I have decided that i want to or have been told to plant some of our own grains etc for home use this year... Has anyone ever grown and used there own grains, flours etc? Is it worth it? Is it too much work for the time and price of purchasing? Any certain ones better or easier than others?What ones produce beter grains than others or are more usful ? How much of any grain is needed to provide (hopefulyy) x amount for x amount of people in house for the year...??
Granted I have no actual experience but I have always thought that growing your own grains seemed like too much work for something that can be bought so cheaply. That could just be my own false perception. But this year we are thinking about trying to grow amaranth. You can get greens and grain from the same plant, which to me makes it more appealing. Plus it is suppose to be easy to grow and really pretty.
thats the way i am looking at it too greens n grains... and then sprouts n such for chickens ... amaranth is basically what i am looking into as well ... yes the cheaper n easier buying is and has been an issue here as well but for whatever reason i feel the need to try it and see how it goes.. am off to ordering seeds this am... yea winter is soon ending in that sense.. am making the big step to all heirlooms this year, should be fun
Years ago I decided to make some bread from scratch, totally from scratch. So I started with growing the wheat and went from there. It was a great experience, but I don't plan to do it again. A family of four uses about a bushel (60lbs) of wheat a year, which can be grown in a 20' X 50' plot. Add about 1/2 bushel of other grains and you're covered for the year. As far as I know there is only one book that can be considered the bible for small scale grain growing. It is "Small Scale Grain Raising" by Gene Logsdon. Finding and getting a copy is the problem. Prices range from $58 for used paperback to $335 for new hardback - it's that good!!! I swear I have a copy around here.... somewhere.... & I'm looking for it. Here's an article Logsdon wrote in The Mother Earth News: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Orga...an-Raise-Grains-Right-in-Your-Own-Garden.aspx I have no experience with Amaranth but I know a little about it. It's one of those "when I get time to try it" crops. There's a reason amaranth is called a "Supergrain" (Quinoa is another). Grain amaranth takes about 120 days to mature, direct seed it 1 to 3 inches apart. The grain is ready to harvest when it starts to dry on the plant. Then cut the whole seed head & hang them or put them in a cloth sack to dry. Thresh by beating the bag, then sift the chaff from the seed(grain) with a fine screen. The small, young, tender leaves can be harvested any time and are VERY nutritious. When ordering be sure to get Grain Amaranth, not ornamental. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is a good source. Peace, poor_old_dad
Thank you, P_O_D We are planning on growing Golden Giant as well as Hartman's Gaint. I was thinking about quinoa as another option but from what I have read it sounds like it prefers cooler climates. I might try some next year though just to see how it does.
i also got the hartmans giant... We rock! I thought they were a nice contrast together. .I have not looked much into quinoa as of yet , i had heard a bit about the amaranth as being a good choice for hot , dry climates so figure that in the end would be our best option, given the water issues last year and probable ones again this year . It should prove interesting..
Cool! We do rock! lol Yes, amaranth sounds about like a weed as far as growing it goes. lol It likes it hot, dry and crappy soil is not a problem. I really like to eat quinoa but it has something around the seed that you have to wash off when you harvest it before you eat it. I am not sure how hard that is to do.
I looked into trying to grow wheat on a small scale but for the amount of space I had it wasn't worth the work for the outcome. It is a lot of work but it's certainly not something that can't be done. I'll see if I can track down an article I found with pictures about processing after harvest... the beating and what not...
Ive ordered hulless oats , quinoa and amaranths and am going to see how they do I got my seed fromhttp://www.realseeds.co.uk/grains.html for americans http://www.bountifulgardens.org/ they have a variety of grains for the garden . somewhere I also have a book on growing small scale wheat , Id give it a go but I dont know anyone who sells garden amounts of none gmo seed . I think oats should be pretty good and if I can grow myself some porridge I will be happy . with biointensive gardening they seem to grow a lot of cereals , anyway I will take photos of all the stages of my grain experiment
will be great to see johnny... i cant wait til i can get ours in the ground as well to see what a pian in the ass it truly is but a loaf or two of bread would be grand..
you know where I am in england I think Ive only seen one field of wheat , not that long ago most farms did a bit of everything now its all dairy farming or sheep every year there seems to be less orchards . but I think with oil going over peak production we wont be able to transport stuff the distances we do now , I think the more variety of things you can grow for yourself the better . I think we are heading into bad times and keeping non hybrid seed of staples like wheat and oats could be very handy. look at the way wheat prices have gone up recently theres lots of talk or a world shortage and we are in the good times with enough oil
http://www.twincities.com/ci_8202326?source=rss That story has prices at $15 a bushel and on another board I post on someone was saying they had heard of someone paying $20 a bushel . for the last few years we have been growing less than we are eating and grain stores are way down , and we all need to see these are the good times .
i grew amaranth this last season . i chose it for a high protein grain and ease of hand harvesting . such a handsome plant , too . i planted two varieties - one a local northern and the other from bolivia . ha , that bolivian amaranth ! it got to be ten foot tall before it ever got it's seedhead which by then it was already september - never produced any grain . the local grew 4 foot tall , flowered , matured , and produced ok .
