I've been meaning to post this for a few weeks now, which means I forget exactly when all the barley got picked. Quite a while ago. Here is our almost complete harvest, minus about the equivalent of another one of those little 1/2 cup jam jars, which has been set aside for seed.
So, observations:
1.) after seed cost, labour, losses, etc, this is the world's most expensive barley. Regard it with awe!
2.) because wow, cleaning it may be easier than other grains or hulled barley, but I wouldn't describe it as easy.
3.) our local crows and other birds already recognize barley when they see it, and sit around on the bean posts squawking, "Is it ready yet? Is it ready yet?" and then they check to see if it is ready yet.
4.) at which point they break the stems off/eat it.
5.) pretty sure squirrels like it too.
6.) the Dango absolutely produced the most seeds, but it turns out they are about 1/3 the size of other seeds, on average, and so produced only a bit more volume than the other types.
7.) none of them grew very tall, including Valsergerste, which is supposed to be quite tall. I blame our lousy soil.
8.) overall, the barley straw, which I hoped would be a useful by-product, did not amount to much. However, we did have lousy germination so maybe it could be useful in a better year.
I guess we are going to try growing it at least one more time. We do note that many things adapt to our garden in the saved seed versus the purchased seed. But this definitely getting grown for amusement and edification rather than efficient nutrition.