.

Tall Grass, 859 Westminster - 204-783-5097
Tall Grass, The Forks Market - 204-957-5097
Grass Roots, The Forks Market - 204-942-5097

Whole grains. Whole food. Wholesome.

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 our packaging. 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.

During this time of necessary adjustments for all of us, our first priority is maintaining the safety of our customers
and staff. You are welcome to call us with your suggestions and questions. Tabitha Langel, one of our co-owners, may be reached on her cell phone at 204-470-8570. She will gladly talk to you. Let's take care of each other and rise to the occasion with courage.

– from all of us at Tall Grass Bakery

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…

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

Thanks for the first 30 years,

Your friends at Tall Grass and Grass Roots

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, June 5, 2020]

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:

Welcome to Tall Grass!

Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company and Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen acknowledge that we are located on the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabeg, Dakota, and Ininiwak. We would also like to acknowledge the other First Nations such as the Anish-Ininiwak, Dene, and Nehethowuk who gathered at this ancient site sharing these lands and waterways. We also acknowledge that we are on the homeland of the Métis and are also grateful to the First Nations of Treaty One who agreed to share this beautiful prairie land giving us the opportunity to cook and bake for you.

The foundation of Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company has always been based on baking with heritage varieties of organic wheat, grown by Manitoba farmers. We opened Tall Grass in Winnipeg’s Wolseley neighbourhood in 1990, thinking we were just starting a cosy little bakery.

Word of the small bakery spread quickly. We were making connections with local farmers, buying organic wheat, milling our own flour and baking from scratch.

More than 25 years later, there are two Tall Grass bakery locations: one in Wolseley and the other at The Forks Market, along with Grass Roots Prairie Kitchen. We use Red Fife wheat in our bakery, a tasty, nutty ancient variety. It joined Spelt, another ancient grain, known for its low glycemic index and lower gluten content. As bakers in the land where we live and work, we consider it an honour to bake with these two ancient grains.

Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company

Tall Grass remembers Larry Pollock