Jorge Sosa & Michael Docter
Owners, Mi Tierra Tortillas

The Mi Tierra Tortilla Story

Sometimes hardships can lead the way to new ventures, and when a fire ravaged Jorge’s restaurant, he needed a way to rebuild the business, and began making tortillas, which Michael sold at his farmers’ markets during the winter. After that first successful season selling tortillas, they started up a business together. Michael, owner/operator of Winter Moon Organic farm, and a friend of Jorge’s, connected Jorge with local farmers growing corn in Western Massachusetts. Michael and Jorge worked together to develop the amazingly delicious tortillas they now sell in New England. You can read more about their story on their website and in this Brattleboro Food Coop article. 

How did you connect with school nutrition staff?

Michael says, “I believe school nutrition staff from Springfield Public Schools reached out to us,  at the suggestion of CISA or perhaps MA Farm to SchooI. can’t remember for sure–but surely it is the work that you all do to raise awareness that got them interested and pointed in our direction!

Please note that in addition to Springfield Public Schools, we also supply:  Franklin Public Schools,  UMASS Amherst, Wesleyan University,  Emerson College, New Bedford Public Schools, Lesley College, and Connecticut College.”

Why is local sourcing for your tortillas important to you?  

Michael says, “I started farming in 1989. I was concerned about energy consumption in our food system, specifically the fact that most of our food was hauled from halfway across the world before it got to our table. One of my goals as a farmer, in addition to earning a living and supporting my family, was to bring more local produce to market. At the time (30 years ago!),  local produce selection was limited. If you drove around the [Pioneer] valley, you could find local  potatoes, sweet corn, and butternut squash, but that was about it. Fast forward to the present and a lot has changed, all kinds of local fresh fruits and vegetables are available. This is thanks to a lot of hard work by farmers and also thanks to the help of organizations like CISA and Mass. Farm to School.

However, one big piece of the puzzle is still missing. We still import most of our carbs from far away. Bread comes from wheat that is grown in Kansas and Nebraska. Many of the food stuffs we eat are from the Midwest. We could try to grow wheat here, but the reality is our climate is just not very friendly to small grain production. Too much rain at the wrong time and not enough of a land base to make it economical.  

Rather than try to grow wheat we decided it might be easier to change the way New Englanders ate. We thought maybe, just maybe, if we offered people a delicious, fresh baked alternative to bread, people might start switching over to eating more corn tortillas. Believe it or not, it seems to be working. People are switching over to Mi Tierra Tortillas.

Growth is steady and we are winning new converts every day. In a year’s time, we go through over 200,000 lbs of [local] corn.  That’s over 5 tractor trailer loads of grain that didn’t have to drive here from Kansas and burn over 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel. So by changing what we eat, we can localize our diet and  reduce our carbon footprint.

…because we can grow corn just fine here in New England. Native Americans were doing it for the last 1,000 or so years.  Let’s bring back corn together!” 

!! Mi Tierra would like to extend a special offer of organic tortillas at the price of conventional tortillas from now until November 15th for any schools or districts who would like to try their product!!