Grains of the World ~ Corn

You can very clearly see which direction the wind was blowing in my garden. On one hand, we have a nice full corn cob... on the other, we have a nearly completely unpollinated corn cob that was just on the other side of the stalk from the nice full cob.

Corn, I will not be growing again. It is very clear to me (and the kids) why corn is grown in huge fields. The wind can carry the pollen of one plant to many of the other plants at one time. And because they are in such large groups, they all drop pollen on each other. With only 4 corn plants in one small spot, we got these two ears that didn't rot the entire season. And one of those was very underpollinated.

In other GOTW news... the rest of the grains have rotted completely while curing in the carport. This was more frustrating for me than it was for the kids. They really enjoyed the project even though I consider it only 'mostly done' without my loaf of bread to show for it. But Alex did point out that we could get all of the grains again from the same places we got our starter seed from and make bread from those. They don't HAVE to be the ones from the garden for us to have the experience of grinding them for bread.

I am raising a problem solver. :)

The rest of our experiment with the Grains Of The World.

Grains of the World ~ Curing and Hanging

They did live! Thanks to a couple of really hot days. And when I saw clouds again on the forecast, I cut off the ones that were ready, tied them into bundles and hung them in the carport to 'cure'. Threshing comes next... we will see how that goes.

The Millet, Rye, and Corn are all still in the bed and doing well... hopefully we will have enough hot days for them to ripen as well. The Rice and Quinoa died long ago in this climate, and taught the kids a valuable lesson in how different climates effect the growth of grain crops. We are lucky, honestly, to live in a climate where 7 of the 9 grains we are researching can actually grow. That is a huge number for any area. In history, many people live on one or two grain products because that is what their areas can support. Here, we have been able to grow numerous grains with little need to intervene and in a hotter year, that would be even more true (the corn is still struggling because there have not been enough warm days this year). What an amazing place we live in!

Update on the Grains of the World project

Sigh... I have no idea if this project will work anymore or not. The last three days have been cold and WET. The whole first day was pouring rain, and all our grains are getting little black moldy spots on their leaves. None so far on the grains themselves, but my plan is to bring them in as SOON as we get another hot day or two and place them under the carport, hanging upsidedown to see if I can get them to cure without sitting in the sun. Which should be this weekend. Cross your fingers for us... we will need the luck!

PS I wonder how many people who are growing grains right now are dealing with this same issue on a huge scale?

Grains of the world ~ part 8

The barley is ready for harvest!

I researched how to cut it and cure it (although there is VERY little info out there for small batch operations, but I figured the large batch things would still apply), and then cut the bundle by hand. I tied it, and laid it in a dry place that got maximum amount of sun. Right now it looks perfect laying on a spare picnic table in the center of the backyard. I am considering keeping it for fall decorations... but I really want to get that loaf of bread! So off to research threshing I go.

Another thing that has happened in the last little while with the project is the millet has fruited!

I have no idea what this little grain will hold, as it is a good few weeks behind everything but the corn (which is not happy in this climate at all right now!) but we will see if we can add it into the bread making process somehow.

GOTW ~ Part 7

This has been the coolest experiment I think I have ever done with the kids. It has been really long term already (we first planted in April), but what an amazingly educational and fun thing to do! I HIGHLY recommend planting the grains that you can find around you and seeing what comes of it in your area. (This is the link to the rest of the story and how we started out.)

Our newest fruiting grain has been the Oats... they just sprouted a couple days ago.

They are much different than the wheats, barley, and rye. The millet hasn't fruited yet, and the corn is still very much concentrating on the stalk of the plant, but I can see that if this weather keeps up, those two will be fruiting as well.

The rye has a very flat fruiting head. It reminds me of a braid of hair... flat, but textured.

The white wheat has a very bumpy fruit. It also has these little white pollen things that come out of it. I wish I was better at describing these parts, but honestly, I don't know any more about it than the kids. So hopefully, by the time we are done, I will be able to name all the parts of the grains too! ;)

The barley is the most "amber waves of grain" plant out there. It has long hairs at the end of the fruit and really beautifully symmetrical heads of grain. It waves in the sun and is already turning yellow. Once again, I really have to find the time to research how to get these grains to make bread.

The red wheat is very similar to the white... but the little pollen heads are even more prevalent and the seeds tighter in the fruit head. It is a slightly taller plant too. Not sure if that is how/when we grew it, or if it is actually a taller plant than the other wheat... but it has been fun to watch them all side by side.

(A link to our last years garden experiment with a Topsy Turvy and Tomatoes.)

Grains of the World ~ Part 6

I haven't posted about this in forever, but recently, in our Grains of the World study, very exciting things have been happening!

I keep wondering what we are going to do with our little grain plot if it actually matures. Wouldn't it be awesome to make seven grain bread with the grains we are growing? That is my goal... but I don't have much hope of it happening if it doesn't stop raining! So here's hoping!

Here is a link to the whole experiment. Enjoy!

Grains of the World Part 5

We got back from our vacation and the first thing I did (like before going into the house) was check on the garden. It had grown SO much in those 15 days, I couldn't believe it. When I finally made it around to the back part of the garden where the grains of the world are, I was blown away! We have two new grains and the corn is almost 4 inches tall!

What blew me away the most was the size of the Oat plants.

With the 10 day delay in getting viable oats into the ground I was thinking they would be stunted... but here they are, right next door to the White Wheat that was planted at the same time as everything else, and they are pretty much catching up in size! WOW! That's a fast growing cereal plant. No wonder they are so cheap to purchase.

Grains of the World - Part 4

Our grains are growing very well. All but the Oats, Millet, and the Rice are sprouting now. I fear the birds have gotten to the Millet seedlings... but I am still hoping. If it isn't up when we get back from vacation mid-May, then I will try it again with some bird protection to help us out.

A funny story about the Oats. For a long while I couldn't find it at all. Then someone here mentioned the feed store and that they feed live oat seed to horses. I went to the feed store to buy some live oat seed, and the girl behind the counter said that they only had 50lb bags. I asked her if any had spilled on the floor from a ripped bag, etc as I would gladly take that and she said that they didn't have any right now. I explained to her that I only need a few tablespoons, literally, and then what I needed it for. She looked at me for a long moment... and then said she would be right back and went in the back. When she came out again she said that they guys in the back of the store said that a bag was magically 'damaged in shipping' and one of them would be right out with it. lol... The guy came out a few minutes later and handed me three cups of oats in a zip lock baggie, free of charge. Talk about good customer service. ;) I brought them home and used the same treatment I did on the other grains, but for only two days this time, instead of 4. They had started to sprout when I put them in the ground yesterday and there is our last grain of the world. :)

A new thing in the garden sprouting is the corn! It just came up in the last 48 hours. These little tiny corn plants make me very happy.

Grains of the World - Part 3

How does our grain garden grow? Well, let's see. The rice has decided not to grow any further than it did in the jar... which isn't too surprising as we are still dealing with low 40's at night here. The oats (that didn't sprout) didn't grow at all (but I am still looking to plant more seeds, I just have to get to a feed store), but the other four grains have gone crazy! They are about 2 inches tall and have taken on a beautiful color!

The corn hasn't come up yet, but it will be a while before it does. It likes to be really warm. I know we can grow corn here however, so I suspect that when we get back from our trip mid-May, we will have tiny corn stalks to add to the school bed grain mosaic.

Link to the other posts: Part 1, and Part 2.

Grains of the World - Part 2

I was shocked and amazed when I pulled out the jars of soaking grains for the lessons today! They had sprouted. Not only sprouted, but some of the new little plants were more than an inch long! Amazing considering they had just been grain on Friday.

Even the rice had sprouted... which I wasn't sure it would even do. But I do have to admit that the idea of the food still being 'alive' that I usually eat actually made me feel really good. If it can grow a small plant, then it certainly must be good for our bodies.

We did have one that didn't sprout at all... the Oats. I wasn't sure that they would, and I am not sure I will be able to find live Oat seeds anywhere but online. These were called "Oat Groats" and they were obviously processed somehow, and not just the whole grain. I knew that rolled oats wouldn't work... and steal cut oats will not work either. Any ideas on where to find live Oat seeds would be welcome, as I am kind of out of options and it is a important grain in our diets as a family so important to include if I can.

We took the sprouted plants outside and put them down in our school garden plot. Most of them were starting to root into the paper towels, so we just put the whole paper towel into the soil with the seedlings in it. (Note to those of you who want to do this project... you really only want to soak the grains until the plant emerges.... I waited too long, but we had a long weekend in between soaking day and planting day. If I had known, I would have started the seeds soaking on a Monday and then added planting them to the curriculum of the day whenever they were ready that week.)

Here is our sweet little cluster of Rye:

So far, in our book work, we have covered wheat and corn. As we move through the book work with the other grains, I will post about that. But just really quickly, I wanted to post Cyan's picture of a corn plant:

She made it so whimsical and fun, and yet, all of the parts are accurate and included. I was impressed with my artistic little girl. :)

Grains of the World

Logan and I are headed well into recovery now and we have started up with regularly scheduled things.

We started our Grains of the World study yesterday.

I spent quite a bit of time, looking for grain seeds that were sold in less than a 50lb bag, and I have to tell you, it was a much harder than I thought! Finally, I took to the natural health food stores and asked if they had any sproutable grains. Of course the health food stores were able to help me immediately and I found white wheat, red wheat, barley, oats, and rye all in a sproutable form. The millet was a bit harder to come by... We had to dig it out of bird seed! lol! Corn I ordered because I wanted to make sure it was organic and GMO free so we could eat it, but that came in plenty of time and we have them all started now.

None of these seeds came from a 'gardening seed package', so I thought it would be a good idea if we sprouted them first, before we tried to put them in the ground.

To keep them all properly labeled, I had the kids write the names on huge craft sticks and then we placed one in each mason jar. At the bottom of the jar, we put a wet (really wet) paper towel, and then a heaping teaspoon of seeds, and another wet paper towel on top.

This is the bed they will go in when we are all finished. The corn is going to take up the 4 squares in the middle, then around the outside will be the different grains. I have made them a graph with the grains names on them so they can follow up with how fast they each grow in our climate.

This is the kids school garden bed and is located at the top left of my garden (pics here). It is 4ft by 4ft and Alex measured and marked it off for a square foot garden yesterday.

The one main grain of the world we can not grow here in the Pacific NW is rice. I was bummed at first. But as we were planning our vacation for CA next month, I realised that we will be able to drive right past the rice patties! So we can do a mini unit study on rice just before we leave and then try to see as much as we can of the way they grow on our trip, and the kids 'grains of the world' lesson will be complete. I have to admit to being very excited about being able to fit rice in the study so perfectly.