Homegrown whole grains: Grow, Harvest, and Cook Your Own Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rice, and More

This invaluable guide shows you exactly how to grow, harvest, process, store, and cook nine of the most common whole grains: wheat, corn, barley, millet, oats, rice, rye, spelt, and quinoa. Cultivating these crops is surprisingly easy, and it takes less space than you might imagine — with just 1,000 square feet, for example, you can grow enough wheat for 50 loaves of fresh bread. The book includes delicious, simple recipes for cooking with whole grains (whether you grow them yourself or not) and features a gorgeous cover by renowned artist Nikki McClure that makes the book a wonderful gift for all the gardeners and cooks on your list.

A backyard field of grains? Yes, absolutely! Wheat and corn are rapidly replacing grass in the yards of dedicated locavores across the country. For adventurous home- owners who want to get in on the movement, Homegrown Whole Grains is the place to begin.

Growing whole grains is simpler and more rewarding than most people imagine. With as little as 1000 square feet of land, backyard farmers can grow enough wheat to harvest 50 pounds in a single afternoon - and those 50 pounds can be baked into 50 loaves of fresh bread.

In addition to providing information on wheat and corn, Homegrown Whole Grains includes complete growing, harvesting, and threshing instructions for barley, millet, oats, rice, rye, spelt, and quinoa, and lighter coverage of several specialty grains. Readers will also find helpful tips on processing whole grains, from what to look for in a home mill to how to dry corn and remove the hulls from barley and rice.

Chapters for each grain include inventive recipes for cereals, desserts, casseroles, salads, soups and stews, and, of course, home-baked breads, the crowning achievement of the home grain grower. Sara Pitzer shares dozens of ideas for using whole grains - from cooking sturdy wheat berries in a slow cooker to malting barley for homebrewed beer. Whether milled into nutritional flours or used in any of their unmilled states, wheat, barley, quinoa, and the other grain crops are healthful additions to every diet.

In addition to providing information on wheat and corn, "Homegrown Whole Grains" includes complete growing, harvesting, and threshing instructions for barley, millet, oats, rice, rye, spelt, and quinoa, and lighter coverage of several specialty grains. It also features helpful tips on processing whole grains, from what to look for in a home mill to how to dry corn and remove the hulls from barley and rice. Chapters for each grain include inventive recipes for cereals, desserts, casseroles, salads, soups and stews, and home-baked breads Learn to grow, harvest, store, grind, and cook nine popular whole grains. Sara Pitzer provides complete instructions for growing your own wheat, corn, barley, millet, oats, rice, rye, spelt, and quinoa, as well as recipes for using these grains in tasty dishes. Cultivating these crops is surprisingly easy, and it takes less space than you might imagine — with just 1,000 square feet of growing space in your backyard, you can grow enough wheat to supply ingredients for 50 loaves of delicious fresh bread. A resource that has everything gardeners need to know to grow, harvest, store, grind, and cook small crops of nine types of whole grains also includes fifty recipes to bring whole grains to the family table. Original. Getting started -- Barley -- Buckwheat -- Corn -- Heirloom grains (Amaranth, Quinoa, Spelt, Emmer Farro, Einkorn) -- Millet -- Oats -- Rice -- Rye -- Wheat.