Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company

Tall Grass updates

Reach out (safely) to your valentines this year

We appreciate our contact with loved ones more than ever this Valentine’s Day, as we look back on many months of social distancing. Reach out this year through random acts of kindness to strangers, neighbours, friends, and of course the special people in your life.

Try these ideas:

Choose from any number of sweet baking specialities, including:

• Red River Hearts – This heart-shaped cookie is filled with delectable glaze made from our own local raspberry and cranberry blend. A visual and sensory delight.
• Mocha Kisses – A decadent, rich Valentine’s treat made with butter, chocolate, coffee, and, yes, sugar. Certain to hit the sweet spot with the chocolate lover in your life.

Enjoy this day (why not make it a week!) that was first officially declared in 496 AD, and has been celebrated ever since.

Drop by either of our bakeries or call ahead to place an order. Tall Grass in Wolseley: 204-783-5097, or Tall Grass in The Forks Market: 204-957-5097.

Our bakeries remain open during code red

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

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.

It’s Le vegan week!

Winnipeg celebrates Le Vegan Week, January 17 to 23, as 23 of the city’s restaurants highlight their vegan menus. Although not an official participant in this recognition of plant-based dishes, vegan food choices are offered at Tall Grass every day.

Here’s our basic list of vegan choices. It changes with the season and we invite you ask us about it 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.

GALETTE DES ROIS (THE KING’S CAKE) – IS HERE!

The annual Season is once again upon us for the beautiful brown round puff pastry delicacy with an almond/butter filling that celebrates the Epiphany. Enjoyed in the North of France since the Middle Ages, Galette des Rois (The King’s Cake) contains a small trinket hidden inside.

At Tall Grass we bake a little figurine into every cake. These trinkets come to us from France, where they are created specifically for the King’s Cake, in the shape of people or animals. Since their introduction, they have become collectors’ items! Find the figurine in your slice of the cake, and you can be King or Queen for the day!

Place your order at either the Wolseley (204-783-5097) or Forks Market Bakery (204-957-5097) to make certain you get yours.

We will be baking these delicious treats until the end of January.

Wolseley customers – try indoor pickup at The Forks

With the new 2 customers limit in the Wolseley bakery during Code Red, you may have a longer wait outdoors. Our curb-side pickup or home delivery is one way to deal with the cold. Wolseley even has an outside pickup window.

Another option, with indoor line-ups, is at our Forks bakery. It’s easy to maintain a 2m distance in this spacious area. The entire front of the Forks Market building has also been turned into a free pickup zone, so parking is no problem.

Please use the entrance between Ellements Wine+Spirits and Grass Roots Kitchen. You can even call 204-957-5097, and we’ll bring your order out to your car. We look forward to seeing you in Wolseley or at The Forks.

Thank you for supporting each other during this difficult time for the world. May we all stay safe.

Granola Chronicles now available

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.

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. Call Mona, 204-947-1297 Monday to Friday: 10:30 AM to 3:00 PM.

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 today…

This September, 2020, Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company is celebrating 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

Join in the song!

As was reported on local CBC Radio News on Saturday, March 21, Tabitha Langel has invited everyone to join in the singing of The Beatles’ classic Yellow Submarine, from their balconies, porches and front steps any day at 4 pm as a way of keeping up our spirits throughout this time! And if you can’t carry a tune, Tabitha is asking you to carry out a pot or pan, to add percussion to the voices. Let’s all chime in!

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)