I read Small Scale Grain Raising, and I will be planting a small patch of winter wheat this fall. I’m wondering if annual rye grass would be a good companion crop for the winter wheat. My goal is to have a good thick stand to out-compete weeds before winter. I then hope the dead rye grass will serve as mulch to further reduce weeds when the wheat begins to grow in the spring. Does this make sense?

Doug in Missouri

I was happy to hear that the 2nd edition of Small-Scale Grain Raising has been published. Your writings have influenced me since the 1970′s and I was always intrigued by the idea of growing grains in the garden. Your ideas gave me the freedom to follow my ideas. Always concerned about sustainability, I grew cover crops to cut for the compost pile. Then I added sustainable no-till methods, cutting the crops in place and leaving them as mulch, using only hand tools. With the help of my filmmmaker son I produced a video of my methods. Information can be found at my website http://www.HomeplaceEarth.com. I credit you for starting me on that path, so many years ago. Thank you so much.

Cindy Conner

http://www.uaf.edu/salrm/afes/pubs/bul/B111.pdf

Hats off to those hard working people! They spent considerable time and energy trying to figure out what grains would grow in Alaska and what uses those grains had. And they even trialed amaranth!

Kerri in AK

Oh, I know all about lambsquarter having once wrestled a six foot monster of a plant out of a Wisconsin CSA farm field where I lent a hand now and then. It’s found in Alaska but the climate doesn’t allow it to get so large – maybe 18-24″. Pigweed is around, too, but not nearly as much. In fact, when I decided to try growing amaranth (too late in the season last year) I went all over the neighborhood looking for it. I found exactly one plant about half a mile away and I was checking vacant lots, alleys and snooping around yards.

I considered lambsquarter a pernicious weed until I discovered that the leaves of young plants tastes just like spinach when steamed. While it will cross with quinoa (so I’ve read), since I’m not as excited about growing quinoa, I’m happy to let the lambsquarter sprout wherever it wants to. It’s the first fresh green vegetable that can be harvested around here. I don’t call it weeding – it’s harvesting!

The agricultural extension service up here, bless their hearts, has spent considerable energy over the years trying to determine which grains will grow in Alaska. The short answer is barley and oats. We don’t have the moisture in the spring for wheat and not nearly enough season for corn. I grew a short season colored corn last year – Painted Mountain – which made it all the way through its life cycle within the season. But I started the plants in the house in early April. Here it is nearly the end of April and if I get organized can finally plant peas. Corn couldn’t be planted outside until after Memorial weekend. First frost hits about the end of the second week of September.

The instructor for an organic gardening class I took last year recommended growing amaranth. So I’m going to give it a try. I like it popped first and then added to soups or combined with cooked fruit to make a porridge (the young leaves are edible, too). It certainly is not a wheat substitute but then I don’t eat a lot of foods made with wheat flour. And I love whole oat and barley groats even better than I like brown rice. Good thing both will grow here. Now it’s just finding which variety works best.

Kerri in AK

Now if you’d just written about amaranth…

Kerri in AK