If you’ve read at least the first book of the Ringing Cedars Series, you may have noticed on page 89, last paragraph (newest edition) that Anastasia tells us to…

“…take it upon yourself to gather some cereal grain, thresh it, grind it into flour and then use the flour to bake bread.  This is extremely important.  Anyone consuming this bread even once or twice a year will build up a store of energy capable of awakening his inner spiritual powers – not only calming his soul but also exerting a beneficial influence on his physical condition.  This bread can be shared with relatives and close friends.  If shared with sincerity and love, it will have quite a beneficial influence on them as well.”

I don’t know how it is in Russia but in this country the majority of readers will unconsciously ignore this paragraph entirely because we generally have no knowledge base that would allow us to gather, thresh and grind grain, even if we do know how to make a loaf of bread. 

In fact the majority of Americans wouldn’t even be able to identify grains growing wild (or cultivated) or know when the grain is ready to be gathered.  I just made two loaves of bread using flour I harvested, threshed and ground.  It’s easier than you may think.  Here are the steps.

First of all, what is a cereal grain plant?  It’s an annual grass, mostly, and it looks like grass.  Corn is the most un-grasslike of the grains and is rarely ever found growing in the wild. 

However, wheat, rye, oats, sorghum or varieties of triticale are growing wild in most meadows and fields.  If you find an area that isn’t mowed, the seed heads appear from mid to late summer, depending on the grain.  It will look like tall wild grass and will likely have lots of other weeds growing around it. 

You don’t have to worry about harvesting from a wrong plant because the seeds from any annual wild grass that is tall and sends up a tall stalk with seed heads (3-5 feet tall) are edible and nutritious.  You’ll know it’s an annual grass because it will be drying up when the seed heads are ripe.

In wild grain plants, the seed (also called a fruit) is much smaller than in cultivated grains. They are ready to harvest when the tops are dry and the grass plant is also drying – usually late summer into early fall.  If you wait too long, the wind will harvest the grain before you get a chance to. 

You can collect the grain a couple ways.  You can cut the stalk down with the seed heads attached or you can carry a bag to collect the grain.  Bend the stalk so the seed head is inside the bag then grab hold of the stalk below the seed head and run your hand up to the top of the seed head.  If the seeds are ripe they will drop into the bag easily.

For about a cup of flour you’ll need to collect about  5 or 6 cups of seed heads.

If you decided to cut the stalks down, you’ll need to beat them onto a hard surface to separate the seeds from the stalk.  It will simplify the process if you beat the stalks onto a large sheet to collect the loosened seed heads. 

Whichever way you gather your grain you’ll end up with a pile of grain and chaff (no stems).  The chaff is the straw-like cover that surrounds the grain and it must be separated from the grain by threshing.

One way to thresh a small amount of grain is to put the pile of grain and chaff into something like an old (but sturdy) pillow case or tie up the sheet mentioned above (with the grain and chaff inside it.) 

Threshing is essentially beating the grain to cause the grain and chaff to separate.  You can do that by repeatedly walking or stomping on it (with hard soled shoes), swinging the bag of grain and repeatedly smashing it on a hard surface, or beating it with a wooden club or a leather strap until the grain and chaff separates. 

After threshing you’ll need to winnow the grain which removes the loose chaff from the pile of grain.  Get two large and wide containers.  I used one large bowl and a platter with a good amount of depth.  Don’t do this on a windy day or you’ll lose your grain. 

Go outdoors and slowly pour the grain/chaff from one container to the other.  Hold the pouring container high over the receiving container.  A gentle breeze will blow the chaff away but the seeds or grain will fall straight into the container. 

Pour back and forth (slowly) many times until their is no more chaff in the grain.  You may need to thresh it a little more to release more of the chaff.  I rubbed the grains together that still had chaff, in order to loosen it.  A small amount of chaff ground into your flour will not ruin your bread (it will add fiber).

When the chaff is cleaned out of the grain, you’re ready to grind it into flour.  I used a hand turned flour grinder but I’ve also used other equipment.  You can use a blender, a food processor or even a clean electric coffee grinder (for small amounts at a time).

When you have turned your grain into flour, you’re ready to make bread.  Any good cookbook has bread recipes or you can easily find one on the internet.  You can use only the grain you harvested or you can mix it with purchased flour (preferably organic).  If you think you might have rye or sorgum, you will definitely want to mix it with wheat flour.

I spent about 20-30 minutes gathering grain from a small area of my wild growing back lot.  I spent about 15 or 20 minutes threshing it, and about 20 – 25 minutes winnowing the grain.  If you use a blender or food processor to grind the grain it will only take you a couple minutes.

It’s a good Saturday or Sunday project for once or twice per year.  I could have easily harvested enough for another batch of bread later in the year.  If you do save flour for later, be sure to freeze it as it will go rancid quickly once it is ground.

Hopefully, this will help a lot of Americans make the very special bread mentioned in the Ringing Cedars book, Anastasia.

Blessings to you and yours,

JoyceM