How to Grow Grains (on a small scale)

With input from: Dan Jason, Robert Giardino, Tom Henry, Mike Doehnel, Helen Reid, and Gene Logsdon (via his excellent book, Small-Scale Grain Raising).

We will continue to revise and add to this page as our own knowledge increases: we hope to provide a central resource for anyone interested in backyard grain growing. If you have a question that is not answered on this website, please contact us and we will try to find the information.

How difficult is it to grow my own grains?
What kind of grains should/can I grow?
What's the oldest kind of grain still available?
I'm gluten intolerant: what kinds of grains are best for me?
What does it mean when a grain is an "open pollinated" variety?
What's the difference between spring wheat and winter wheat, fall rye and other rye, etc?
Is it better to plant in the fall or in the spring?
Do I need to do anything special to prepare the soil for planting grains?
When should I plant grain?
How do I plant grain?
What can I plant with my grains (i.e. companion planting)?
How much should I water my grain?
Will I need to do a lot of weeding in my grain patch?
How do I thresh grain on a small scale?
How do I get the saponin coating off my quinoa seeds?
How can I mill grain into flour?
How do I roll oats and other grains?

How difficult is it to grow my own grains?
Grain is practically the easiest thing you can grow: "if you can grow grass, you can grow grain." The most difficult part is usually the threshing (the separation of the edible grain seed from the rest of the plant), since small-scale growers don't produce enough to justify investing in a typical threshing machine.

What kind of grains should/can I grow?
There are countless varieties of grains in the world. In Canada, we haven't (yet) fully explored the many varieties to know which ones will do best in our many micro-climates, or are best suited to our individual eating styles. To get you started on discovering which grains are right for you, here are some recommendations:

Dan Jason:
- blue-tinged Ethiopian wheat (delicious when whole cooked)
- Red Fife wheat (excellent flavour)
- Brazilian lavras wheat (especially when whole cooked)

Robert Giardino:
- emmer (an ancestral grain eaten by the pharoahs)

Helen Reid:
- quinoa, although not technically a grain (stunningly beautiful plants, a local alternative to rice, nutrient powerhouse)

For a summary of what we've learned/heard so far about each variety, please visit our grains webpage.

What's the oldest kind of grain still available?
The ancestral varieties are emmer, spelt, kamut (also known as Polish wheat), and eyenkorn. The Heritage Grains Foundation says that these varieties are more nutritious, more flavourful, and are easier for our primitive bodies to metabolize and digest than some of the modern strains. The Mesopotamians also used emmer to make beer.

Quinoa (which is not technically a grain) was known to the Incas as the "Mother Grain" or "Super Grain," and played a major role in their culture.

I'm gluten intolerant: what kinds of grains are best for me?
Don't discount wheat just because you react to most flours: typical flour tends to include too many wheat varieties to be able to pinpoint which particular wheat is causing the problem. Generally the more modern strains of grains will be harder for our bodies to metabolize and digest, simply because they've become too complex. Try the simpler ancestral grains, such as emmer, spelt and kamut (or "Polish wheat").

What does it mean when a grain is an "open pollinated" variety?
"Open pollinated" means that the grain is not a hybrid and can reproduce on its own: if you save your grain seed from an open pollinated wheat variety and plant it the next season, it will produce more wheat of that same variety. (Hybrids are less dependable.) This means that you can save your own grain seed each season, without having to buy more.

Open pollinated varieties also tend to be more adaptable to different bio-regions and growing conditions, so if you plant a certain variety (for example, Red Fife wheat) every season and save some of the seed to replant again the next year, that variety will slowly adapt to your soil, humidity levels, the amount you water it, et cetera. In ten years, your variety could look, taste and grow entirely different than the grower next door who started with the same seed as you.

Finally, "open pollinated" seeds usually involve some risk of cross-pollination. Corn, for example, will cross-pollinate with other corn varieties from hundreds of feet away. This makes the seed unreliable and opens your seed supply to possible contamination from GMO varieties. Luckily, grains tend not to cross pollinate, and different varieties are often grown closely together with no danger of contaminating the seed.

What's the difference between spring wheat and winter wheat, fall rye and other rye, et cetera?
Different varieties of grains (e.g. winter wheat, fall/winter rye) can withstand colder winters and give you a headstart on a summer harvest. In our temperate West Coast climate, many growers are experimenting with planting "spring" varieties in the winter, to see if they'll survive the rainy/cold season. Note that winter varieties may not mature in time, if planted in the spring.

Is it better to plant in the fall or in the spring?
If you plant in the fall, the grain will get a headstart before the chilly winter hits. This might result in a stronger plant and therefore a better yield at harvest time (approx. 20%). You also might be able to harvest a few weeks earlier (e.g. June instead of July).

Do I need to do anything special to prepare the soil for planting grains?
Ideally, you should start preparing the soil about six months or more before planting grains. Any sod should be removed or tilled into the top 6 inches of soil. After tilling with a tractor or rototiller, plant peas, beans, fall rye, or another green manure crop to help break up the soil and improve fertility. This crop can be tilled back into the soil once or more. Till once more just before planting your grain seed, to discourage any weeds.

Wire worms are a major pest, especially in newly-tilled pasture: they live the good life in the roots of grass plants, and will head straight for your grain when it's planted. Island farmers have lost entire grain crops to wire worms. One organic solution is nematodes, which can be sprayed onto the soil once the weather is warm enough.

We (Makaria Farm) planted grain in recently tilled pasture in 2009, and saw little if any wireworm damage in our grain crops. The wireworms may have been distracted by the neighbouring potato fields . . .

Do I need to practice crop rotation with grains?
Crop rotation is a best practice, no matter what you're growing. It means that you never plant the same crop in subsequent years.

When should I plant grain?
Oats: as early as you can get onto the soil in the New Year, or "whenever the mud dries enough in the spring to be workable," as Gene Logsdon says.
Quinoa: April. Don't try to overwinter quinoa, since it doesn't like being wet.

How do I plant grain?
Just like grass seed. You can sprinkle it, "broadcast" it in sweeping arcs, plant by hand in tidy rows, or use a row seeder. Try to ensure even spacing of about 1 inch between seeds (the plants will fill in the gaps with "tillers" that they send out, stifling weed growth and producing a greater yield at harvest time).

After planting, cover the seed with a few centimetres of soil or rake the seeds in, then tamp the soil down to ensure good contact between the seed and the soil.

What can I plant with my grains (i.e. companion planting)?
According to the companion planting bible, Carrots Love Tomatoes, chamomile increases wheat yields (plant 1 part chamomile to every 100 parts wheat). Bachelor Buttons (a flower) aids rye production when planted in a 1:100 ratio.

It should be noted that grains grow 3+ feet tall, and often require little water, so don't expect your companion plants to perform their best given this shaded, dry environment.

How much should I water my grain?
Aside from some moisture to help the seed germinate (which won't take long), grains don't need to be watered. If there's an especially hot, dry day then feel free to provide some water: trickle tape or a drip irrigation system is ideal. Too much water will cause grains to grow too tall, at which point they may fall over (called "lodging").

Quinoa is traditionally grown in regions with less than 3.5 inches of rain/year; drought actually produces larger seed heads.

Will I need to do a lot of weeding in my grain patch?
No. Grains tend to close out other plants. (As such, they are not very good companion plants for your vegetables!) However, if thistle, burdock, or another invasive plant appears it's best to get it while you can.

Can I eat my grain plants?
It's common to make juice from wheat grass, and the young leaves of amaranth and quinoa are both delicious and nutritious (calcium and iron). When the leaves get older, steam them.

When do I harvest my grain?
Barley: late June, early July.
Wheat: late July (fall-sown wheat can usually be harvested in June). To thresh, the seed kernels should be hard enough that you can't make an indent with your fingernail: if the grain is too soft, let it dry out in a greenhouse or a dry, hot place until it's ready.
Amaranth: when the birds start pecking at your amaranth plants, it's time to harvest. If you leave the seed on the plant too long, they will harden and it will be extremely difficult to thresh. Shake or rub the seed heads to loosen the seed into a bucket, then dry the seeds indoor on trays for at least one week. When they are rock hard, they are ready to thresh.
Quinoa: September/October. Feel the seed heads: if the seeds feel like hard balls, they're ready to harvest.

How do I harvest my grain?
For most grains, you can do it with scissors and a bucket: simply cut the seed head off the plant and put it in the bucket. We've tried scything and (keeping in mind that we don't really know how to work the tool) it just knocked all the grain stalks over, so it was more work collecting the seed heads. We've recently obtained a hand sicle, and look forward to trying that this summer.

To thresh, the seed kernels should be hard enough that you can't make an indent with your fingernail: if the grain is too soft, let it dry out in a greenhouse or a dry, hot place until it's ready.

Amaranth: when the birds start pecking at your amaranth plants, it's time to harvest. If you leave the seed on the plant too long, they will harden and it will be extremely difficult to thresh. Shake or rub the seed heads to loosen the seed into a bucket, then dry the seeds indoor on trays for at least one week. When they are rock hard, they are ready to thresh.

Quinoa: September/October. Feel the seed heads: if the seeds feel like hard balls, they're ready to harvest. Cut the seed heads off and put them in a bucket or lie them on a tarp somewhere warm and dry until you get around to threshing them.

How much can I expect to harvest from my patch?
1,100 sq.ft. (about 1/40 of an acre) of land should yield 60lbs of wheat.

1,100 sq.ft. (or 1/40 of an acre) of land has yielded 50-150lbs of quinoa in the Cowichan Valley.

How do I thresh grain on a small scale?
An important first step for the small-scale grower is choosing grain varieties that can be threshed without modern machinery, since some grains grow surrounded by a tough, hard-to-remove outer "husk" or "hull." Some recommendations for easily-threshed grains are:
- hull-less oats (these oats do have a "hull" or "husk," but it's easier to remove than that of the usual oat varieties)
- hull-less or "faust" barley
- Marquis wheat
- Red Fife wheat
- rye
- triticale (cross between rye and wheat)

Some varieties that are notoriously difficult to thresh are:
- emmer
- spelt
- buckwheat

Small-scale threshing can be done by hand as needed (e.g. if you want a few cups of grain to make a loaf of bread or meal). You can also use a threshing box based on Dan Jason's model, shown in the video below:

Other options include:
- placing the seed heads in a pillowcase and beating them with a shoe, or
- placing the seed heads on a tarp and beating them with a rubber hose, plastic bat, or other "flail."

Quinoa: put on a glove to protect your hand (a rubber kitchen glove will do) and run the seed head through your fingers, scraping off the seeds into a bucket.

The next step is to separate the grain seeds from the rest of the plant matter (the "chaff"). Traditionally this is done by placing the mix in a bowl and tossing it into the air, where a breeze can blow away the lighter chaff. Helen Reid uses a blow drier (be sure to wear eye protection and use the "cool" setting so you don't heat the seed too much). Dan Jason uses an air compressor.

How do I get the saponin coating off my quinoa seeds?
Quinoa seeds are naturally coated with saponin, which one grainy has said tastes like dandelion milk (ew). There are machines out there to get the coating off, but here in Canada quinoa growers usually use the washing machine method:

  1. run your washing machine through a cycle with vinegar instead of laundry detergent, to clean out any soap residue.
  2. place the quinoa seed in a pillow case.
  3. using just the water, run your washing machine through 2-3 cycles with the pillowcase of quinoa inside.
  4. taste the quinoa seed to check that it's saponin-free.
  5. when the saponin's been washed off, empty the seed onto trays and dry before storing.

How can I mill grain into flour?
Our amazing local bakery, True Grain in Cowichan Bay, will do custom milling with their stone mill. If you don't have enough grain for that size of a job, other options include:
- your coffee grinder
- your blender
- a "kitchen mill" or special attachment for your food processor.

Also, consider using your grains in other ways such as sprouting, soaking/cooking like rice or oatmeal, wheat grass, flaking into cereals, et cetera.

How do I roll oats and other cereal grains?
Soak the whole grains in water for a few hours or overnight, then roll them in a roller. A pasta roller might work if you angle it; specialty grain rollers have rougher rollers, to help catch the grains and pull them through. Then place your rolled grains on a cookie sheet and bake them at no higher than 140-degrees until they're dry.