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Growing heirloom grains takes lots of time and space. Here at Sustainable Seed Company we are trying hard to grow some of the grains that fed people many years ago. Grains such as wheat, oats, hulless oats, barley, hulless barley, buckwheat, flax, sorghum and millet to name just a few.
Most of these heirloom grains survive in very small patches through dedicated grain growers. The samples of grain we normally get from these growers, seed collections and government seed banks are normally very small. Many times as small as 30 grains per seed package. It can take years to grow out these seed samples to an amount that we can offer to you. You will notice that some of the heritage grains listed here are not in stock and will not be for some time. This information is provided for your knowledge and education. Please do not request these grains until the release date.
Sustainable Seed Company's Heritage Grain Restoration Project
We are currently trialing out many different heirloom grains for there performance here on the California coast. For example this fall we are trialing out over 73 varieties of wheat. More importantly in these times of GM crops we feel it is CRITICAL to maintain a living heritage grain library. We feel these grain crops may aid in our very survival one day. It would be a terrible loss to loose ANY of these grains because anyone one of these heritage varieties could hold the key to disease resistance, drought tolerance or things we haven't even thought of yet. It is important to pass down these grains to further generations.
Please, if you have been growing an heirloom grain such as barley, wheat, oats, etc. and you don't see it listed here. Please send us a sample. We are trying to put together a grain seed repository and living library. Include the story behind the grain and send us a sample. Preferably as large as possible. Thank you for your support and patience in this effort to preserve ancient cereal grains.
The History of Growing Grain in Sonoma County
During my research I was shocked to find just how many grains were grown here starting almost 200 years ago. Grains from Russia and Spain to mention just a few. Where did the strains go? Does any still survive today? I don't know, but I'm keen to find out. What follows is a bit of what I discovered and a bit of a time line that I will fill in as I gather more information.
Whether the local Indians harvested local seed-like grasses in Sonoma county we don't know for sure (they were certainly pressed into laboring in the Spanish/Mexican wheat fields later). What we do know is that the Russians started a small out post north of Bodega Bay called Fort Ross. The Russian are reported to have brought a variety of wheat called "Turkey Red" when the fort was established in 1812. (Turkey Red was supposedly brought to Russia by the Volga Germans in the 18th century.) Records also show
local Indian tribes being paid in flour for work on the fort. If you take into account the fort had around 80 people in the settlement at any given time and supplied colonies in Alaska I would say they must have had quite the wheat field. In fact grain growing must have been quite successful on the coast as a report from 1841 described "a bakery and two threshing floors" being part of the the structures at Fort Ross. However it wasn't successful enough.
"Coastal fogs and encroaching wild oats often caused poor wheat harvest. Gophers, mice, and blackbirds damaged the tilled fields and adversely affected harvests. Despite some attempts at mechanization and scientific farming, introduced by Moscow-trained agronomist Yegor Leontievich Chernykh, the colonists had inadequate knowledge of crop rotation, fertilization, and other farming techniques, and for the most part were unable to reap even marginal yields of grain. Better results were often gleaned from the small-scale plots of wheat and barley under private, individual cultivation.
Agriculture at Fort Ross peaked in the early 1830s, but it fell far short of expectations. This disappointment gradually led Company officials to experiment with agriculture inland and to the south. They reasoned that establishing farms in more sheltered areas might not only raise the colony’s overall productivity but would serve as a buffer between the Russian coastal holdings and the Mexican and American settlers advancing from the south. Between 1833 and 1841, the Russians maintained three such ranches. The farthest ranch from Ross was that founded by the agronomist Yegor Chernykh. Chernykh had been sent by the Company to California to improve crop production on the Sonoma Coast and, soon after his arrival in 1836, he recommended extending the colony’s farming activities farther inland. He established his ranch about ten miles from the coast, in a small valley watered by a wooded stream (Purrington Creek, between Occidental and Graton). There he erected barracks and five other structures, and grew vegetables, fruit, wheat, and other grains. Chernykh also developed a large vineyard, introducing what has since become a major crop in the area.
Another ranch was located on the south side of the Russian River near its mouth, east of today’s State Highway One bridge over the river. The presumed founder was Peter Kostromitinov. By 1841, this farmstead consisted of one hundred acres and produced mainly wheat. In addition to a ranch house, the property contained a barracks, granary, threshing and winnowing floors, and a house for Indian laborers. It also had a kitchen, bath house, corrals, and a boat landing for river crossings. The ranch of Vasily Khlebnikov, a Company employee, was located several miles inland, east of Bodega Bay in the upper Salmon Creek valley. The largest of the three ranches, it had the same types of buildings as on the Kostromitinov Ranch, as well as a bakery, forge, and tobacco shed. Here the Russians used adobe brick in building the main house. A sizable amount of land was allotted to wheat, corn, beans, and tobacco." Source: THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF FORT ROSS, OUTPOST OF AN EMPIRE, Russian Expansion To America, by Stephen Watrous
The Spanish brought with them wheat and barley from Spain. We see some of the first evidence in an 1832 report from Mission San Francisco Solanoa (in the town of Sonoma) who produced "800 fanegas of wheat, 1025 fanegas of barley" (equal in Spain to 1.58 U.S. bushels).
"1855 - In 1855, the worst year for wheat we have ever known in California, when both smut and rust raged from Siskiyou to San Diego, the average crop of the state was put down as 15 bushels per acre. Of 12233 acres sown in Sonoma county, only 3500 were harvested and ...In 1855, the worst year for wheat we have ever known in California, when both smut and rust raged from Siskiyou to San Diego, the average crop of the state was put down as 15 bushels per acre. Of 12233 acres sown in Sonoma county, only 3500 were harvestedand of 2490 sown in Marin, all but 462 went untouched by the reaper." (1863 Resources of California by John Hittel)
1875 Luther Burbank comes to Santa Rosa and describes it as being surrounded by wheat fields.
To be continued....
Check out this amazing new grain book!!
Small Grain Growing a new book by Gene Logsdon
One of my recent concerns is our chickens eating GM corn. I've noticed they refuse to eat non-organic feed. Who said a chicken was dumb? My future goal is to grow 100% of our supplemental chicken feed. Here is an article I found.
Smart chickens weren't duped by foul play
by Eleanor Momberg
Independent Online (SA), August 2 2009
Chickens refusing to eat the maize they had been fed has led to the discovery
that their feed had been genetically modified to include a well-known weed and
insect killer.
Strilli Oppenheimer was recently approached by Dawid Klopper, the head gardener
at the family estate, Brenthurst, informing her that her indigenous African
chickens were refusing to eat the mealies in the chicken feed bought from a
large supplier. Concerned that the birds may be ingesting genetically modified
maize, she instructed Klopper to have the maize tested.
The chickens' diet was immediately changed to include organic vegetables,
Oppenheimer stopped consuming the home-grown eggs and the maize was sent to the
GMO testing facility at the University of the Free State for analysis.
The results confirmed Oppenheimer's initial suspicion - the maize had been
genetically engineered to produce proteins that are toxic to certain insects and
weeds.
"It contained BT1 which makes the maize insect resistant, as well as Roundup
which makes it weed resistant. This is the first report we have had of chickens
not eating GM feed," said a GM expert.
While small quantities of BT1 and Roundup weed killer were found in the seeds,
the concern remained with the cumulative effect of GM feed, not only on the
chickens, but also on the eggs they produced for the family.
"This is of serious concern. Do you know that 96 percent of soya-based foods are
genetically modified and that maize in South Africa is contaminated," asked
Oppenheimer, pointing out that research by well-known scientist Dr Arpad Pusztai
had shown that rats fed on GM potatoes suffered from a weakened immune system
and stunted growth of their internal organs, including the liver, kidneys and
brain.
Pusztai was fired by the Rowett Research Institute in the UK in 1998 after his
research into the human nutritional consequences of GM. His findings had
far-reaching implications for the biotech industry, which had contended that GM
crops and products would not adversely affect human health.
International research has shown a direct link between certain types of genetic
engineering and cancer.
Gundula Azeez and Coilin Nunan of The Soil Association, a UK environmental
charity, stated in their paper, "GM Crops - the health effects", that
international research had shown that milk, eggs and meat from GM-fed animals
contained GM crop DNA, concluding that it was likely that people were frequently
being exposed to GM DNA.
They concluded that because of the lapses in extensive safety assessments, there
were "very good scientific reasons for being concerned about the safety of GM
crops".
Rose Williams, acting director of Biowatch, said globally there was great
concern that GM products had not been adequately tested in terms of their effect
on people, animals and the environment.
"There has been no testing on humans, very limited testing on animals and very
little research on environmental impacts. This is the case globally, but in
South Africa even less work has been done, even though the commercial release of
GM maize, GM soya and GM cotton has been approved."
Williams said concerns by NGOs such as Biowatch, the African Centre for
Biosafety and SAFeAGE about the lack of control over GM crops and contamination
of non-GM crops had largely been ignored.
"Government has not done enough to protect the public from the potential threats
of GM foods. There is also the matter of liability - who will take
responsibility for people's losses and any health problems relating to
consumption of GM foods, whether they are for people or for animals."
Williams said the contamination of non-GM crops was a real problem, with the
biotech industry leading people to believe that co-existence of GM and non-GM
crops was possible. "But it is not," she said.
While the recently implemented Consumer Protection Act called for the labeling
of GM foods, the regulations linked to the measure had yet to be finalized.
About her chickens' refusal to eat their maize, Oppenheimer said: "They're
smart."
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