Hi,
I love your survival site. I was wondering about finding low cost or fairly
low cost equipment to harvest, thresh, winnow and hull grains such as wheat,
barley, millet, oats, etc. Also low cost equipment to extract oil from seeds
such as sunflower seeds. I've done an extensive search on the Internet and
can find very little that is meant for a family or small group of people.
Manual (hand power) or electric/gas/diesel are all of interest. Being able
to process and use grains is extremely important but I don't know of any
sites that sell survival equipment that sell such things. Many sell
grain mills and some sell corn/pea shellers but not much more. - Nancy
JWR Replies: To begin, I should mention that the book Small-Scale Grain Raising by Gene Logsdon is an invaluable reference that every prepared family should have on their bookshelf. (ISBN 0-87857-134-5 for hardback or ISBN 0-87857-147-7 for paperback.) Used copies can often be found at bargain prices on eBay .(I even once bought a copy of it there for just the opening bid of one penny, plus postage!) or at Amazon.com.
Your seed stocks should be all non-hybrid ("heirloom") varieties, so that the seed that you save from each harvest will breed true and continue to produce, year after year. (Hybrid varieties won't!) Heirloom seed is available from The Ark Institute, the Seed Savers Exchange, and Ready Made Resources. Bulk quantities of grain seed should be stored in the proverbial "cool, dark, dry place." They must be kept very, very dry to prevent mold or unintended sprouting. They must also be kept in sturdy, vermin proof containers. (Think steel, not plastic.)
One our preferred grains for growing on a small acreage is barley. As a general rule, you should plant winter barley in regions where winter wheat is grown and spring barley where spring wheat is grown.
If you live in deer country, you will probably find their depredations on your grain fields unacceptable unless you erect some substantial fences. If you can't afford to install tall fences around your grain fields, one alternative is to plant "bearded" varieties of barley. (Deer generally won't eat the awns of bearded barley.)
If you have any ground that is swampy from spring to fall on your property ("wetlands" in the modern politically correct parlance), consider planting domesticated wild rice in those areas. Technically "wild rice" isn't really rice at all, since it is in the grass genus (Zirzania) rather than the rice genus (Oryza.) Like other grain growing, planting wild rice will also attract waterfowl and other birds, which can be a mixed blessing. So consider a shotgun and beau coup shotgun shells to be part of your assortment grain growing essential tools.
Tools and Equipment: Raising grain takes not only
seed stock but also the proper tools and equipment. Buy the best quality
equipment that you can find. Concentrate
on 19th Century technology. This is low tech and easy to maintain.
It is amazing what you can find on eBay if
you check there consistently. Unfortunately, however, some practical
items such as scythes and hand mills are now sold as "decorator"
antiques.
Yuppies
and retirees that merely want
to decorate their homes have driven up prices. (Grumble, grumble.) In
recent years, I've seen antique dealers that charge more for worn-out
(filed down to nothing) scythes with
rusty "patina" than you would pay for a brand new one bought
from Lehman's.
Planting. A seed broadcaster is a must. Get an adjustable
hand crank seed broadcaster that you strap around your waist. For
really big fields, you might need a wheeled (push) row seeder. Even
on a small scale, a one-wheel "dial a seed" planter is a huge labor
saver. These are all available through Lehmans.com.
One a large scale, horse drawn or tractor pulled equipment is called
for. (That goes beyond the scope of what I'm writing here, but it is
described fairly well in Logsdon's book.) When to plant varies depending
on the last frost-free day in your region. Look at standard references
for planting depths, frequency, and crop rotation.
Harvesting and Processing: For corn, you will need
a couple of corn knives and some husking pegs (to strap to your palm.)
For wheat and other small grains, at the very minimum you
will need for reaping is a hand scythe, but for any decent scale of production,
you will need a large cradle type scythe. There are plans for building
a small grain
threshing
machine
in
Gene Logsdon's book. In a pinch, you can thresh grain by
hand on a large clean concrete barn floor.
There are a variety of hand-cranked machines made specifically for hulling
('pearling") rice and barley, for pressing
oil, for shelling
corn, peas, and so forth. If
you grow sorghum or cane sugar, you will need yet another type
of hand crank press. Finding these
machines may take some searching, because small hand
cranked machines are
now essentially
obsolete
outside
of
the Third World. (But they are eminently practical for folks like
us, who
are
preparing for TEOTWAWKI.). Used machines that are still in good working
order can sometimes be found on the Internet, but if you don't mind
paying
a premium price for brand new machines, I again recommend Lehmans.com.
The grain mill that I recommend is the Country Living mill (available
from Ready Made Resources.)
Yes, they are expensive, but they are built to last a lifetime. We've
had one here at the Rawles
Ranch for more than a decade. Unlike the
inexpensive Mexican and Eastern European mills (such as the Corona
brand), the Country Living mill has proper sealed bearings and replaceable
burrs,
for long service
life.You also need to consider the service life of your teeth. If you
eat a lot of bread made with flour from an inexpensive stone burr
grinder, it will be at the expense of your tooth enamel. The Country
Living mill is also designed to be used either with its included hand
crank, or
by
fan
belt drive.
(Adaptable
to either electric motor power, or powered by a bicycle frame for someone
with basic welding skills.) Nearly all hand mills have adjustable burrs.
They can be adjusted all the way from rough cracking, down to corn
meal
grinding,
and finally down to bread flour milling. To mill fine flour you will
have to run the flour through the mill at least twice.
Storage: Whether for human consumption or for livestock
feed, you will need to properly store what you harvest to protect
it from spoilage
and vermin. If the moisture content is low enough
to
prevent
mold,
then
plain galvanized
trash
barrels
(bought
brand
new)
will
suffice
for
small
scale grain storage.
On a larger scale, a prefabricated storage shed, such as those made by Butler
are ideal. Corn still on the ear should be stored in a traditional
slatted wooden corn
crib or in a well-ventilated Butler building.
Handling: Buy a large aluminum scoop grain shovel. (The lighter the better, so that it will be less tiring to use.) For moving corn that is still on ears, you will want to have a corn drag. (A drag is a rake with just three or four very long tines.)
"Berry" Soaking: Whole grain wheat can be soaked for 24 hours to make wheat berries. This makes a quite palatable and nutritious breakfast food, when warmed and served with milk or cream and a dash of honey or molasses.
Sprouting: To get the maximum nutrition from the grain that you raise, you should plan to sprout the majority of it. For some details on sprouting, see the article "Wheat Sprouts and Wheatgrass as Survival Foods", by SF in Hawaii. It is one the writing contest winners posted at the SurvivalBlog Writing Contest page. Lay in supplies for sprouting and practice the art of sprouting before the balloon goes up!
Practice, practice, practice!: As with any other newly acquired skill, grain raising, harvesting, storage, milling, and sprouting will take practice. Develop your expertise now, when any mistakes will be merely humorous blunders rather than potentially life-threatening disasters.
