Wheat is often demonized in our current culture because it contains gluten. This protein interacts in numerous ways and causes some people some serious illness. Some people think they are allergic but not really and some think that removing it helps you to loose weight. Current culture is built upon the need for grain. We use it such things has beer, bread, flour, cereal, chemicals, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals the list goes on and on and on. We have it as a part of our national anthem. What did you think amber waves of grain referred to? This post will be about none of that. Okay maybe a bit about the waving grain. This is about growing and processing wheat. We have grown winter wheat 2 seasons now. The first was a lot of work and a lot of fun. The second is ongoing and is looking fine. We will see when it starts to grow in the spring.
So what is winter wheat? Simply put it is wheat that is planted in the fall allowed to grow (establish roots) then is dies back in the winter. There is a window of planting and if your winter is too cold it will be winter killed. If it is too dry it will die and if there are too many birds you will not get any thing out. To combat this last one many farmers use what is called a seed drill to plant their wheat. We broadcast seed it by hand. Cause it is fun and drills are expensive and well we are a bit frugal at Sifs Harvest. Did I mention it is fun?
Now the winter wheat is planted. You wait. you can irrigate of course but why worry about it. It is a grass and unless it is really dry ( we have averaged about .25 to.5 inches of rain per week and the ground is thawing now and is significantly water logged no need to worry about lack of moisture. If all goes well you get something like this below.
[wpvideo 7GuIwo1H]
In the spring right before it turns brown and ripe you can imagine how that would appeal to someone writing about the greatness of our country right? I mean corn and beans are chumps when it comes to waving in the wind. Yea take that corn and beans.
ANYWAY….. Where was I? Right, WHEAT! It is kind of mesmerizing. The above is not even close to how gorgeous it will become. Sort of like that person you meet is kind of attractive but the more you get to know them they get more and more attractive. That is wheat.
So your wheat is turning straw colored and you have checked for dryness and have decided that it is time to harvest it.You have options oh yes you do. You can DIY a hedge trimmer and cut your stalks and bundle them. You can get a Scythe and cut your stalks and bundle them. You can pull them out by hand and bundle them. You can even use machines to do all the work but on small scale it might not be worth it. I use a Scythe. I will be putting another blog together on the scythe in the future so stay tuned.
So you have the wheat cut and shocks made (bundles of cut wheat are called shocks). What now? well you have options again. You could take the shocks and smack them on the inside of a clean bucket. You could also put them in a pillow case and smack them on the ground. You can cut off the berries and use a DIY thresher.
If you have small enough scale and if you have time you can do the DIY thresher and it will work pretty good. Just remember to winnow it well. (blow chaff away from seed). You can also use food processors and the like. However if you have more wheat then time and you can cut it and store it relatively easy. You can keep it whole and use a small scale threshing machine. Remember to save your wheat stalks for straw. We use ours for fire starting and for mulching the garlic. Which will be coming as well.
Back to land store Wheat thresher
This makes threshing so much easier. You can order similar from over seas but with import tax and with shipping and timing you will spend about the same and this is foot powered. It can be modified if you have the know how to run with a motor but for what we paid I can honestly say this cut the work significantly.
So now you have threshed wheat berries. You simply pass them through an air current a fan of wind outside. The chaff and debris is lighter then the seed and they blow away the seed drops down and you have purified your mix. You may need to do it a couple of time.
What now? well you can use that wheat to make your own wheat sprouts. You can grind them in flour. You can even use them whole in soups and what not. We grind ours into flour using the kitchen aide. If we were doing any larger amounts I would get a grain mill.
Now you have flour and you can rule the world! At the very least make tasty bread. Winter wheat has a higher gluten content you can grow spring wheat varieties and then mill it finely for a more pastry flour type.
Now something cute that happened in our wheat field last year. It really is amazing on the uses for wheat. I never suspected that it was a resource for birds to nest in. Just as a reminder food is food and if you can eat it so can they or make their home in your food.
Doug