Gardening with Grains: Bring the Versatile Beauty of Grains to Your Edible Landscape
192
Gardening with Grains: Bring the Versatile Beauty of Grains to Your Edible Landscape
192Hardcover
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Overview
We’ve learned the joys of interplanting our blooming flowerbeds with veggies, herbs and berries, but what about the grains, those ancient and beautiful grasses that practically gave us civilization? Why couldn't we grow wheat, barley and oats for winter; corn, rice and sorghum for the warm season?
Gardening with Grains is a pioneering book, a companion to Arthur’s The Foodscape Revolution. Richly illustrated, it combines history, environmental benefits and personal stories with simple how-to’s for planning, growing and harvesting those six important grains...plus 12 chef-tested recipes for inspiration.
This is a design book, too, with planting patterns and suggestions, no matter how much or how little garden space you have. These grains are ornamental grasses, and they show off beautifully in any setting. The grouped plantings reveal the grains’ varied colors and textures, interplanted with flowers like poppies, larkspur, snapdragons, nigella, zinnias, sunflowers and marigolds. Not only flowers, but salad greens and other decorative veggies play well with grains.
Gardening with Grains is foodscaping for fun, beauty and bragging rights. . . and maybe even some homemade beer and bread.(Genus illustrations and garden plans by landscape architect and botanical artist Preston Montague.)
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781943366354 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | St. Lynn's Press |
| Publication date: | 11/19/2019 |
| Pages: | 192 |
| Sales rank: | 521,030 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.20(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
From Chapter 1
As a child growing up in the Midwest I recall the faint shade of green in fields as the snow would melt revealing the winter wheat that farmers had sown the prior autumn. It was a sign that spring would arrive- sometimes sooner than later. But beyond that insignificant observation I never had to think about what came next.
Cheerios, rice crispy cereal and oatmeal were staples for breakfast. And while I was amused by the cartoon mascots I never once considered what I was eating or where it was grown. Like most people, I took for granted that grains were a part of my daily diet, filling me up and providing me with energy. As I would devour macaroni and cheese I was totally ignorant to the understanding of what pasta was. As far as I was concerned it came from a box that was purchased at the grocery store, the end.
Later in life, when I discovered the undeniably delicious flavor of beer, I was once again faced with the reality of ignorance. I didn’t considered what malted barely actually was; it was just decoration for the bottle. As the “local” micro brewery scene expands across North America, does anyone ask “where was that barley grown?” or “how local is local?” Would beer drinkers even recognize a barley plant if they saw one?
Have you ever considered how and where your carbohydrates are grown? I hadn't until my friend Chip Ford, a professor at Appalachian State University, handed me a bag of wheat seed. He challenged me to grow it and my life has never been the same.
Table of Contents
Introduction: “Greetings from my sunny front yard in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.”PART ONE: The Story
Chapter 1: My Grain Journey
Chapter 2: What are Grains and Why Should You Grow Them?
Chapter 3: The Entwined History of Humans and Cereal Grains (briefly told)
Chapter 4: Ancient Grains, Heirloom Grains, Chemistry and more
PART TWO: Meet the Grains
Chapter 5: Six Great Grains To Grow: Cool Season: Barley, Oats, Wheat; and Warm Season: Corn, Rice, Sorghum
*Genus illustrations by Preston Montague
Chapter 6: Other Grains I’ve Grown (or tried to grow!): Amaranth, Buckwheat, Millet, Quinoa, Rye
PART THREE: In the Garden
Chapter 7: Designing with Grains and Companion Plants
*Landscape drawings by Preston Montague
Chapter 8: Harvesting, Processing and Storing Your Grains
PART FOUR: What’s Your Pleasure?
Chapter 9: Decorating with Grains: Bringing the Beauty Indoors
Chapter 10: Cooking with Homegrown Grains: 12 easy recipes for a yard-to-table adventure
Conclusion
Resources
Acknowledgments
About the Author
What People are Saying About This
"Brie Arthur has the vision that the landscape can be functional and food producing, as well as decorative. This idea of increased functionality alters the model that home owners and land managers have of the typical landscape. Brie is enthusiastic in promoting the idea that the inclusion of non-traditional landscape plants, for instance grain species, can enhance the target landscape, which becomes more fully utilized for the benefit of home-grown food production and the local environment."
"Brie Arthur is the one person this world needs now more than ever when it comes to gardening and growing! Her fearless, can-do, pioneering spirit, combined with her infectious enthusiasm and professional horticulture background makes her my go-to source for gardening wisdom. Whenever Brie crosses your path, you just can’t help being inspired to start a garden, grow food, or try something new in your garden."
"Brie has a contagious passion for pushing the limits of the role of edible plants in the landscape. Her creativity, optimism, and knowledge have been at the cornerstone of the Foodscape Revolution. Her latest endeavor on grains is not only timely but an interesting way of looking at using some of the world’s most abundant crops as ornamental plants worthy of a place in the residential garden."
"Brie Arthur is the real deal. She is extremely knowledgeable. She has worked in all aspects of horticulture under the guidance of some of the gardening greats of our time. Brie is the cheerleader we need to inspire us to action. And, most importantly, she practices what she preaches."
"Brie Arthur is the one person this world needs now more than ever when it comes to gardening and growing! Her fearless, can-do, pioneering spirit, combined with her infectious enthusiasm and professional horticulture background makes her my go-to source for gardening wisdom. Whenever Brie crosses your path, you just can’t help being inspired to start a garden, grow food, or try something new in your garden."
"In this era of rampant urbanization, Brie Arthur has reignited the cultural conversation around home landscapes and food. Her work calls out the foundation planting or side yard, the often unruly leftovers from construction, as a glaringly missed opportunity to cultivate sustenance and connections."
"Brie Arthur is a vibrant writer with that rare blend of deep horticultural knowledge and irrepressible enthusiasm for making the MOST of whatever garden or land you have. This includes wedging in food production at every opportunity. She inspires every homeowner to do more and provides clear examples and tips on how to add so many more layers of life and productivity to any type of garden. If you read her books or attend her lectures, you cannot help but be swept up by her extraordinary vision and energy – you will be planting veggies and barley the very next day!"
"Brie Arthur’s new book, Gardening With Grains is filled with fascinating observations on the beauty, culture and use of a wide variety of grains, coupled with brilliant recommendations for their creative integration into the residential landscape. Her passion for the topic is infectious and will inspire many to make space in their gardens for these important, beguiling plants."
Interviews
FOREWORD
Greetings from my sunny front yard in Fuquay-Varina, NC. As I write this, it is late spring and the cool season grains are beginning to dry, making their statement all the more vividly. On this particular day, the breeze is strong and the humidity low. The sun sparkles and the cloudless Carolina blue sky provides the perfect backdrop to reflect on my grain journey.
Kneeling on a soft patch of turf to inspect the wheat, I realize that grass is one of the last remnants of the “normal” landscape I inherited upon moving to my home in 2010. Eight years ago I would never have dreamt of the possibilities this former tobacco field would bring.
The freshly mowed lawn serves as a perfect green backdrop for the spring show of grains as they turn amber. The arching stalks of barley, oats, rye and wheat wave in the breeze and glow in the sunshine. I’m daydreaming of what this space will look like in September when it is replanted with warm season grains such as corn, millet, rice and sorghum. The possibilities are endless.
Today is a day to dream, give thanks and reflect with gratitude. It’s a day to take note of the simple moments like a bee buzzing overhead and appreciate the beauty that surrounds you. It’s a day for me to hope that my ramblings will influence and inspire others to take up this great hobby of gardening and to perhaps inspire a few folks to toss some grain seed into the earth and experience this same joy.
No question, I am more than a bit unconventional. Some may consider my style “chaotic” or “natural.” But in reality, these plantings are carefully planned, planted and managed from sowing to harvest. This diverse assortment of plants does not happen by accident. These dynamic colors and textures create a show that is intriguing visually and offers a compelling story and sense of place.
I’ve been a professional horticulturist and home gardener for twenty years and the only certainty is you will never stop learning from growing plants. No two seasons will ever the same. Gardening is the opposite of Groundhog Day, which is why it is such a special way to spend your time. You will fall in and out of love with different plants over the years as your life and garden change. You will have more or less time to devote as your journey ebbs and flows, but I encourage you to experiment with new plants as often as possible and reflect in the simple moments spent in your paradise.
If someone had told me even five years ago that I would be investing my time and energy into writing a book on grains I would have explained that “No, I am a woody ornamental propagator,” and walked away. But then one day you wake up and try something new and your world gets that much bigger.
That is what Gardening with Grains is aiming to achieve. I hope you will consider things you haven’t thought of before and challenge your creativity as a gardener. I want you to dream big, beyond your home and neighborhood, and imagine the impact that we can all have on shaping and nourishing our communities. But most of all, I wish to inspire you to grow something new, in a different context, and enjoy the process along the way.