my first wheat crop using hand pruners.
Admittedly, this is a lot of work, as many authentic experiences are. And though I would never expect most people to go to these lengths, I have been overwhelmed with the level of curiosity that people have expressed. I will also mention, if you are counting carbs and depriving yourself of your favorite meals, you can eat as much bread as you want if you grow your own wheat and then hand harvest, thresh and grind it – this is serious exercise!
“How much flour do you get?” That’s the first thing people ask. Surprisingly, you can yield significant amounts of flour from small amounts of square footage. We average 15 pounds of whole grain, organic, ground flour from an 850-square-foot landscape bed in our front yard! This realization of yield combined with beauty made me really consider the potential of the sunny, suburban landscapes that sprawl across the globe.
I experienced so much joy from growing wheat it didn’t seem fair that everyone wasn’t enjoying this same satisfaction of this beautiful plant. Not to mention the ease of growing, which would surely leave every person with the confidence of a green thumb. But more than that is the fascinating history of the evolution of grains and people.
Did you know… human beings first evolved into settlements as a result of cultivating grains?
In cultures across the globe, cereal crops are the defining characteristic for human settlement. Prior to the grain revolution, populations migrated seasonally, as hunting and gathering was the primary means of supplying food. When grain crops began to be cultivated, communities developed and the human experience was forever changed. Now fastforward 10,000 years and observe the lawns of suburban developments, covering more than 180 million acres across the United States. I see this land as untapped opportunities, full of potential to be cultivated in a way that would reduce food miles, increase our ability to sustainably manage land, eliminate food deserts and improve the nutritional quality of the food that we all consume.
Throughout this process I couldn’t help but wonder why a plant as beautiful and fundamental to life on earth as wheat would be absent from home gardens. How had novelty crops risen to commonplace while vital carbohydrates are ignored entirely by home gardeners and the local food movement?
POACEAE, THE GRASS FAMILY
Sometimes “grass” gets a bad wrap. Most people, including myself, take grass plants for granted. We eat them, we walk on them and of course we spend a lot of time mowing them! But here’s something that you may not know: Poaceae grasses and cereal grains are the third most important source of oxygen after trees and algae. An acre of turf produces more oxygen than an acre of rain forest! The plants of this large family are an extraordinary element of life on earth, providing so much more than just green turf!
It was then when I realized that wheat and other Poaceae (aka grass family) crops are not fundamentally part of the local, organic food movement. How could that be? Every farm-to-table restaurant event I have attended served bread, pasta and rice, yet sadly, when I started to enquire about the localness of those essential ingredients I was met with blank stares. It turns out there just aren’t many regional growers nowadays. In fact, these ubiquitous starches are outsourced from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away and often have no certified organic verification. I began to reevaluate this expensive, sometimes pretentious movement that advertises the benefits of local, but delivers something far from it.
Here’s a thought: If every person in my neighborhood devoted just 1,000 square feet to grains (50 x 20 feet) we could supply our local bakery with over 1,000 pounds of organically grown, local flour. Alternative, gluten-free grains could also be grown to benefit the population suffering from allergies, intolerances and celiac disease. What would society look like if every neighborhood, office park, school and church played a role in the local food chain, simply by reducing the existing turf and making room for seasonal grain crops? I dream about things like this a lot.
THE CRAZY GRAIN LADY ON A MISSION: I set out to answer my questions and gain knowledge through seasonal experiments and research. I bought every variety of wheat seed I could get my hands on. And then I had a giant light bulb moment: Wheat was only one of many grains I could produce. Barley, corn, millet, oats, rice, rye and sorghum were all perfect candidates for seasonal development throughout my one-acre suburban foodscape – as well as pseudo-cereal grains like amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa. How had I lived all these years without realizing the potential of grains and pseudo-cereal crops?
(In this book, I give primary attention to six of these grains: barley, oats and wheat for the cool season; corn, rice and sorghum for the warm season.)
That was truly the point of no return. Soon, every conversation started with “Have you ever grown grains?” followed by an enthusiastic description of every single quality they embrace. When I decided to write this book, I was met with funny looks, eye rolls and polite disdain. More than a few friends offered comments such as, “Sure Brie, you and the eight other people in the world that care about local wheat,” and, “Don’t you see, carbs make people fat! They are on their way out of the modern diet.” Still, I persisted, because I knew this book needed to be written.
What I’ve learned since that first grain bed
There’s more to report about my first experimental wheat crop, and in the years since with a whole variety of grains. Managing this garden bed space has proven to be very easy.
• I sow twice a year, once with cool-tolerant grain crops and again in summer with heat-loving varieties. The seed germinates in place and has dense ground cover, thus eliminating weed pressure. It is irrigated only when necessary and is managed with all-organic products. Compared to every other edible I grow, grains are the easiest and lowest maintenance, and visually provide the greatest impact. If I were to plant this space in a mix of traditional home garden vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, it would require a great deal more time, attention and fertility. (This is not to say that I don’t do my share of interplanting with veggies and grains. They play well together!)
Sow densely to reduce weed pressure.
• I cover the ground. Another lesson learned over the years is the importance of engaging the entire ground plane with plants. This is truly the critical component for lowering overall maintenance and reducing the need for herbicides. You see, when all of the ground is covered there is limited opportunity for weeds to establish themselves. This is not a new idea, nor is it exclusive to food crops. In fact, this idea of ground plane coverage is the new mantra for modern-day landscaping, from bioswales and green infrastructure design to annual beds maintained along the highway. If you really want to stop using herbicides you need to cover the open mulch space with plants of your choosing.
• I bask in the beauty. I love how grasslike plants create a dynamic landscape with kinetic appeal – another important aspect of the role grains play when used as garden accents. Like most people, I am attracted to these plants. I adore their structure, color, texture; watching them blow in the
