Well folks, having got decidedly side tracked we finally did something with the bere barley berries. They had been decided into the biggest healthiest looking ones to be used as seed and the rest. I had though we had dried them out throughly, and the seed ones we had but the lad noticed there was a funny smell from the others and on closer examination a small number had sprouted. We then went through the lot pulling about a handfull that had germinated and then hand rubbed the awns off and sieved them, there being no wind to winnow them.
After getting all the unwanted bits out there 1 lb 1 oz of the seed grain and 7 lb 2 oz of the to use stuff, not too bad from the trial bed in the back garden.
My question is what is the best way to dry them out? I've linen bags to hang them up from the beams when they are ready and in the past that's kept things well.
The other grains from the trial patch have now been hung in front of the windows for over a month, they must be ready now for me to cut the heads off and save the straws for making stuff. There's good double hand full of the wild oats and about half as much of the black/bristle oats. I'll need to go through them carefully to see if we missed any that had smut. There's even a few dozen Hebridean Rye that germinated despite being well past its sell by date. There's also, laid out in a single layer but close packed, tea trays of both emmer and einkorn, all the seedlings herself planted out having flourished. The spelt from St Fagans only grew 10 inches to a foot high like a big mass of grass to be honest. It must not have been spring spelt after all but winter. I thought about leaving it to see what happens next year but it was right in the way of where we will be rotating the peas and beans to. So they got chopped and went into the compost bins.
ATB
Tom
After getting all the unwanted bits out there 1 lb 1 oz of the seed grain and 7 lb 2 oz of the to use stuff, not too bad from the trial bed in the back garden.
My question is what is the best way to dry them out? I've linen bags to hang them up from the beams when they are ready and in the past that's kept things well.
The other grains from the trial patch have now been hung in front of the windows for over a month, they must be ready now for me to cut the heads off and save the straws for making stuff. There's good double hand full of the wild oats and about half as much of the black/bristle oats. I'll need to go through them carefully to see if we missed any that had smut. There's even a few dozen Hebridean Rye that germinated despite being well past its sell by date. There's also, laid out in a single layer but close packed, tea trays of both emmer and einkorn, all the seedlings herself planted out having flourished. The spelt from St Fagans only grew 10 inches to a foot high like a big mass of grass to be honest. It must not have been spring spelt after all but winter. I thought about leaving it to see what happens next year but it was right in the way of where we will be rotating the peas and beans to. So they got chopped and went into the compost bins.
ATB
Tom
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