Post by reubent on Nov 3, 2022 23:41:36 GMT -5
Things get weird sometimes. It just kinda happened by accident almost. I was thinking of throwing out a cover crop to occupy some garden plots for the winter. I got some rye grass for one area that I had not grown anything on yet, cleared it and keeping it mowed once a year to keep the tree saplings from taking over. Then picked up 5 lb of rye grain to throw out on the garden plots. Thinking to till it under in the spring, but that got delayed and it grew up and made it's grain. Well with that I didn't want to waste it. So I hand harvested it with a sickle my dad had bought as far back as I can recall in life. (I might have been 2, or perhaps I'm not remembering right and he had it earlier) But anyway, Got it into the woodshed wrapped in a big tarp. Then threshed it by running it through the troy built shredder on low speed, sifted and winnowed it till I got about 2 bushels of nice clean rye grain. Now that was way too much work just for two bushels. But it was actually faster and easier than people did it long ago with no power source.
Now what to do with it? I could just make bread, since I do have two grain mills. But wait! I've been mowing the hunting club leased land and there was an acre in the middle that needed o be plowed up and renewed. Why not plant it out there. So that's what I dood with about 3/4 of it. the rest will be my bread making supply.
But then what? The deer can work on it and it'll still make a decent grain crop next year. I can't imagine trying to harvest a whole acre by hand and try to thresh it that way, so I take a quick look on FB marketplace and up pops an add for an antique McCormick grain binder in the next town over. Wasn't expecting that. So i think it over for a day and then contact him. And now I have it. It needs some repair work but it's not in bad shape.
Then what? That's only part of the solution. About when I'm loggin to make some extra cash for the binder I accidently run into an old steam engine on an auction not too far away. Oh I like steam engines, and I have a boiler and engine already, another one would be great to have. So I go to and harvest some more high grade timber on my place and bid on it. So I now have that thing under a tarp. It has some missing cast iron parts but I can make them this winter in my shop.
Then I was talkin about the engine on a steam engine group discussion, and one fella send me a message he's got a threshing machine I can have for reasonable price. Ah! just what I needed next. So now I'm going at some loggin for a neighbor to make up the cash for that. Then we'll go fer a little road trip and fetch it. We were planning the road trip anyway the same direction for something else. So we can do em both.
All that's left is a grain wagon and the drying/storage bins for it. The wagons are common and I can pick one up locally. The grain drying bin I can build with my sawmill lumber under a shed roof, with wood stove and blower run with an old engine.
So what started as a whim and a winter garden cover crop has grown into more than I ever dreamed. With the prospect of making the hunters happy by turning the valley fields into deer feeding paradise, and scaling up to 5-10 acres, and trying out several wheats like spelt, kamut, einkorn, barly, etc. But one acre is enough for this year to get started and experiment with running the old equipment. I can sell the wheat and flour direct to the consumer, but it's certainly not a get rich quick scheme, or even get rick slow, and not even get rich at all. It's more of a community service plan I guess. And it should be sorta fun running a yearly old fashioned wheat harvest kind of operation with steam powered threshing. Then mill it regular the rest of the year and be handing it out. Plus make bread myself artisan style. Maybe even try making a beehive oven to bake some of it.
I'd been saying someone needs to grow grain in the area to have a local supply of bread flour, but I never seriously considered doing it myself. But here we go off on an open ended adventure.
Now what to do with it? I could just make bread, since I do have two grain mills. But wait! I've been mowing the hunting club leased land and there was an acre in the middle that needed o be plowed up and renewed. Why not plant it out there. So that's what I dood with about 3/4 of it. the rest will be my bread making supply.
But then what? The deer can work on it and it'll still make a decent grain crop next year. I can't imagine trying to harvest a whole acre by hand and try to thresh it that way, so I take a quick look on FB marketplace and up pops an add for an antique McCormick grain binder in the next town over. Wasn't expecting that. So i think it over for a day and then contact him. And now I have it. It needs some repair work but it's not in bad shape.
Then what? That's only part of the solution. About when I'm loggin to make some extra cash for the binder I accidently run into an old steam engine on an auction not too far away. Oh I like steam engines, and I have a boiler and engine already, another one would be great to have. So I go to and harvest some more high grade timber on my place and bid on it. So I now have that thing under a tarp. It has some missing cast iron parts but I can make them this winter in my shop.
Then I was talkin about the engine on a steam engine group discussion, and one fella send me a message he's got a threshing machine I can have for reasonable price. Ah! just what I needed next. So now I'm going at some loggin for a neighbor to make up the cash for that. Then we'll go fer a little road trip and fetch it. We were planning the road trip anyway the same direction for something else. So we can do em both.
All that's left is a grain wagon and the drying/storage bins for it. The wagons are common and I can pick one up locally. The grain drying bin I can build with my sawmill lumber under a shed roof, with wood stove and blower run with an old engine.
So what started as a whim and a winter garden cover crop has grown into more than I ever dreamed. With the prospect of making the hunters happy by turning the valley fields into deer feeding paradise, and scaling up to 5-10 acres, and trying out several wheats like spelt, kamut, einkorn, barly, etc. But one acre is enough for this year to get started and experiment with running the old equipment. I can sell the wheat and flour direct to the consumer, but it's certainly not a get rich quick scheme, or even get rick slow, and not even get rich at all. It's more of a community service plan I guess. And it should be sorta fun running a yearly old fashioned wheat harvest kind of operation with steam powered threshing. Then mill it regular the rest of the year and be handing it out. Plus make bread myself artisan style. Maybe even try making a beehive oven to bake some of it.
I'd been saying someone needs to grow grain in the area to have a local supply of bread flour, but I never seriously considered doing it myself. But here we go off on an open ended adventure.