Update from Santa Ynez

We last saw Curtis Davenport's field of young Sonora in the first week of March.   Almost exactly a month later, here's how it  looks. Those rains have made a big difference.
    
  

Wheat Sprouting near Santa Ynez

We last visited Curtis Davenport in mid December when he was collecting soil samples for analysis.

It's been a dry couple of months, but he was able to plant 8 acres of Sonora on February 17th.




Still looking dry.

The seeds did come around and the late February rains helped a lot.














Curtis' Sonora White is on its way, putting down roots in Santa Barbara county.


Should we care about where and how our food is grown?

Here is what French entomologist Jean Henri Fabre had to say about that:


  "History celebrates the battlefields whereon we meet our death, but scorns the plowed fields whereby we thrive.  It knows the names of the King's bastard children, but cannot tell us the origin of wheat.  That is the way of human folly."

Lying Down on the Job

A short report on wheat growth in our front yard.

I'm skeptical that our small planting of India-Jammu will add much to our technical understanding of this interesting land race variety or its appropriateness for Southern California.






But it is a lovely sight ...

 

... particularly when its small blossoms are displayed.







And a  patch of Sonora White illustrates the risks of raising big seed heads almost four feet above the ground.

Lodging is when wheat is pushed down -- or just tips over -- making it a challenge to ripen and be harvested.  It is not a condition I was expecting to see in our front yard, but our very welcome end of February rains push over some of those tall plants.

Makes me quietly proud that our yard can demonstrate challenges that are usually only experienced  by real farmers.


I tied up those rascals against a stake, in hope they'll regain their footings and once against stand on their own.



It is of interest that the Sonora seed heads have between 42 and 48 kernels developing.  About twice the number in the India Jammu which kept standing.





 A big head seems a good thing, until it tips you over.

MOMO in Grand Park

Michael O'Malley's mobile wood-fired bread oven, found its way between rain squalls to a parking spot in Los Angeles' Grand Park today. 

 Folks brought homemade loaves, of all kinds and shapes, to bake right on the fire brick hearth where wood fires had burned to coals the night before.  The classic arched roof oven is mounted on a trailer for mobility.  It was designed and built by Michael.

The Community Bread Bakes are a great chance to see and smell wonderful bread rise and come to life. 

 Many of the breadmakers had worked with Michael and Nan Kohler, the day before, learning the basics of making natural wild yeast raised breads, with flour contributed by Nan's grain milling company, Grist & Toll.

 Michael intends to have Free Community Bakes in various neighborhoods on a monthly basis.

 



















MOMO  "Michael O'Malley's Oven" is also made available by Michael  for shared baking events at Nan Kohler's GRIST & TOLL flour mill, 900 South Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena, where the north 110 right at the northern end of the 110.
Grist & Toll:    www.facebook.com/gristandtoll
Los Angeles Bread Bakers:  www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Bread-Bakers/ 

Testing for Viability

To test grain seed to see whether it will grow, fold a few kernels -- "wheat berries" -- in a damp paper towel.  Place in a ziploc sandwich bag and keep it at room temperature.  Many kinds of wheat seed will show seminal roots in two days.  Certainly within a week all viable seeds will have roots and the initial growth shoot. The magic has begun.

Pictured are Emmer (Farro) seeds after three days in a folded paper towel.  To a city-dweller's eyes, there is some variability in their initial enthusiasm, but 100% have gotten a start.

  

Emmer is thought to be the oldest cultivated wheat, with evidence of grain found in present-day Iran from 9600 BC.

  

Most grain seeds from bulk bins can be used to grow grain, though the exact variety and its quality will not be known. Unless severely mistreated, wheat seed has a long lifetime of viability. 

This is a sprout of Khorasan (Triticum turanicum) an ancient (Tetraploid) variety of wheat.  Sometimes sold under the trademark name, Kamut, the kernel on the paper towel  had a growth shoot of nearly two inches in four days.  Seed planted in the ground at a depth of two inches had simultaneously reached the surface in those same four days.

 If you don’t want to use up your paper towels, put some seeds in a mason jar with cheese cloth for a lid.  Soak seeds  in clean water for 12 hours and repeat once with a change of water.  Then up-end the jar in your dish drain for a couple of days, giving them a rinse every so often.  If the seeds are viable, you’ve have a small forest of sprouts to add to your bread, your salads, or your breakfast cereal.

Incidentally, malted grain (usually barley, but can be wheat) is basically sprouted kernels that are kiln dried at a low temperature (~ 130 degrees F.) and then ground up for use in brewing or baking.

Rainy Daze

Good news.  Some more wheat in the ground, and just  in time for a deep drink of rainwater.  Word was that Nate Siemens intended to broadcast some seed in fields near Lompoc.  Your correspondent arrived before the morning fog had lifted. 

No sign of Nate.


   










But the morning sun and Nate both soon appeared and this is what the field looked like, once the mists were gone. 

Disced twice in the last couple of weeks, the ground was ready.

Nate set out to broadcast Glenn over a five acre field.





And that was followed by Red Fife over another two acres, all just in time for our very welcome end-of-February rains.

The  fields had most recently grown crops of vegetables, so wheat was good seed to rotate into.  

Local sources say that turning the soil over in that area has uncovered whale bones, and rocks show layers typical of oceanic sedimentary design. 

 

Our wheat is going to come of age in an area that was once ocean front. 
Or a little beyond.

Grain at your Front Door

One of our goals is to grow “local” wheat.    Here’s another way go local:  Plant a Plot of Good Grain!   Right in your back yard.  Or your front yard or side yards.  In pots and window boxes.

Your acreage may not be large, but wheat is decorative landscaping, good for the soil, a nice garden backdrop, attractive along walls and fences.

And it is a good start toward making your yard edible.

Prepare the soil as you would for garden crops.  Plant wheat seeds one and one-half inches deep, about two inches apart.  Experts recommend about 36 seeds per square foot.  Give your plot or pot a thorough watering to get the seed going, then sit back and enjoy watching it grow.  Wheat in the ground needs water only every couple of weeks, and, unlike that old fashioned lawn, you don’t have to mow it.  Wheat will be ready to harvest in 4 to 6 months, but in the meantime, it will put on a nice show.

 

Do you need a reason to plant wheat? 

You’ll be helping maintain grain diversity.  You can grow very rare varieties of wheat, find out how they do in our climate, taste ancient grains like Emmer or Kamut as a cereal, bowl of grain salad, or a tasty flatbread.  You can supply kernels to a seed exchange.   (One 3’ by 3’ plot, can grow 2500 seeds.)

    

Where to get seed?

Bob’s Red Mill grains test as lively and viable, and they include Spelt, Kamut, and grains like Amaranth & Quinoa.

Heirloom & ancient wheat seed can be purchased from several suppliers: 

Salt Spring Farm   http://saltspringseeds.com/‎

Blue Bird Farm   http://bluebirdgrainfarms.com/

Community Grains   http://comunitygrains.com/

Sustainable Seed Company    http://sustainableseedco.com/wheat/

Rare seed is sold in packets of 300 seeds, enough for ten square feet, or a few large pots.  You might be the first in your neighborhood to harvest Russian Vavilov, Alaskan Spelt, Black Einkorn, or Brazilian Amber. 

India-Jammu one month after planting

For more advise on home-grown wheat cultivation:

http://www.rootsimple.com/2012/02/reasons-and-resources-for-growing-your-own-grains-at-home/

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/grains-growing-guide

http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/growing-wheat-zmaz10fmzraw.aspx

http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/bake_your_lawn/

So join this grass roots revolution.  Grow a patch of wheat.  Seed savers and seed banks will thank you.  Your 300 seeds could yield two or three pounds.  Working together we can find larger plots where we can grow that into three hundred pounds.  That half ounce of rare wheat seed has been multiplied by almost ten thousand, providing enough for a farmer to plant three acres, and that could yield three tons of that rare wheat seed which cost you, the initiating grower, $3.50.

You can tell your kids and your neighbors that you did your part in restoring one of the great wheats of the world  ...




... and maybe one of the most uniquely flavorful.