Grain Raising by Gene Logsdon ILLUSTRATED by JERRY O'brien Rodale Press, Inc

Small-Scale Grain Raising By Gene Logsdon ILLUSTRATED BY JERRY O'BRIEN Rodale Press, Inc. Emmaus, Pennsylvania Copyright © 1977 by Rodale Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America on recycled paper 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Logsdon, Gene. Small-scale grain raising. Includes index. 1. Grain. 2. Organic farming. I. Title. II. Title: Grain raising. SB189.L79 633'.1 76-56102 ISBN 0-87857-134-5 ISBN 0-87857-147-7 pbk. Contents Introduction 1. Homegrown Grains: The Key to Food Security Grow Your Own Grains Whole Grains for Your Livestock The By-products Cultural Pros and Cons How Much Grain? Figuring Space Requirements 2. Corn: America's Amazing Maize Varieties Yellow Hybrid Corn Open-pollinated Field Corn Specialized Hybrids White Field Corn Sweet Corn Popcorn Ornamental Corn The Economics of Small Corn Plantings Providing the Necessary Fertility Raising the Corn When to Plant How to Plant Weed Control Enemies of Corn Borers and Earworms Rootworms Wireworms Seed Beetles and Maggots Birds Armyworms Chinch Bugs Corn Diseases and Blights Blights Mosaic Rots Wilts Harvesting Your Corn Harvesting Just the Ears Harvesting the Whole Plant Letting the Livestock Do It Post-harvest Tillage Storing and Using Your Corn Storing Corn in Shocks Corn Crib Storage A Rudimentary Crib A Snow-fence Crib A Pole-crib Traditional Cribs Shelling and Grinding Corn Livestock Feeding Corn Silage Feeding Yourself Kitchen Mills 3. Wheat: The Source of the Staff of Life Varieties Hybrids Selecting Seed Growing Wheat Fertilization Sowing the Seed Grazing the Young Plants Problems with Wheat Weed Control Crop Rotations The Harvest Hand Harvesting Hand Threshing Storing Wheat Eating Wheat Feeding Wheat to Livestock Straw 4. The Sorghum Family Grain Sorghum Varieties Growing Grain Sorghum Diseases Downy Mildew Mosaic Rots The Harvest Storing Seed Feeding Livestock Sorghum Flour Sweet Sorghum Varieties Cultivation Insects The Harvest Processing Molasses Using the Seed Broomcorn Making Brooms at Home Cultivation Broomcorn Commerce 5. Oats: The High-protein Cereal Grain Types and Varieties Fertilization Insects and Diseases Quality Standards Oats Culture Planting Working the Soil and Seeding Weed Control Harvesting For Grain Storage Making Hay Oats for the Table Oats Potpourri 6. The Soybean: Key to An Independent Food and Fertilizer Supply Soybean Foods Nitrogen Fixation Other Soybean Surprises Growing Soybeans Varieties Planting Seed Inoculation Fertilization Weed Control Insects Harvesting Soybeans For Table Use As Hat As Green Manure As a Grain Storage A Farm Proposal 7. Rye and Barley Rye Growing Rye Using Rye Grain Varieties Green Manuring Insects and Diseases Barley Varieties Bearded or Beardless Growing Barley Planting Rotations Planting in Rows Feeding Livestock Malting Barley Making Beer Hulling Barley Insects and Diseases Storage 8. Buckwheat and Millet Buckwheat The Gambler's Crop The Homesteader's Crop A Green Manure Planting Harvesting Buckwheat Honey Buckwheat For the Table Hulls Millet Varieties Planting and Harvesting Millet For the Table 9. Rice: The Oldest "Garden" Grain The Culture of Rice Mechanization The Art of Farming Rice Growing, Japanese Style Rice Growing, American Style Varieties Organic Rice Growing A Homestead Rice Grower The Paddy Preparing the Seed Sprouting the Seed Transplanting Harvesting The Rewards 10. Some Uncommon Grains, Old and New Wild Rice The Domestication of Wild Rice Wild Wild Rice Triticale Spelt Beans Flax . Growing Flax Harvesting Making Linen Seed Cotton, Sunflowers, Safflower 11. Legumes, Grains, and Vegetables: Partners on Organic Acres Rotations Legumes in Rotations Green Manure Value Insect and Disease Control Weed Control Legumes for Food Stretching Your Labor The Logsdon Plan Getting It Started Variations Managing the Rotation More Variations Planting Clovers Haying Harvesting Seed Clover Economy 12. Feeding Grain to Animals The Animal Feeding Business The Commercial Situation The Homestead Difference Why Grind Feed?| Animal Nutrition Feedstuffs Feed Formulas Chickens Rabbits Cows Hogs Sheep Goats Horses Turkeys Geese and Ducks Cats and Dogs An Illustrated Glossary of Grain Equipment and Terms Planting The Hand-operated, Hill-drop Jab Planter The Horn Seed Sower The Hand-cranked Broadcast Seeder Hand-pushed Row Seeders Two-row Planters Grain Drills Seeding Rates Plant Population per Acre Weed Control Hoe Hand-pushed Wheel Cultivators Rotary Tiller Rotary Hoe Row Cultivators for Garden Tractors Horse-drawn Cultivators Farm Tractor-mounted Cultivators Shields Shovel and Tine Cultivating Blades Harvesting Corn Knife Husking Peg Corn Binder Grain Sickle Corn Picker Corn Combine Grain Flail Grain Cradle Scythe Grain Binder Winnower (or Separator) Grain Thresher Grain Combines Corn Shellers Seed Cleaners Bushel Basket Grain Conveyor Corn Drag Scoop Shovel Clover Huller Rice Hullers and Shellers Barley Pearler (Huller) Sorghum (or Cane Sugar) Press Crib Diatomaceous Earth Neem Seed-Kernel Powder Bin Dry Ice for Insect Control in Stored Grain Carbon Disulfide Cold Storage Feed Grinders Burr Mill Hammer Mill Roller Mills Household Gristmills Sprouting Sprouters Earth Box Sprouter Automatic Commercial Sprouters Introduction This book is written for gardeners and country homesteaders interested in increasing both the quantity and quality of their homegrown food supply in the most reliable way: by growing and using whole grains. The book is not meant for the commercial grower. I would hope the commercial grower would find ideas he could use, especially if he is an organic farmer. But the methods I describe do not promise what agricultural experts have been calling "top profits," while millions of farmers were being forced off the land. Rather, I intend this book for people who realize the danger of depending absolutely on politically motivated governmental processes for food, clothing, and shelter. In the world we must live in from now on, to produce our own food is the beginning of independence and to accept that responsibility is the first step toward real freedom. Chapter 1 Homegrown Grains: The Key to Food Security I remember the first year we grew grains in our garden. A good gardening buddy dropped by one day early in July just when our wheat was ripe and ready to harvest. He didn't know that though. His reason for stopping was to show me two splendid, juicy tomatoes picked ripe from his garden. After a few ritual brags—and knowing full well that my tomatoes were still green— he asked me in a condescending sort of way what was new in my garden. I remembered the patch of ripe wheat. "Oh, nothing much," I answered nonchalantly, "except the pancake patch." "The pancake patch?" he asked incredulously. "Yeah. Sure. Until you've tasted pancakes fresh from the garden, you haven't lived." "And where might I find these pancakes growing?" he queried sarcastically, to humor my madness. "Right up there behind the chicken coop in that little patch of wheat. All you have to do is thresh out a cupful or two, grind the grain in the blender, mix up some batter and into the skillet. Not even Aunt Jemima in all her glory can make pancakes like those." My friend didn't believe me until I showed him, step by step. We cut off a couple of armloads of wheat stalks, flailed the grain from the heads onto a piece of clean cloth (with a plastic toy ball bat!), winnowed the chaff from the grain, ground the grain to flour in the blender, made batter, and fried pancakes. Topped them with real maple syrup. Sweet ecstasy. My friend forgot all about his tomatoes. The next year, he invited me over for grain sorghum cookies, proudly informing me that grain sorghum flour made pastries equal to if not better than whole wheat flour. Moreover, grain sorghum was easier to thresh. I had not only made another convert to growing grains in the garden, but one who had quickly taught me something. Grow Your Own Grains The reason Americans find it a bit weird to grow small plots or rows of grain in gardens is that they are not used to thinking of grains as food directly derived from the plant, the way they view fruits and vegetables. The North American, unlike most of the world, especially Asians and Africans, thinks grain is something manufactured in a factory somewhere. Flour is to be purchased, like automobiles and pianos. Probably the attitude came from the practice of hauling grains to the gristmill. Without the convenience of small power grinders and blenders of today, overworked housewives of earlier times were only too glad to have hubby haul the grain to the gristmill. And that gave him an excuse to sit around all day at the mill talking to his neighbors. But even with the advent of convenient kitchen aids to make grain cookery easier, the American resists. He will work hard at the complex task of making wine—seldom with success—but will not grind whole wheat or corn into nutritious meal, a comparatively easy task. I know, because I was that way myself. Until I saw with my own eyes how practical a good 10- speed blender was for flour-making, I hesitated. Now it boggles my mind to remember that for most of my life I lived right next to acres and acres of amber waves of grain, where combines made the threshing simplicity itself, and yet our family always bought all our meal and flour. The real tragedy of that ignorance was that the flour we purchased usually was the kind that had been degerminated and debranned too. Most of the nutrition had been taken out of that flour to give the American housewife what she seemed to want: a pure white powder that would last indefinitely on the shelf and make pastries of fluffy, empty calories.

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