Reviving Rare Oats, Spreading Bere Barley and (Re)Developing the Machinery to Process Them At the start of February, as the snow fell and the sky brooded, the grain growers of our Welsh and Scottish networks grabbed a coffee, signed on to Zoom, and settled in for a long day of talking oats, bere barley […]
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The Organic Growers Alliance is a network of growers, farmers and horticulturalists. This article by Katie Hastings was originally published in their Organic Grower No 55 Summer 2021 Newsletter. https://organicgrowersalliance.co.uk/ The journey from producing your first seed crop to selling it is not so much a straight road as a labyrinth. While growing […]
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In late April of this year Mike Hyatt, who farms Baleveolan Croft on The Isle of Lismore, contacted me asking if I knew of anyone malting grain on a small-scale in Scotland. Mike, like many crofters, is patiently waiting for our small-scale de-huller to be developed; once it has been built, the crofters can bring […]
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Scotland’s beautiful landscape is in part thanks to the huge amount of wind and rainfall we receive compared to the rest of the UK. At the time of writing there are no Scottish vegetable seed producers. This has the knock-on effect seeds that Scottish growers are forced to buy from elsewhere are unlikely to do […]
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A Special Podcast for #SeedWeek Chicory is an unsung crop in the UK and Ireland. It comes in many forms and flavours, from striking red and white bitter radicchios to delicately sweet and tender witloofs with much more in between. Grab yourself a cuppa and join our Scotland Seed Sovereignty coordinator, Richie Walsh, in conversation […]
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“Inspired to extend seed saving practice.” “I found the course very interesting and it was presented in an interesting and accessible way.” “The networking part of this day was really worthwhile coming for.” These were some of the comments by participants at the well-attended Seed Production Training day at Newton Dee. Participants came from Aberfeldy, […]
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