does anyone grow grains?

GWN 7/25/2012, 11:13 am

I have this year grown RYE, not totally planned, but had put out two large bags last year as a cover crop over an area of our property that was disrupted and needed something to grow there.
The crop we have left is quite a nice crop of rye and I have been watching on utube videos on how to harvest them.
We recently bought a flour mill, so perhaps this year I might have some rye bread completely from scratch.
But I really am still in the dark, and would like to know if anyone else out there has any experience?

The crop was so easy to grow, I just threw the seeds around in the fall and have done absolutely nothing more.

**rowena___.** 7/25/2012, 11:41 am

this year we're growing rainbow quinoa, just for the experience of it--my little girl's garden theme this year was "rainbows". Smile

but i cannot conceive of how we could possibly grow enough grain for our family's needs. i buy our grains in bulk from an amish store.

GWN 7/25/2012, 12:04 pm

I have a book called Homegrown Whole grains and in the book she describes the size of plot and the potential harvest
Everything is per 100 square foot plot.... I guess 10x10
So for RYE you can grow potentially grow 4-24 lbs of rye.

Quinoia is 6-26 lbs per 100 square foot plot
I sprouted some quinoia this year, but for some reason when I planted it did nothing.

FamilyGardening 7/25/2012, 12:38 pm

we planted Quinoia in a pot.....its in our small green house and is doing really well.....it looks like its getting some flowers on top Very Happy

its been very easy to grow....it sprouted quick too Very Happy

hugs
rose

GWN 7/25/2012, 12:45 pm

apparently it is very beautiful in flower. I hope you will take pictures rose..

**rowena___.** 7/25/2012, 3:06 pm

we aim for 800+ pounds of grain storage per year, which is far beyond our capacity to grow in a city lot. (that figure is for whole wheat, flour, rice, oats, quinoa, barley, masa harina, and cornmeal).

GWN 7/25/2012, 4:21 pm

Is that for a 3 person family? Rowena, you are so organized....
At least you will have a teensy bit of quinoia this year.
I am not aiming to provide all of my grains, but it might be fun to grow a bit.

**rowena___.** 7/25/2012, 5:23 pm

GWN wrote:Is that for a 3 person family? Rowena, you are so organized....
At least you will have a teensy bit of quinoia this year.
I am not aiming to provide all of my grains, but it might be fun to grow a bit.

we are a family of three but i aim to have enough available at any given time to feed five--that way there is extra if a neighbor is in need or if we have unexpected guests. i don't keep that much grain around all the time--that is the yearly goal. i use our stock so it gets rotated, so i'd say we have about six months worth at any given time.

Triciasgarden 7/25/2012, 6:40 pm

That actually sounds like fun to grow some of your own grain! It would sure beat growing grass for how much use you can get from it. Grass is nice and pretty though. You will have to tell us how your bread turns out Gwn.

Rowena that's good you buy from Amish. I have always been fond of Amish for their spiritualness and industriousness. Big words, huh! You know they grow things the way they should be grown! I really need and want to get some grains stored up and get a grinder and then start making my own bread.

CarolynPhillips 7/25/2012, 8:46 pm

I am waiting on Winter Wheat seeds to come through the mail and can hardly wait to grow it. New Adventure.

CarolynPhillips 7/25/2012, 8:49 pm

forgot to add.....the instructions for growing winter wheat I have been reading is to sow the seed every one inch.......or 3 oz for a 10x10 if you don't want to sow every little inch
and the one 10x10 would provide roughly 15 loaves of bread...depending on the size......or lots of pancakes or batter.

GWN 7/25/2012, 10:38 pm

and the one 10x10 would provide roughly 15 loaves of bread

One thing I have found with the RYE is that it seems to grow everywhere, even in the gravel area. I am not sure it needs something as luscious as Mels mix.
It looks incredibly healthy as well.
I might try a more shallow version of mels mix for the grains.
BUT apparently sowing in the fall is the key to getting better crops.

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