We always associate grain-growing with prairie farming, but, in fact, grain has been grown successfully on Vancouver Island in days gone by, and one of the interesting things about landrace varieties such as Red Fife, is that they are quite adaptable, and develop flavours and characteristics unique to the region growing them.   We also don`t see a lot of organically grown whole grains such as rye, and I was also curious to see how a hardier grain would fare in our climate.

My share of the harvest was roughly to 875 square feet of growing space, some of which was devoted to Red Fife Wheat, some to Hard White Spring Wheat, and some to Rye.  Heather and Brock also organized the Threshing through another Cowichan Valley farmer with a small combine, and have plans for one more workshop on cooking with whole grains.

Harvest day actually ended up being delayed by a week — with all the funny weather we’ve been having through the summer, the grain needed another week to fully dry.  Sunday, I woke up to sunny weather, and headed up island, with a thermos of coffee, lots of water, and a packed lunch!

Brock and Heather had planted three grains this year — some of which had been planted last fall, and some of which were planted in the spring.  It was interesting to see the differences between the same varieties planted at different times of the year.  Many of the grains are quite happy being fall-planted, and there was a marked difference in the rye which Brock had not only planted in the fall, but interspersed with fava beans!

The Red Fife wheat is a heritage variety, which, while good for baking (excellent flavour and protein content), runs the risk of lodging (falling over).  The stalks are decidedly more slender.  For the drawbacks though, for those planting and harvesting on a smaller scale, this was much easier to load into the trucks, compacted more easily, and did not have much in the way of prickly awns.

The Hard White Spring wheat, on the other hand, is much more compact, with sturdy stems and lots of protection from marauding fauna due to the awns.  While it cut very easily, it took a great deal more effort to pack the trucks for their trip to the combine, and I`m still picking prickly bits of awns out of my underwear!!!!

Finally, the Rye turned out to be very prolific.  Some of the seedheads were a full 4-5 inches long!!! The stems of the rye that Brock planted with the fava beans were easily 6 feet tall, and actually got harvested by the Cowichan Valley Ecovillage to use as thatching for some of their demonstration buildings.  These guys were harvesting fairly carefully, creating nice neat bundles as they went.  Despite being so tall the stems were remarkably sturdy, showing little sign of toppling over.  The rye (similar to barley), also has a built-in indicator of ripeness, where the seed-head nods so its parallel with the stem, curling right back on itself as it dries.

During the course of the day, we harvested all of the grain by hand — a combination of scythe, sickle and shears — creating piles as we went.  The harvest went fairly quickly, and was loaded into the waiting trucks in batches (to keep each grain separate) to be taken off to the combine.  It is possible to thresh by hand, but the combine was MUCH faster!

At the combine, the grain got fed into the combine with a fork — through the rotating drum, with the straw coming out the back end.  A couple of people at the back end were needed to feed the straw into the baling machine, which resulted in a good number of bales of organic straw for Heather and Brock to use in the fields.

Finally, the grain, once threshed, was collected in plastic bins — you can see Brock, hoisted up near the chute, making sure the rye actually got into the bins!

All told, we had 12-15 folks helping throughout the day — most of whom, like me, were inexperienced at this kind of thing.  Total harvest, about 900 lbs of grain, with a bit left on the ground to fatten up the chickens!

For my share, I now have 10 lbs Red Fife, 10 lbs Hard White Spring wheat and 20 lbs Rye.  I`ll be making bread with some, using some as whole grain (wheat or rye berries), and perhaps saving a little for seed for next year.  I`m already looking forward to next year!

Things have been very strange this year — broad beans only just ripening (usually we’ve harvested them and moved on by now), and difficulties even getting decent seedlings started for squash, cucumbers and melons.  The good news is that things like the broccoli seem to be quite happy.

So, lets get started in the patio:

and on to the main square foot beds

and finally, the greenhouse and the square foot beds under the window

Even though the wild growth in the garden may make it look like I’ve abandoned cooking, there has been culinary activity in the kitchen (gardening too, as I mixed up a batch of nematodes in the pyrex measuring cups!), just not a lot of opportunities to take pics.  The next post will be something food-related, I promise!

He went in for surgery on Friday, and by mid-day, he had had the operation — major surgery, in what are normally touchy areas of his body.  When we picked him up on Friday evening, he appeared to be ok — groggy but somewhat alert.  He had received some meds in with his IV cocktail, so we bundled him into the car and went home.   Kimi was very relieved to see him back, although was very confused by his smell and the fact that he was wearing a buster collar.

After about 2 hours at home, it became apparent that poor Eric was experiencing pain.  We ended up calling the hospital and getting a scrip for some pain meds for him.  We found out after the fact that the dosage on the label was about 1/2 strength that we could have been giving him.  We were giving him more frequently than the label recommended, and they were only giving him a bit of relief, so, after a sleepless night (for Eric and me!), we called the hospital again to see about alternatives.  He ended up going back in the hospital for the day, for the vet to check out his back end and make sure nothing was getting infected, as well as come up with a better pain management strategy.

Back home again last night with Eric.  He now has a patch on his side (one more shaved spot!) that is supposed to provide continuous delivery, and she sent us home with some sedatives.  Some of his troubles were definitely pain related, but given that he is a Shiba Inu, some of it is definitely being compounded by anxiety.  The sedatives are supposed to help a bit with the anxiety.

Another long night last night, but he appears to be more comfortable, but still experiencing a bit of pain.  He is eating and drinking now, so that’s a good sign.  Once he is having a bit less pain, we are going to try the homeopathic anti-anxiety drops in place of the sedative.   Shibas are stubborn, and even thru the haze of the sedative, Eric is still quite PO’d that he can’t chew on things.  He’ll wake up and thrash around a bit trying to reach his nether regions, and then give a big huff before settling down again.  It’s going to be a long couple of weeks while the stitches heal!

The moral of the story, is Shibas + Anxiety + Pain = Meds are your friend (for your Shiba, not you!).  The vet said she’s now X-referencing in all her Shiba client files!

In between Eric-care, I’m trying to get the rest of the tomato plants in the ground as this is our big garden weekend here in Canada.  Stay tuned for another garden walkabout — the beds are getting filled in gradually, and it’s finally starting to feel warmer.