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~ Seed for GRAINS FOR HOME GROWERS ~ It is actually possible to grow your own grain on a very small scale, without too much work - if you grow the right crops. More information on our Alternative Grains Project can be found in our 2002 Newsletter (You can download it from the 'Newsletters' area). We have added some new Quinoa varieties, these are from our latest trials and are both productive and very pretty. The hulless oats are finally dry and there are about 140 packets available this year. 'Mixed Grain Amaranths' For the busy gardener, these are pretty good- they make up to 200,000 seed per plant, are very easy to thresh. We got a pound of grain from 6 plants with very little effort. The seeds don't need grinding - they are so tiny that you just add them to whatever you are cooking. Instructions are included, and there's a illustrated guide on this website in the Library. This is our own special mixed population bred from our trials, it produces early for us, and gives a good yield of seed that is easily threshed. Very filling and nutritious, we add it to rice when cooking, it adds both flavour and protein. Simple harvesting instructions supplied. Start from mid-April in pots as though tomatoes, & plant out when bigger - they are very robust once six inches tall and romp away even in cool weather. 1.5m mix. Spectacular red - pink - yellow flowers. High-yielding and early. Order GrMG - 200 seed [OG1] £1.50 'Temuco' Quinoa Quinoa - another of the 'Lost Crops of the Incas' - has good potential as a high-protein grain crop in the UK. You can also eat the small leaves in salads, and slightly larger leaves (before it flowers) as a cooked green. The small seed are produced in abundance & easily cooked - we use them much as rice, with a nutty taste. Although many people know quinoa from their wholefood shop, few realise that the plants will grow here quite happily. The challenge for us has been to find a variety that has open, feathery seedheads, so that the rain dries out quickly without causing any mouldiness in the seed. Most 'improved' modern varieties (such as the one called 'Dave' that you may have heard of ) have big, very dense seedheads; great in their native dry climates but not so good over here! This one however - trialled by a friend in 2004 - seems much better than traditional offerings and gives a huge amount of seed for very little effort. Seeds are yellow when harvested (see picture) and are soaked in water to remove this before cooking (otherwise they taste 'soapy'). This is why bought seed is white - it's been pre-washed for you. The advantage of this 'soapiness' is that it puts off the birds from eating the seed, so less need for netting or small boys throwing stones! Drought-tolerant. Instructions for seed collection included but it's pretty simple! Order GrTQ - 1.5g - lots of tiny seed [OG1] £1.59 'Rainbow' Quinoa This is a new quinoa variety from our latest trials. It is a diverse population of different colours all selected for an open flower-shape that sheds water easily and helps grow good seed even in slightly damper climates (like, for example, the west coast of Wales where we are . . .) Note that at first you might question the name - we certainly did to start with. As it starts to grow, it seems to be just different shades of green. But wait patiently! As the seed ripens, they do indeed go all different colours, making an impressive display. It did very well this year, reaching about 6 feet tall by the end of July, even despite a cold windy spring. The plants flower in July/August, and seed is ready in Sept/Oct. Bred for home gardeners. Order GrRQ - 1.5 g - lots of tiny seed [CO1] £1.60 'Kaslala' Quinoa This is a variety from the Aymara and Quicha peoples of the Bolivian altiplano, ripening in September. Fairly resistant to wet conditions. Medium height Order GrKQ - 1.5 g - lots of tiny seed [OG1] £1.60 'Terra' Hulless Oats A quick maturing naked oat (no glumes!) for easy hand-threshing, with lodge-resistant plants to 1.2m. We have grown it both as both a spring and summer crop and it did well in each case. Beat the seeds out over the back of a chair , or stomp them out on the rubber mats from your car (honestly), and make your own porridge! We can't grow enough to send out huge packets of seed for what is - for most people - really just an interesting experiment. This is a small pack to sow up some rows over a square metre or two, & get an idea of how it grows & how to thresh it. Then you can - if you get on with it - save huge amounts of your own seed for sowing a big area in the future, if you're getting seriously into self-sufficiency and home grain production. This is probably the easiest of all the 'normal' grains to do at home. Early, non-shattering. Sold out now til autumn 2008. Sorry!