Contributed by Phil Heikkinen
Sustainable Orcas Island (SOI), a group that meets on the last Wednesday of each month, has put together kits for a “Grain Growing Test Project” that are available to any interested parties.
The project is designed by Dan Borman.
SOI believes that it will be increasingly important for local residents to grow more of their own food. Developed through human history, grains are known to be one of the most nutrition-intensive foods available to us. We think that individuals can grow grains productively on a small scale.
The goal is to start learning what types of grains grow well on Orcas Island.
Through the project, motivated growers in the San Juans will volunteer to plant a couple of rows or more of 12 types of grains, including 8 varieties of wheat, 2 varieties of rye, and one variety each of triticale and barley, from a kit containing roughly two ounces (or a bit more) of each sample. The volunteers will pay a minimal cost ($8 total per kit) to help recover costs. The plots will need to be deer proof. SOI estimates that a 50-to-100 square foot area would be enough to run a reasonable test.
Dan suggests planting about 1” deep, 2-4” apart in rows that are about 6 to 12” apart. Don’t pay special attention to adding soil amendments for this test, which is intended to find out what might at some point work on a larger scale with soil characteristics that we can sustain locally. Some of the grains do better with more or less nitrogen-rich soils, some with higher levels of sand or higher levels of clay, etc.
Volunteers will track/map each planting to make sure we get good information about each sample’s success. Using rows will help to compare the growth of each planting. Also, it will be helpful to record the type of soil and other conditions for each test plot.
The RYE will cross pollinate so either plant the two rye samples in areas separated by 1/4 mile or plant in different years, or plant both but only let the one that grows the best go to flower.
Timeline: Plant before the end of November 2009 to share results through next year’s growing season. These are all-winter hardy grains, suited best for fall planting. It is a warm fall so, despite getting the seed late, there should be many successes.
Kept in a cool, dry place, these seeds will be viable for planting in future years as well.
Contact Phil Heikkinen, Director of the Orcas Island Public Library, for information to obtain the kits for planting. He may be reached at 360-376-4985 voice, or at 376-5750 fax .
Borman may be reached at dan.borman.food.plants@gmail.com
