has anybody tried to grow buckweat?

Beenice thought I should try and answer this seeing as I am the one who gets to do the buckwheat harvesting. We don't know at this point because we have never done it before. This is one of our grand experiments this year. According to The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery it is not too difficult. Having read up on the subject makes me an expert of course, lol. When it is ready to harvest I will cut it down with a scythe. That is not supposed to be too difficult because the stems are hollow and tender. If the weather is right I'm going to tie it into sheaves and let it dry in the field. If the weather decides to not cooperate I get to move the sheaves into the greenhouse and try and dry them out there. Once dry it is apparently not too difficult to beat the grains out. Easier than other grain. Once we sift through the grains we hope to end up with a good enough crop to be able to seed again without buying more seed and having some to eat as well.

That doesn't sound too hard, then. I love the fact that you harvest by hand and I hope you get a great crop out of it! I've never used either a scythe, but my piddly little batch of wheat was cut with a pair of big scissors, can you imagine that? :) I still got enough to make it a good experience and intended to do it again this year but time got away from me. I should check out Carla Emery's book from the library again. If I had more room and time, I'd own a copy of it.

If Beenice hadn't invested in the scythe I'd be using hedge clippers. Whatever works. We've used scissors as harvesting tools ourselves. We are experimenting with a little wheat and barley this year as well.