Growing whole grains is simpler and more rewarding than most people imagine. With as little as 1000 square feet of land, backyard farmers can grow enough wheat to harvest 50 pounds in a single afternoon – and those 50 pounds can be baked into 50 loaves of fresh bread.
In addition to providing information on wheat and corn, Homegrown Whole Grains includes complete growing, harvesting, and threshing instructions for barley, millet, oats, rice, rye, spelt, and quinoa, and lighter coverage of several specialty grains. Readers will also find helpful tips on processing whole grains, from what to look for in a home mill to how to dry corn and remove the hulls from barley and rice.
Chapters for each grain include inventive recipes for cereals, desserts, casseroles, salads, soups and stews, and, of course, home-baked breads, the crowning achievement of the home grain grower. Sara Pitzer shares dozens of ideas for using whole grains – from cooking sturdy wheat berries in a slow cooker to malting barley for homebrewed beer. Whether milled into nutritional flours or used in any of their unmilled states, wheat, barley, quinoa, and the other grain crops are healthful additions to every diet.
We all know that nothing is free, especially food storage, finding foods that are cost effective, and long storing generally means you have less of the two V’s – Variety and Vitamins. Sprouting wheat and weans is a way to add both. I used to associate sprouts with homeopathic medicine practitioners, vegans, and yuppie soccer moms, but once I got over my initial prejudice I have learned that it’s simple and cheap to add sprouts to my food tool-box.
Like all good preppers, I have a substantial store of wheat berries dutifully packed away in Mylar bags and nitrogen packed buckets. However, its a lot easier to buy and pack wheat than it is to cook with it.