Welcome to Island Grains!
Take the next big step in local eating here on Vancouver Island: join Vancouver Island's first grain CSA and learn how to grow your own grains at the same time.
For this second year of the Island Grains project, we are offering shares in our grain harvest for those looking to obtain local organic grain while learning how to grow it yourself. Each share (equivalent to 875 square feet of growing space) should yield approximately 40 pounds of grain. Unlike last year's program, Makaria Farm will do the primary sowing, weeding, watering and cutting for efficiency and weed control in 2010.
Not only do you get to avoid weeding, you'll also participate in workshops on growing your own small-scale cereal grains (yes, you can grow your own wheat, oats, barley, quinoa and more, right in your own backyard) and on the most nutritious ways to cook with whole grains. Participants (aka "grainies") will participate in a hands-on planting and growing workshop and demonstration (with optional sowing practice), a whole grains nutritional cooking workshop, and our 2nd Annual Harvest Party and ThreshFest. We hope to partner once again with our local organic bakery, True Grain, to offer stone milling for those interested (please note that there may be an additional cost for the milling).
Once we've done all the sowing and weeding, it's your turn: we'll be threshing and cleaning the grain together at harvest! We plan to beg, borrow or build a threshing machine so that this step is not labour intensive, though we will still demonstrate and provide the opportunity to do it the old-fashioned way (Farmer Brock's "shoe and pillow case" method) for those looking for an authentic experience and sore muscles.
Island Grains' 2010 Grain CSA
Ready to learn more about this unique opportunity for Vancouver Island foodies? Click here for the nitty gritty behind Island Grains' 2010 Grain CSA . . .
Grains 101 at Victoria's Seedy Saturday, February 20, 2010
Come visit us at our exhibitor's booth and learn about backyard grains! We'll be presenting "Grow Your Own Pancakes: Organic grains on a small scale" at 12:45pm in the Colwood Room of the Victoria Conference Centre (2nd level). Admission to Seedy Saturday is $7, under 12 are free. Click here for details on Victoria's Seedy Saturday.
What is Island Grains?
Island Grains is a resource and support network for those of us interested in backyard grain growing. This website is dedicated to providing easy-to-understand, step-by-step information on how anyone can learn grain production on a small scale. We also host workshops to teach potential grainies the fundamentals in an interactive environment. Our spring 2009 workshop series was filled to capacity within four weeks.
Island Grains is a new form of community-supported agriculture. It is a club, a workshop, an experiment, and a movement. It is a way for eaters to be growers, to face the same challenges as our farmers, to learn to fear the weather, and to understand the value of food. It's a resource for families, individuals, groups, risk-takers and food enthusiasts.