Hi I'm Tricia an organic gardener. I'm here with Reed Hamilton from Grass Valley Grains,
an organic farm and mill dedicated to providing wholesome and diverse grains to our
local community.
Thank you for having us out here today. What's on your agenda for today?
Today I plan to harvest as much
hard red wheat as I can manage with my combine, as much as I can haul and get that on home.
And where are you gonna deliver it?
It's gonna go to my
home where I have my mill and storage for all the grain.
O.k., great,
well we really appreciate you letting us come out here to use your field to
demonstrate how to thresh rye on a smaller scale.
Small grains go through three stages of ripeness.
The milk stage, where the grains fill with a milky liquid
that spills out when the grain is pinched,
the stocks will start turning from green to yellow.
Then there's the dough stage,
the grain is harder but still easy to dent with your fingernail. Then there is the mature
stage.
The grain cannot be dented with your fingernail, the whole plant will be golden
brown.
Don't wait too long though or else birds and other critters could get your grain.
Many farmers recommend harvesting in the late dough stage,
then they allow the grain to dry, which makes for the best quality.
For plots of about one hundred and fifty square feet or less
simply use a grass shear.
Just cut the stocks about a foot below the heads.
The grass sickle is another great option for small plots
to harvest with a hand sickle,
grip the grain with one hand and pull the sickle through with the other hand.
Another great option for a large grain field is an Austrian scythe.
Just put your feet apart knees bent,
rotate your body,
and scythe it.
Keep the blade low and level with the ground,
the wheat is cut a long narrow strip with a sweeping motion.
Starting with the blade slightly behind you on your dominant side,
push with your dominant hand and pull with the other. Rotate your arms and
upper body as you sweep through the grain.
Only use the first one third of the blade. Harvesting grain with a scythe
is a great task to do with a partner,
one can scythe,
and one can wrap up the stalks.
Now it's time to gather up the stalks, and tie them into sheaves.
Gather the stalks into a sheath that
is comfortable to hold your hands.
Make sure all of the grain heads are pointing in the same direction and
bind them with twine.
now were going to make a teepee out of sheaths and this is called a shock.
Swish together or intermingle
your heads
so that your teepee stands upright.
and then just drape a little cheese cloth hat
over your shocks.
to keep the birds out of your seeds while they're drying.
And then just let your shock dry for about seven to ten days.
Once your grain is dry there's several ways to thresh.
Threshing is separating the wheat berries from the chaff.
Banging the seed heads against the side of a trash can or a bucket
works really well.
Another method is to step on the grain.
All of these methods require
a little bit of muscle power,
but that's because there's not that many automated options for small scale threshing.
Beating the heads with the traditional flail or a plastic baseball bat works too.
Once you've finished threshing its time to winnow.
Winnowing is separating the chaff from the wheat berry and all you'll need
is an electric fan and two buckets.
pour small amounts in front of the fan to blow away the chaff
almost pure wheat will drop into the lower bucket.
Look through the wheat for rocks and other heavy debris
that can damage your mill when you go to grind the grain.
Plant your grains.
Harvest, thresh, winnow and grow organic for life!