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belgianpup

Cheap source of seeds

Belgianpup
14 years ago

I've been looking in seed catalogs for sources of grains and seeds that might be useful for both the edible garden, as possible sources of homegrown feed for my chickens, and as green manures.

I was in a local one-of-a-kind store and my attention was caught by the bulk food bins, and the light bulb went on.

BULK GRAINS! BULK BEAN SEEDS! BULK HERB SEEDS!

So I bought small amounts (like a tablespoon or two) of about ten kinds that hadn't been processed (rolled, like oats, heated or hulled, etc). I sprinkled some on damp (not sopping) folded paper towels and put them inside plastic bags, with a plastic marker with the type written on it. All of the ones I tried sprouted (I didn't try all that I have found, nor did I try any of the rice yet, although brown, unprocessed rice should sprout. Wild rice, unless sold specifically for growing, has been heated, which would make it nonviable for sprouting.

A packet of seeds costs $3-4 per small pack; about a pound of grain in seed form costs $3-4 or so. And since it is for human consumption, you know that it hasn't been treated with chemicals, as some in farm stores have been. If you don't use them for sowing, you could still use them for sprouting (for salads, stir-fry and sandwiches).

There are two regular grocery stores not far from me that sell bulk grains (etc), plus a couple of health food stores. One of the grocery stores also sells a very good supply of packaged Bob's Red Mill products, which carries quite a stupendous number of grain-type products, whole and processed. They also have a website: http://www.bobsredmill.com/

Here is a list of some of the things I have found:

BEANS (avoid beans or peas that have been split)

Adzuki

Anasazi

Black

Black-eyed beans

Black Turtle

Cannellini

Cranberry Beans

Fava

Flageolet

Garbanzo (chick peas)

Great Northern

Large Limas and Green Baby Limas

Mung

Navy

Pink

Pinto

Red Kidney

Small Red

Soy Beans

GRAINS

Amaranth grain

Barley, pearl

Barley, hull-less (easy for home gardeners)

Buckwheat if you can find it whole

Lentils

Lentils, petite French green

Lentils, red

Millet (don't get hulled)

Oats are rarely found whole, and are very difficult to hull, but a couple of hull-less varieties are out there as packet seed

Pigeon peas

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah)

Rye

Spelt (an ancient grain)

Teff (the smallest grain)

Triticale (cross between wheat and rye)

Wheat, hard red winter variety

Wheat, hard red spring variety

Wheat, hard white variety

Wheat, soft white variety

wheat, Kamut (pronounced ka-MOOT)

SEEDS

Breadseed poppy

Caraway

Chia

Flax, brown and golden

Popcorn

Sesame

Sunflower (be sure to choose raw in shell)

Also check your local bulk source for HERB seeds. Not all of them will grow in your climate, but it would be cheap enough to try any that interest you.

Sue

Comments (4)

  • euphony
    14 years ago

    Nice list. I too have been recently seeking the organic bulk food seeds that will sprout. Initially I just wanted to find cheaper seeds for sprouting, but am now considering just planting some as well.

  • energyhealing_juno_com
    13 years ago

    I am looking for inexpensive seeds of grains and heirloom open pollinated veggies to grow in a mountain in the Philippines. Could you send me your catalog if any? Thank you. Lena

  • flowerpollen
    12 years ago

    I grew this for the first time this year and love it. Will the seed that I have saved this year give me the same triticale as the seed which I ordered from my seed supplier?

  • Belgianpup
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Flowerpollen:

    Yes, but...

    You could probably collect the seed from a small number of plants and plant them next year and get a decent crop.

    But for the long-term 'health', viability and genetic diversity, you need to plant a decent number of plants to collect from.

    When plants are Open-Pollinated (OP), each plant is slightly different from the others. A bee or fly or moth will 'work' a lot of plants, picking up a bit of pollen from the plant he lands on, and depositing some of that pollen to other plants. With every tiny bit of pollen he drops, the genetic makeup of the offspring of that particular plant changes. Those tiny, tiny differences is the genetic diversity that keeps the plants strong. Fresh blood, so to speak.

    If you only plant a few plants and keep collecting the seed, without outside pollination, the quality of your plants will start to diminish.

    That said, some of the most valuable seed maintenance has been made by individuals. You don't have to be a large commercial grower to produce good seed.

    I don't know much about triticale, so I looked up the genetic makeup, and even though it is a hybrid (they don't usually breed true), apparently triticale is relatively stable and does breed true:

    "Even though triticale is a cross between wheat and rye, it is self-pollinating (similar to wheat) and not cross pollinating (like rye). Most triticales that are agronomically desirable and breed true have resulted from several cycles of improvement, but are primarily from the durum-rye crosses with some common wheat parentage occasionally involved." [Source: see link below]

    So, I would grow the largest stand that is feasible for you, at least a patch 10x10' or more, collect the grain and mix it well, then collect seed from that mix.

    Sue

    Here is a link that might be useful: Triticale, from Purdue U.