YOU CAN RAISE GRAINS ... RIGHT IN YOUR OWN GARDEN!

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by GENE LOGSDON

I remember the first year we grew grains in our garden. A good gardening buddy dropped by one day early in July just when our wheat was ripe and ready to harvest. He didn't know that though. His reason for stopping was to show me two splendid, juicy tomatoes picked ripe from his garden. After a few ritual brags — and knowing full well that my tomatoes were still green-he asked me in a condescending sort of way what was new in my garden. I remembered the patch of ripe wheat. "Oh, nothing much," I answered nonchalantly, "except the pancake patch."

"The pancake patch?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Sure. Until you've tasted pancakes fresh from the garden, you haven't lived."

"And where might I find these pancakes growing?" he queried sarcastically, to humor my madness.

"Right up there behind the chicken coop in that little patch of wheat. All you have to do is thresh out a cupful or two, grind the grain in the blender, mix up some batter, and throw the whole thing into the skillet. Not even Aunt Jemima in all her glory can make pancakes like those."

My friend didn't believe me until I showed him, step by step. We cut off a couple of armloads of wheat stalks, flailed the grain from the heads onto a piece of clean cloth (with a small plastic baseball bat!), winnowed the chaff from the grain, ground the grain to flour in the blender, made batter, and fried pancakes. Topped them with real maple syrup, Sweet ecstasy. My friend forgot all about his tomatoes.

The next year, he invited me over for grain sorghum cookies, proudly informing me that grain sorghum flour made pastries equal to if not better than whole wheat flour. Moreover, grain sorghum was easier to thresh. I had not only made another convert to growing grains in the garden, but had made one who quickly taught me something.

GROW YOUR OWN GRAINS

The reason Americans find it a bit weird to grow small plots or rows of grain in gardens is that they are not used to thinking of grains as food directly derived from the plant, the way they view fruits and vegetables. The North American, unlike most of the world (especially Asians and Africans), thinks grain is something manufactured in a factory somewhere. Flour is to be purchased, like automobiles and pianos. Probably the attitude came from the practice of hauling grains to the gristmill. Without the convenience of today's small power grinders and blenders, overworked housewives of earlier times were only too glad to have hubby haul the grain to the gristmill. And that gave him an excuse to sit around all day at the mill talking to his neighbors.