Germ of an Idea
Grains are for more than flour. Many have a variety of uses.
SWEEPING CLEAN: Sorghum can be divided into a third category commonly known as broomcorn (and is either S. bicolor or S. vulgare). The seeds are edible, but more commonly, stalk and seeds are a popular autumn decoration, while stripping the plant of seeds leaves you with the beginnings of a broom!
FLASHY FORMS: Though grain varieties grown for food can be fairly attractive in their own right, you can try varieties that provide even greater eye candy and are still edible. Days to maturity permitting, try Utrecht Blue wheat, Glass Gem corn and Cherry Vanilla quinoa, just to name a few.
GET HOPPING … WITH POPPING! Yes, growing grains can mean growing popcorn. And note that for something different (and tasty), many people will also pop barley, sorghum, buckwheat and quinoa.
SPROUT PARTY: You need not consume your grains as flour alone. Several seeds, including wheat, its related species and a variety of beans, are used to produce sprouts, most popularly for salads. But don’t keep them to yourself. Sprouted barley, oats and wheat are often fed to animals, providing them more nutrition than the grain alone (as is the case for humans).
BEE FOOD: Flowering buckwheat and quinoa are very appealing to honeybees and native pollinators (including butterflies), another incentive to grow them.
BACK TO EARTH-ERS: Grains as cover crops and green manures for protecting soil that would otherwise be exposed to weathering and being returned to the soil with an accumulation of nutrients and biomass are roles which buckwheat, oats and rye often step into. For these plantings, your harvest isn’t grain but health for the soil.
STRAW POLL? You will respond positively! Grain is only a portion of the harvest from the true cereals. There is also straw, but beware. Some varieties are intended to not produce a significant straw harvest. Straw can be used as garden mulch, livestock fodder and bedding, even for …
STRAW CRAFT! Many nations have traditional crafts that utilize straw. Whether it’s the British wheat braid, the German oat straw stars and snowflakes for Christmas, or the Swedish Yule goat, straw crafting is worth a look.