Colfax business takes advantage of Whitman County’s bounty Jaimie Appel, owner of Appel Heights

Jaimie Appel was admiring the view of wheat fields from her home in Whitman County when the idea for a new business started to germinate.

“I love being part of a farming family, but I wanted something of my own. My dad or my husband suggested making flour out of wheat. I thought, ‘well, yeah,’” Appel said. “I started to research it. It’s incredible how we don’t eat more just wheat kernels. We (Whitman County) are the nation’s leading producer of wheat, but you don’t go to a restaurant and order a wheat salad. I wanted to bring that back.”

In 2023, Appel began stone milling different varieties of whole grain flour and selling it in a shared space on Main Street in Colfax. She also sold dried products such as garbanzo beans, wheat berries, and split peas. In September of that year, the other business moved out, and Appel took over the space, opening her storefront, Appel Heights. 

Appel doesn’t have to look far to find her raw ingredients. She is a 5th generation wheat farmer who married into a wheat farming family. Her father, Jim Hughes, and uncle-in-law, Neil Appel, are her main suppliers. What they can’t grow, she sources as locally as possible.

“I just wanted to be the farmer, the miller, the baker, all of it. I wanted to cut out the middle man,” she explained. “I think it’s really important to be right there beside them as they grow and harvest the grain. I know all farmers do a great job, but here, I can see the process from start to finish.”

Early on, educating the public on how to prepare dried wheat berries and learning how to mill different varieties of wheat were two of the obstacles Appel had to overcame. She decided on a stone mill, believing it makes a healthier whole grain product. She discovered that hard red wheat tends to shatter, which impacts gluten development, and white wheat tends to get more powdery. She also mills garbanzo beans and uses the different flours to make dry cookie, pancake, and waffle mixes. She said having recipes in the store is extremely helpful in giving people ideas on how to use her products.

“The general public, they walk into the store, hold up a bag of wheat berries and ask what they are supposed to do with it,” Appel said. “If you show them that you can hydrate these berries, add some seasoning, it sparks something, and they’ll try it.”

Besides her own products, Appel also carries other local products such as dried soup mix, candles, and dairy products. She also has an online store at appelheights.com.

Social media has been one of the keys to growing Appel Heights’ visibility. One of Appel’s Instagram posts last fall on potential ready-to-bake products led her to the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School Program, which connects schools with local farmers and puts nutritious, locally grown food on students’ plates. Appel used her whole wheat flour to make products that were taste-tested by students at schools in Garfield, Colton, Palouse, and Colfax. Usually, Appel tests out new products on her family who enjoy whole wheat products, but for this, she had to dial in recipes that would appeal to kids who weren’t used to whole wheat flour. In the end, the students enjoyed her products, and Appel Heights will be supplying some of the local schools with whole wheat pizza dough, rolls, and cookies.

“I had no idea about the Farm to School Program. It lit a whole new fire under me. I was fortunate to grow up eating good food,” Appel said. “I told Neil that I hope whatever he has seeded is ready to roll!”

Providing healthy, great-tasting food is important to Appel, and she’s keen on making sure her customers know her products are grown sustainably, using regenerative farming practices. She believes most wheat farmers, whether they are selling into the commodity market or turning their crop into value-added products, like flour, are doing their best to take care of the land and soil.

Appel Heights is currently open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. More information is at appelheights.com.