small scale grain growing

Here is the link to a HT thread we did on this very subject about a year ago.


small scale grain production

FM They never made a pto reaper. THEY DID however, make pto grain binders.

If you desire to grow oats or barley for human consumption and you don't have a mill (none of us do) to remove the husk from either grain you are out of luck UNLESS you are smart enough to grow Hull-less Oats and Hull-less barley. They are also known as NAKED OATS. Seed is available from Southern--- Seeds in Virgina.

This is probably one of those regional things Bill, binders here the old folks called reapers and I have taken this on. To me, a binder is a piece of equipment made by International Harvester corp. I had never seen a pto powered binder till this guy bought one at auction last year.

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àigeach carnaid
chaora dhubh
"Don't raise your voice, improve your argument."

cruachan

Loonsong farm on Manitoulin Island offers classes on baking bread using home grown grains. They grow their own grain and have a small mill. They would be a good source of info for growing in your area.

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àigeach carnaid
chaora dhubh
"Don't raise your voice, improve your argument."

cruachan

Castor River Farm in Metcalfe (just south east of Ottawa) also grows grains for human consumption. He also sells a whisper mill for making your own flour. He is at the Ottawa and Metcalfe farmers markets every week during the summer customs grinding grain for people and he does sell farm gate as well, flour and whole grains.

http://castorriverfarm.ca/grain/

He has a fairly detailed explanation on his website about the steps that he takes to plant, harvest spray free grains.

I didn't know the other link didn't work.
Here is another link that works:

PDF

Small-Scale Grain Raising

howtohomestead.org/wheat4thepeople/Small-Scale_Grain_Raising.pdf

Well, as luck would have it, I called our library today and on their 'for sale' table is a copy of the Small Grain book you've mentioned. I'm sure it's the old one, but it's a start.

Thanks for the link to the HT discussion!
FM, I'll check out Loonsong...I'm planning to get to the Island more often this summer than I have lately

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His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. ~Gene Hill~

Binders had a knotting system that made shieves or bundles of grain. Reaper either had a person rakeing off the grain in sheve sizes, or a self rake attachment that did the same.
Ive seen binders both ways. Ours was pull type ground drive, but ive seen a few pto ones. They were much better in wet, muddy conditions.

great find RS! old books are the best, found ours at a book sale as well. we plan on getting up too the island this year, need a bus now for all the "fur kids"

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àigeach carnaid
chaora dhubh
"Don't raise your voice, improve your argument."

cruachan

You can cut grain by hand, then "flog" the seeds off the heads on a tarp, instead of using a threashing machine or combine. Winnow to clean using a window fan. I harvest my wild rice using a hand header, it has fingers like an old style sunshine header that pulls the heads....James

There is a youtube of a guy that converted a chopper/shreader into a grain thrasher. If I had a chopper/shreader, I doubt if I would convert it, but it seemed to do a great job easily.

To buy small amounts of grain, is there a problem with just buying some at the health food store and planting it? I've planted wheat I have had stored for many years and it has still grown. Will whole oats do the same thing?

Whole Oats from the feedstore will grow, however as I said, for human consumption you need to be able to remove the husk and unlike wheat the husk on oats must be milled off (think of rice here). The solution to this is to plant Naked Oats (and hull less barley) which have a husk that comes off like wheat.

How did people make oatmeal 150yrs ago?

Steel cut oats was what they used. In the Civil War era for sure (I researched this for my reenacting) oatmeal as we know it (rolled oats) did not exist yet. Don't know when it came in since for my purposes I just needed to know whether I was being a farb with my Quaker Oats for breakfast and yes, I was, not accurate. Must have been a cold, cruel world, I loves my oatmeal LOL.

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Maggie

https://www.etsy.com/shop/alliestrunk?ref=si_shop

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php...39&ref=tn_tnmn

they ran the oats through the stones with the stones set farther apart than normal to scuff off the hull.

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

Dr Kellog ran a sanitorium and devised the way to make his oatmeal.

Uhhhh, it was CORN flakes,,,,,,,,,,,,,]

geo

Here's the history of how oat processing was developed:

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Oatmeal.html

The real problem with the subject of homestead "grain into bread" is in the harvesting and threshing, not in the grinding or baking......

No one yet has come up with the way for a homesteader to harvest and thresh his grain(mostly wheat) on the appropriate scale. Smallest scale leads to the Ferrari--too costly--or the A-C pull type combine--too large and old.......

This subject is PRIME for the homestead inventor who can find the "goldilocks" way (just right) to harvest and thresh grain......

geo

I have been watching this thread with interest as a grain grower. An acre or two ofgrain by hand is doable, but hardly feasible. How are the weeds going to be controlled on two acres by hand? Planting is a minor issue, my dead grandma could plant two acres of wheat. Well, not quite! Keeping it clean of weeds so that it is feasible, and you aren't wasting your time is an issue. Then comes harvest. Cutting it by hand would take a LONG time. If this is all you have to do, Fine. But if you have other commitments at harvest time, not so great. Once mature, wheat needs to be harvested, and quickly when the weather is right. If you miss the opportunity, or get 1/3 done and the rest is still out, and it rains for a week, you end up with a bit of good grain, and a lot of crap.

This goes for most grains. Once cut by hand, then what? You must then thresh the grain out of the heads, no easy task, depending on the grain type. 2 acres is 33 feet, by half a mile. Now picture yourself cutting this down by hand. Let alone threshing it. Then you could have 100 to 180 bushels or more to store. Do you have grain bins?

Now, if you can find an ancient used combine, and yes there are pull types all over the place, go for it, but then you need to shell out cash, burn fuel, maintain, etc.

ANd finally, when you get your grain in the bin, for personal use, you need to clean it to be usable. This involves running it through screens, wind, sifters, and various other mills, to take out chaff, and the many weed seeds that are inherently preset in "organic" grains. Trust me, I know. I run a seed cleaning business on the side, and conventional farmers grain is very clean of weeds, but the "organic" stuff is VERY hard to clean, because of all the weeds. As well, the quality is often poorer, as the crop suffered with limited nutrients through its growing season. With the ODD exception.

I would personally just buy from a local farmer, and it will not only be much cheaper, but much easier, and save you time that could be used elsewhere.

If you want to, go for it, but it will be a lot of hassle. A LOT of hassle.

Dale