Planting Wheat for the First Time

Max here... A couple weeks ago we planted our first patch of wheat as an experiment.  That square patch of green is where we planted it -- just beginning to be visible after several good rains.  We have always wanted to make bread from flour that is fresh ground from wheat berries.  Before Deirdre and I were married, I went to school in Austria for 4 years, and would buy my flour from a lady who had a little farm store.  I would simply tell her how much I wanted, and she would take the wheat or rye berries, pour them into the grain mill, and I walked home with flour still warm from the grinding stones.  Talk about fresh!

Ultimately, we want to grow more food for our own family's consumption, from grains to meat to veggies to eggs to honey to dairy and beyond.  More of our efforts are directed now toward establishing a healthy cash flow from crops that sell well, but we are really excited to begin experimenting with grains.  I simply scattered 10 lbs of grain over the area, and then tilled it in with our power harrow.

As a Christmas gift, Deirdre's brother gave us a copy of a brand new book by our friends in Ohio, Shawn and Beth Dougherty called "The Independent Farmstead."  I just started reading it last night, and it is a refreshing dose of homesteading wisdom.  Most of my farm reading material lately has been on systems of commercial production rather than homesteading, but we have a goal to acheive both with our farm.  The book mentions in the very beginning that many people want to homestead, but don't realize all the implications, and aren't able to support themselves financially when they try to do it.  Our vision is to have a farm that grows the majority of our own food, and still brings in enough cash that we don't need to work off-farm.