At last evening's meeting of the Santa Barbara Permaculture Guild, Marshall
Chrostowski spoke to an eager audience of around 40 people in the Holy Cross
church auditorium on the Mesa about home-scale grain growing. Marshall is
a fount of invaluable information and experience, and we all learned a
lot.
Marshall went over the various grains to help us understand the different
options. He also stressed the beauty of the grains in landscapes and gardens. He
urged us to appreciate the fact that there are 10,000 years of culture in every
seed and that we need to grow out the wide variety of grains in order to
preserve them. Most grain seed only remains viable for 2-3 years.
He recommended that those of us in this area who are just starting to grow
grain might want to start with "naked" barley (lacking the difficult-to-remove
husk), which is planted in the spring. I believe you can make flour from
it (my notes are a little shaky) and also he mentioned that if you boil it, it
takes around 50 minutes to cook, so patience is needed.
There is also "naked" oats, which likes cool, moist weather.
Rye doesn't grow well here. It's cold tolerant.
Triticale is a possibility - has big seeds. It's a combination of
wheat and rye. Not for bread, but makes a good cereal. He also discussed
the heritage bread wheats: Eincorn, Emmer and Spelt. Rice isn't ideal for our
area -- needs 200 days of warmth and moisture. Buckwheat is a phosphorus
accumulator. Corn, sorghum, millet, sorghum, quinoa and teff were also
discussed. There is a perennial sorghum.
And "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth, Seed Savers Exchange, 2002.
Hopefully some local gardeners and permaculturists will join Marshall in
experimenting with grains in our area and we can share the results with each
other.
Many thanks to Marshall for sharing his wisdom with us,
Linda