It was about -2 C in the greenhouse when I took this photo. These are the most advanced sprouts. The purple ones are actually Orach, not Quinoa.
It was about -2 C in the greenhouse when I took this photo. These are the most advanced sprouts. The purple ones are actually Orach, not Quinoa.
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While at the Young Agrarians Mixer this past weekend held at Summerhill winery in Kelowna we tried out Mojaves Kaplan's seed winnower. Over the past year i've scoured the internet to find affordable hand tools that can aid in quinoa growing and processing. On some youtube videos featuring Andean quinoa farming collectives they have purchased and used a machine very similar to the one Mojaves brought. We came to the mixer with a few gallons of quinoa that passed through a 5 in 1 seed cleaner at Golden Ears farm then winnowed with the contraption we build. Turns out Mojaves crank winnower/cleaner does do a better job! Nice! April 21st, some info about the above hand crank fanning mill from Mojave:
"about winnowers. You can get them from us, Planting Seeds Project.........we're the distributors. It's a hand crank fanning mill with two baffle adjusters, allowing the cleaning of light seed as well as heavy seeds like grains and beans. It's used to separate cut and sifted herbals. Stems and leaf from berry collections, etc............ Used in the field internationally all over the world. No screens are required for the winnower itself...............all hand screens can be applied............. (Unlike electric fanning mills that require the exact correct screens, and there are 70 sizes for instance for the clipper office model ............. refer to the p 38 of the 2014 High Mowing Seeds Catalogue.)" Im told a grain grower in Tappen "says that this winnower cleans just as well (post combine) as his electric screened fanning mill. He is not able to clean his barley seed for lack of the right sized screens" We just got 12 new varieties of quinoa in the mail today! This includes GQU-7353 Faro, Pedro's Select Strain Quinoa, Shelly 25 Black Quinoa and Temuko Quinoa to name a few. When we first grew quinoa we started with 5 varieties from a west coast seed company. We saved seed from the plants that grew well (those that survived in our conditions) and continued the process every year. Then we realised that promoting diversity, genetic diversity to be specific, in the long run became more important than short term high yields. Thats why we are going to grow all the varieties together this year and focus more on selecting seed for the purpouses of developing a resilient quinoa landrace. If anyone out there is growing quinoa (especially a unique variety) and wants to contribute to the Quinoa Project, send your seed our way. To the Enderby Seedy Saturday attendee: it was really awesome to have met you all ! Its also really awesome and encouraging to hear about how enthusiastic folks are about growing food their own quinoa locally.
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Jedidiah / SarahWe have been growing and eating quinoa since 2009. Follow our seasons as we learn and grow with quinoa in the Shuswap, British Columbia, Canada. Archives
November 2014
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