Was Growing Wheat In My Garden Worth The Effort?

I finally grew wheat in my garden and I can confidently say I will be growing wheat every year from here on out. The fresh milled flour is incredibly delicious and the bonus of being able to make my own herbicide free mulch is the cherry on top! Join me as I harvest, dry, process, and grind my wheat to make fresh milled flour and homegrown mulch!

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[jacquesinthegarden]

Here are some of the recurring questions and missing details!:

1) This was Organic Hard White Wheat (link in description) and it is just plain old wheat berries you would buy for use in cooking!


3) The bed is 3x8' in size and my yield was 6 pounds, If I had to guess I seeded about 1 pound.

4) This was planted in early December and was harvest in May, I could have processed it around June but I had other things come up hence July.

5) I will be planting roughly 3-5x the amount I did here and maybe even try to plant significantly more at a family members home.

6) Wheat requires very little in terms of water, nutrients, and labor during the season. It is a zero maintenance plant, no major disease or pest issues, no need to trellis, just plant and wait to harvest. The biggest complications come from rain fall on the wheat once it has begun ripening or drying.

[erukaseven]

The excitement you had when you realized what you'd just pulled out was something you grew and then baked! It's a joy that never gets old.

[michellecjackson]

this was really interesting and it highlights how much work actually goes into food production. a loaf of bread from start to finish is a big job and we take it for granted.

[jenniferkvarnes]

There’s nothing like watching two grown men *nearly* tear up over the flavor of fresh baked bread 🥹 Kevin missed out on this one!

[bobbun]

I have been growing wheat for about four years now. After winnowing, I have taken to doing a final cleanup by weighing batches, rinsing them with water to float all the remaining debris to the top and clean up any dirt on the grains, then putting them in a screen wire basket in the food dehydrator. They're done dehydrating when the weight falls meaningfully below the initial weigh you took before rinsing. The result is a very clean product.

[Mark]

Jacques in the Bakery in the Garden, episode one.

[Parasitoid_Sentimentality]

a little fun thing about the butter! this tip works with frying eggs, too;
butter works better because oil by itself repels water. meaning watery dough, or watery eggs, shove the oil aside leaving it in contact with the dish. butter is a homogenous combo of waters and oils (and some other milk-y stuff) and is not repelled by watery substances the same way! thats the fast and short of it.

[shalakabooyaka]

I'm from OK, wheat is our biggest $ crop, I have never thought about someone just growing a small amount. I always picture the seas of waving wheat. Pretty cool seeing the process, nice garden btw.

[dobbyaf]

This kind of content is so IMPORTANT to teach this generation things we have lost the knowledge for. I would love to see some other videos like this growing and processing things we have forgotten to do ourselves like sugar!

[KathleenHanover]

Organic wheat straw would be a great substrate for growing organic mushrooms—yum! Great video!

[katyrobertson]

I did this this year too!! I planted 1 ounce of seed and got 33 ounces of wheat berries. It took forever to process, but it worked well. I kind of felt like the Little Red Hen!

[WesternMONo-TillGardening]

I experimented with einkorn this year to create my own straw mulch. I planted it in October, cut it down with a sickle late June, and put small bundles of it in a pillow case and beat them with a stick to get most of the seed heads off. I ended up with a decent amount of straw and lots of free seed to use next year. Considering the price of straw and my desire to make sure straw in my garden does not have pesticide on it, it was worth the effort to me. It was also nice to have something looking so green and healthy growing early spring, and I loved to see the beds of einkorn waving in the wind.

[valsalas]

jaques is the heartthrob of epic gardening

[SlickWillyTFCF]

I've been thinking about putting in raised beds to grow my own fruits and vegetables, and today I went down the rabbit hole of growing my own wheat. I've watched a bunch of videos about it and this one more than any other has made me decide to give it a try.

[S]

Took 6 month to grow but 6 minutes to eat ! Enjoyed video ! It is natures magic !

[cmg]

Fun fact for those who don't know detroit-style Pizza what's developed with a focaccia dough. It's the pizza I grew up with and will always be my favorite. I could just imagine that lovely focaccia dough with some Wisconsin brick cheese and delicious tomato sauce on top. Yum!

[Snakeskii]

I've never thought to try growing wheat before, but with how much you get from so small a patch, I want to give it a try. I'd love to make some home grown pasta. 😋

[Chet_Thornbushel]

*Cries in gluten free*

That is a beautiful end result! I’m so glad you could have the moment of awe at what you were able to do! And you’re so right about the straw. The money you spent on the seed was probably less than what you’d spend just on that amount of a no-spray straw mulch. I can’t wait to see you grow even more next year!

[sproutingemily]

Jacques...just wow. You went all in on this one: seed to table, approachable recipe, no waste, organic, dangerous tools, etc. This video has everything! Great job and a big thank you!
🌱🌾🥖

[jennyfalcone]

OMG!!!! Butter in the glass pan. Thank you. I’ve stopped using my glass because it always destroys my bread.