Hi Sue,
I've made Japanese White Hulless popcorn. It is not completely hulless, but there is a marked difference between it and regular popcorn. It is very good.
You might try re-posting this in the Vegetable Forum too.
Remy

Here is a link that might be useful:

Sue, have you ever considered setting up your own forum for grains on a free site like proboards.com?

I guess it's not all that hard to do.

Just a thought.

Here is a link that might be useful: Proboards free internet forum hosting site

Is buckwheat a cereal grain?

(I planted some wild bird seed for my amusement and one of the more easily grown ingredients was tentatively identified by a process of elimination as buckwheat.)

Not technically. The technical definition of a cereal grain is a member of the grass family that yields edible grain. But functionally, yes, the seeds are used the same way, ground into flour or hulled and used as groats (kasha in the case of buckwheat).

They call things such as buckwheat and quinoa that are used like grains but not members of the grass family (Poaceae) "pseudocereals"

What got me started thinking about growing grains was when I looked up online how long it would take to sprout some mung beans for a stir-fry. I found the Sprout People, and was amazed at the large number of kinds of seeds they had.

The I was pushing my cart around Fred Meyer (aka Kroger) and noticed their bulk bins. Among the shelled nuts and granola and various flours were grains, beans and seeds. They had two kinds of wheat, barley, quinoa, millet, sesame and other grains. Hmmmm.... thinks I... I wonder if these would sprout? So I bagged up a couple of spoonfuls (very cheap) and took them home.

About 95% of the seeds sprouted, the exceptions being the 'naked' ones (protective covering removed) like hulled millet. Next visit, I collected beans. All the types they had sprouted. Brown rice? Yes, it sprouts, too.

Next thought... if they'll sprout, they should grow, right?

Then I discovered that a local store (Shop n' Kart here in WA) carries practically the whole line of products from Bob's Red Mill: amaranth, hulless barley, quinoa, buckewheat, caraway, flax, lentils, rye, spelt, teff, triticale, four kinds of wheat, and lots of beans.

Yes, I could just buy them, but... the idea of growing them interests me.

I only have an acre of land, but the neighbor across the street has two acres, and she doesn't use most of it. And lawns aren't good for much. Vacant lots?

A new obsession? Do you think?

Sue

Yes, if they sprout, they will grow. Grocery stores, Whole Foods, and Sproutpeople have all been sources of seed for me. I think the only thing I tried from a grocery store that didn't sprout was wild rice, and at the time I didn't know that it was "parched" over a fire prior as part of the processing.

It's always interesting to plant things from the grocery store. I know sometimes my assumptions are wrong. In 2008, I planted a lot of grocery store beans of different kinds. My assumption was that they would all be bush beans, because I assumed that only bush beans are easily mechanically harvested. A fair percentage of them actually were pole beans, or at least "half runner" types. So, that was a bit of a surprise, had to stick some supports in the bean patch here and there.

And I completely agree, lawns AREN'T good for much, except as real estate to carve out new beds, and as pathways/access corridors. I spend last night out in 42 degree mist/drizzle mowing my lawn, which in places was 12 to 14 inches tall - I had cut it a week ago Saturday, then we had torrential rains and a couple of warm days. It is now a hayfield, although I don't know when it will dry enough to clean up the hay, since it's going to rain here almost every day for the next 10. So yes, I dislike lawns.

Yes I have grown corn, wheat,rye, oats, buckwheat, milo etc. These are farm crops. Harvesting by hand as they did in Biblical times is very labor intensive. Since McCormick invented the reaper ( forerunner of the grain binder) and J.I Case started his threshing machine company, grains are mechanically harvested. They are easy to grow, but cutting and threshing, I would not want to do by hand. Corn is not too bad, but the others are a pain.

For the relatively small amounts that a gardener would grow, it should still be possible. And my chickens are excellent foragers, sort of feathered piranhas, and don't leave much behind.

And growing hulless oats and barley would seem to be a way around that.

Sue

The "perennial grain" story seems to pop up every few months. may be of interest.