Grow Your Own Wheat / Bread?

Following on from the thread on Bread making [link], which reminded me that Flour is seriously impoverished compared to Olden Times, but also that milling the whole grain includes the Germ which makes the grain go off pretty quickly, I was mulling over growing my own Wheat, using a traditional variety rather than these newfangled high-yield feed-the-world varieties and milling it myself - easy enough to store grain, so I could Mill for Baking just-in-time.

I had a look at the area required and found this article:

"Assuming you're going for an extremely wholewheat approach - using the whole grain, including bran and germ - ... then you need 297 square metres of wheat to provide your family with bread"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7284011.stm

That's quite a bit! plus it needs to be part of the crop rotation.

Then there is all the scything, sheaving and stooking following by threshing and winowing ... quiet a lot of work before I even get to the Grinding bit

Perhaps I should just buy bulk of an old fashioned variety of Wheat grown organically?

 

Certainly the easiest option, and maybe more reliable. Maybe not so gratifying though?

 

When you store it, rat and mice may be a problem and the biggest thing is if you grow/buy in make sure it has not got any ERGOT in the wheat you don't want to mill that up in to flour and bake it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergotism
And then there is the Mycotoxins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycotoxin
https://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/topics/Mycotoxins/Pages/default.aspx

And you don't wants Grain Weevil in your store
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat_weevil

 

My local windmill will grind corn taken to them. That option might be worth checking out.

So just over a standard 10 pole plot required . I sowed some left over homebrewing wheat once as an experiment and flippin rabbits ate the lot.

But I'd be interested only if growing as a bit of extra Winter hen food.

 

It's a good idea Kristen but not feasible as said in most gardens. Allotments are a possibility and perhaps even some bargaining power with a local crop farmer. One field a year splitting the crop with the farmer in exchange for his/her involvement..... but now we are back to farming!

 

And this time of year the sparrows will eat the berries as they foum, my bit which i grow for the bird has all ready been striped

 

Right, so apart from the Ergot, the Mycotoxins, the Grain Weevils, the rabbits, the birds, the scything, the sheaving, the stooking, the threshing, the winowing and the grinding, it's all plain-sailing! Go for it Kristen

 

Seems remarkably little faff, compared to my Norm

 

+ mice + woodpigeons

 

Ahh yes, forgot about those Still, 'tis but a trifle

 

Buy your grain for your bread, grow rapeseed and produce bio diesel.

Steve...

 

Seriously, if you log on and register with Heygates you can find out from the nearest rep. to you, who they deliver to locally. Maybe have a word with the baker and get your self some of their bread flour?
Jenny

 

also to store grain long term the moisture of the grain must be below 16% 15% better

 

When Iwas working the farm on the estate used to gow wheat for flour one year it got weevils the silo had to go for animal feed so storage could be a problem