Happy New Year! By this time next year I should be singing Auld Lang Syne while brandishing a bottle (or half a dozen) of my first home brewed beer, made with my own malted barley and my own homegrown hops.In September I dug up my front lawn and resowed it with barley. At the time I really wanted to sow oats but I was told that they're hard to grow well in Auckland's humidity without spraying for mildew; so barley it was. I figure that even if my attempts to malt it are a dismal failure, I'll have kilograms of pearl barley for winter soups and stews. And failing that too, I'll have bales of fantastic golden barley straw to dig back into the soil or use as an organic mulch instead of buying pea straw.
Growing your own mulch sounds quite sensible, but to be honest, barley's worth growing for its aesthetic appeal. I am totally addicted to looking at it, especially when there's a slight breeze blowing and it shivers in swathes. It's fantastic. Over the past fortnight, it has completely changed colour, from lush green to haystack yellow. The two pictures above were taken two weeks apart, the first in mid December and the second today. The seed heads are all gloriously golden and plump.
Now, it's time I hit google to find out when and how to harvest the stuff!
6 Comments: Click here to add your thoughts:
Try John Seymour's Self Sufficiency book for the finer details but basically you cut it with a sythe or sickle (or kitchen knife)and leave it to completely dry (tossing occasionally) then thresh by hitting it with a stick (or driving horses or oxen over it!) and winnow by pouring the grain from one container to another on a windy day.
Hi Lynda - where did you get your barley seeds from? A
The barley will be ready to harvest when the plant has turned golden and if you pluck oe of the heads and rub and roll in your hands the grain should break from its husk easily and the drying may work better if cut and dried,by a sickel or sythe from ex grain farmer
I acquired the barley seed from a golfing friend of my mum's who grows it commercially. I swapped a magazine for a bag of seed.
Other things I've learned about harvesting it: the seed is ready to thresh when its moisture content has dropped to the point that when you try to cut it with a pocket knife, it pings out of its husk.
And also, dusting myself with talcum powder first will help to make it a much less itchy job!
I know you're going to use it to make alcohol, but could you also just cook it up, or does something else have to be done to it to make it cookable/
hello I read somewhere about all the many many things you had planted in your garden and a friend of yours had commented what! no Radicchio.I want to re read it and pass it on to my sister.Are you able to tell me where I can get hold of it many thanks
Post a Comment