What kind of grains 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 of Salt Spring Seeds:

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

Robert Giardino of the Heritage Grains Foundation:

• emmer (an ancestral grain eaten by the pharoahs; extremely difficult to thresh without machinery)

Helen Reid, Cowichan quinoa grower:

• quinoa, although not technically a grain (stunningly beautiful plants; a local alternative to rice; a nutrient powerhouse)

Brock & Heather of Makaria Farm:

• modern wheats, such as the generic "hard white spring wheat" (we love the short, consistent height (2' in 2010) for harvesting with a scythe, and they grow well for us)
• rye (it grows really tall at 8-9', which risks lodging, but we like getting all the straw as a byproduct; we like rye as a cover crop for our vegetable farm; and we get massive yields from the 8-10" long seed heads which leads to greater yields in small areas)
• flax (it's pretty in bouquets!)

For a summary of what we've learned/heard so far about each variety of grain, please visit our Grains 101 page.

To ask more questions, click here to return to How to Grow Grains.