RE: mulch / grain seed saving

Dehulling is the step that has made home-made flour making (largely) a thing of the past.The Corona grain mill is a table-top, hand- cranked model that works quite well for making cracked cereal or flour (and keeping your digging arms strong during winter).
 
Two men, to address the needs of peoples without money or fossil fuel power to grind grain, made a special disk for the Corona that dehulls the grain.
The mill and the supplementary disk cost $120 from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Tel: 540-894-9480 www.southernexposure.com
 
I bought the set to demonstrate the possibility to community gardeners when teaching about sowing winter cover crops of wheat and rye. It really gets them jazzed. I recently ground soy beans into meal for slow-release nitrogen for my garlic planting. I am in the process of threshing my rye, intending to make cereal and muffins. How cool is that!!? Home-grown cereal! And my soil's better for the roots left behind in it, and the stalks that I compost. Ah, Life!
 
A huge piece of the culture in agri-culture is (was) the story telling and singing that occurs during the threshing and dehulling of grain. Check out Michael Ableman's beautiful photo essay book "From the Good Earth," to see this in action.
 
For the sake of reclaiming true clout (i.e. the ability to provide ourselves with our own food), I encourage you to pass this on to others to inspire them to grow and process grain.
 
Sweetly grateful to be sharing this gardening life with y'all,

Paco John Verin
City Wide Coordinator - Philadelphia Green
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
100 North 20th Street, 5th floor
Philadelphia, PA  19103-1495
Phone: 215-988-8885; Fax 215-988-8810
http://www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Nicole Georges-Abeyie [mailto:nic_geo_abe@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 8:33 PM
To: community_garden@mallorn.com
Subject: [cg] mulch / grain seed saving

Thanks, Paco John Verin and others, for your replies. How does a grower with only hand tools reasonably-efficiently save seed from a cereal grain crop?

>In simple terms, sow winter covers of wheat or rye now, leaving some of =
>it to reach maturity in the bed. Save the seed for fall replanting, and =
>compost the stalks and roots.


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