Bere Barley

$3.00

(Hordeum vulgare); spring barley;

This 6-row spring barley makes a beautiful plot of amber waves of grain. Bere is old variety associated with Viking farmers. These days it is associated with craft beer and whisky in Scotland. A landrace variety adapted to a short growing season of the high latitudes, with long daylight hours and low pH soils.

Traditionally Bere has also been used for making bread, biscuits and bannock. I do not know how they handled removing the hulls, perhaps by sifting? The stalks were used for animal feed and thatch.

I find the heads to be easily 'broken' during harvest and handling, however, that does make for an easily threshed barley.

Our original seed stock sourced from Salt Spring Seeds of Canada.

Four packets options, minimum:

a) 7 grams (1/4 ounce) of seed taken from select heads

b) 28 grams (1 ounce) of seed taken from the harvest

c) 113 grams (quarter pound) of seed take from the harvest

d) 50 choice hand selected seeds