Adventures In Grainland: Part 2- Quinoa

The quinoa we planted a few months back did tremendously well.  I have to say I am amazed by this plant.  Everything about it leaves me in love, from the high protein and nutrition content of the grain (16-23%) to the shockingly delicious green leaves (you can eat them raw in salad or saute them).  We barely tilled the soil, barely watered, and still got more than an abundant harvest.  And I know I don't have to say much about the beauty of this plant.  It is breathtaking.  You can be sure I will be planting this every year. A lot of it!

ready to harvest

I harvested the seed heads that had turned a variety of rainbow colors leaving the greenish heads to mature a bit longer.  I noticed that it looks like each plant produces a seed head that will make about one meal depending on how many people you are feeding.  This is convenient...you can plan out approximately the number of days you want to feed your family by the number of seeds you put in the ground.  For our four person family I could see having enough grain on one plant for  a dinner and a bit left for breakfast as a warm porridge with honey and milk.  Yum. 

still a bit green

this grain is very versatile:  cook like rice, grind into flour, eat as a porridge, or pop like popcorn

After cutting off the heads it was time to hang them to dry.  (I am choosing to hang them on a drying rack with a cloth underneath to catch anything that falls.  You can also hang them in paper bags or over a large bin.)  I will leave them for a couple of weeks (I am estimating) and then remove the grain from the plant.  Quinoa must be rinsed many times before cooking due to the saponins in the outer seed coat. The rinsing water will be foamy almost like soapy water.  After rinsing well until the water runs clean, I will put them in my dehydrator on a low setting to dry then store in airtight glass jars.  You can also just leave the grain out to dry but be sure to leave it for several days at the same temperature it will be stored, before you put it into the containers. It is important to make sure the seeds are not damp. 

I'm so excited about this grain, I hope you get to experiment with growing some quinoa it in the future.

Adventures in Grainland, part one

Certain things catch your eye,
But pursue only those
that capture your heart.
-old Native American saying

 

organic heirloom seed packets from Bakercreek

We are embarking on a collaborative effort with our neighbor of villa sobrante to grow some larger crops of heirloom grains.  How to prepare the soil was the first question to come up since we wanted to prepare several 5' x 20' beds and didn't want to break our backs double digging in the process.  So we have had a few sessions working on the beds, mowing the waist high grass, tilling the soil with a rototiller, spreading horse manure over the beds, watering heavily, and then letting it sit for a few days. We went back to turn the manure under and found that the soil looks really good.  Using a rototiller is something new for us since we have thus far prepared our beds by hand, either double digging or sheet mulching, it's definitely a big experiment.  We ended up planting quinoa, red, green, and orange amaranth, black beans, and chickpeas in one area. Nearby we will plant sweet and popping corn.  I was extremely excited at the prospect of growing sorghum for pressing and making syrup but that quickly faded when I found out it takes 50 gallons of pressed juice from the stalks to make 5 gallons of syrup (100 plants make only 6.5 gallons of juice).  Anyhow we may try growing the grain sorghum which has a much higher yield. 



three smaller beds freshly double dug for black beans and chickpeas