[Sca-cooks] growing oats

[wyldrose]

Well growing upon a farm, oats 'seemed to sprout and grow faster than the 
weeds ' here in Minnesota and were a bit more frost tolerant than many of 
the other farm crops.    My Dad insisted on  planting them the 
'old-fashioned' way which meant we walked the  fresh tilled  acreage and 
tossed seed. The crop   was planted early June and was usually harvested 
early July (I live in Minnesota).  Even  growing zone 3,   we usually got 
two crops of them. We never weeded oats but then again we double plowed and 
dragged/disc  the field.    The oats grew very close together because of 
hand planting(with a grain planter that fanned the seeds as you walked in 
about a 6 foot radius).   We harvest oats using  1930's style equipment and 
the oats could be used for ether  animal grain, balled as hay (stalks and 
heads but cut before the seeds were totally ripe), or silage.  Modern 
farming usually has oats growing in neat close rows so it can be sprayed and 
cultivated for more yield to the acre.
 From my understanding,  which is not grinding  and making  oats into human 
food; oats for food can be harvested when still slightly-milky inside to 
make some types of oat products, or when when totally dry  or oven dried to 
make others.  I am not positive,  I  am writing from memory,  but the 
processing is/was done by different types of mill stones for  certain types 
of products (rolled, flattened,  flour).   Oats for most grains for chicken, 
pig,and cow food is course- ground and added to other grains.
   The milky fresh oats are also good to eat and as kids we used to swipe 
them out of the fields as a snack.
                       kay

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark S. Harris" <MarkSHarris at austin.rr.com>
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 12:32 AM
Subject: [Sca-cooks] growing oats


> Kay said:
> <<<  Another thing to think about is that oats are a quick and easy  crop 
> and
> can be harvested in multiple ways to get different  taste and textures.
> They usually grow faster than the weeds! >>>
>
> Do you mean that oats literally grow faster than weeds? Does this mean 
> you don't have to weed oats?
>
> How do you harvest oats in multiple ways to get different tastes and 
> textures?
>
> Stefan
> Obviously not a farmer
> ======
> Mark S. Harris
> Electronics Engineer, Board and Systems Design
> MarkSHarris at austin.rr.com
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksharris
>
>
>
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