This year we took the plunge and planted one of our larger fields with an orchard grass mix with the hopes that next year we will be able to harvest enough hay to meet our demand for the entire year. We have turned what was once a corn field into an oat field for now. The oats will hold the soil until the grass germinates and takes over (next year). We had plans to sell the oat harvest. This weekend, however, I had the bright idea that maybe we should try to use some of our own oats for oat meal, etc.
How cool would it be to eat oatmeal from the oats that we grew ourselves? Pretty cool, I thought....until I realized how labor intensive the process of picking and cleaning the oats is; not to mention drying and cutting them. Each stalk has several oat groats clinging to it. Picking is not difficult. But cleaning....well that is just a whole other story. Each kernel is covered by 3 seperate coats...almost impossible to pick off by hand. Ok, so we will continue to buy our oats at the store... but it was a good thought. I suppose all of that specialized harvesting and processing equipment really is a necessity!
This year we took the plunge and planted one of our larger fields with an orchard grass mix with the hopes that next year we will be able to harvest enough hay to meet our demand for the entire year. We have turned what was once a corn field into an oat field for now. The oats will hold the soil until the grass germinates and takes over (next year). We had plans to sell the oat harvest. This weekend, however, I had the bright idea that maybe we should try to use some of our own oats for oat meal, etc. 
How cool would it be to eat oatmeal from the oats that we grew ourselves? Pretty cool, I thought....until I realized how labor intensive the process of picking and cleaning the oats is; not to mention drying and cutting them. Each stalk has several oat groats clinging to it. Picking is not difficult. But cleaning....well that is just a whole other story. Each kernel is covered by 3 seperate coats...almost impossible to pick off by hand. Ok, so we will continue to buy our oats at the store... but it was a good thought. I suppose all of that specialized harvesting and processing equipment really is a necessity!
Comments
I so agree with you, I will stick to buying organic rolled & steel cut oats at our local earthy store (Huckleberry's). They even have instant organic oats, not sure how nutricious(sp) it is but in a pinch/hurry it comes in handy.
Ok, off to get into some mischief... hugz,
>^..^<
wishing you a lovely week.
p.s. your recent apron creations are so pretty.