Definitely loved this video series. You did a fantastic job covering the whole process. We raised a rainbow selection of quinoa a few years back and I hope to do a larger planting this year. Once I got the seeds and chaff off the stems and branches I used an electric fan and a distance to blow the chaff separate from the seeds. Thank goodness for a drop cloth to catch the chaff in. I needed to do winnow the seeds several times to get a pretty clean bunch of grain. I was surprised at how much more saponins my quinoa contained than store bought. The first rinsing looked like I had added detergent. It took several rinsings to get clear water without sudsing. I had about the same number of plants as you and harvested about a quart of seeds. We made several meals of quinoa black bean burgers which seemed honestly superior to store bought. Now I finally have a permanent garden space I am so looking forward to trying this again.
Great, informative vid. About to harvest mine. FYI for amaranth which is similar, I use a large (18") plastic cullender from the local Asian market, and with a gloved hand rub the seed heads around in it. Then blow away the chaff with a fan. Thanks for the vid!
break down the husk from the seed leave it in that blue Rubbermaid container. Get a fan (do this outside). Have the fan on the lowest setting and slowly in a second container, start to drop the quinoa and husks. what happens is the husk blow away and the seeds will drop to the other container. It's just like the bolted seeds from lettuce same method. Nice harvest!!
yeah, or maybe even just blowing (after enough friction-separation of seed and chaff), ? or if you get skilled enough, toss it in air with gentle winds (like "Frog.." suggested) like some people do for rice
Thank you for the step-by-step process. This was really educational for me as I am considering growing this grain for the first time. I appreciate the effort you made to make this video for others.
Best quinoa video on the internet. I LOVE that you showed everything from harvest to sifting. You've totally inspired me to grow quinoa. Suuuuuuubscriiiiibed!!!
I LOVE that you took the time to let us know :) Good luck with your quinoa crop!! ps - thanks for the sub, but we moved a couple of months ago and haven't had time for vids or website updates. Soon, hopefully.
I just grew my first quinoa and it’s harvested and sitting on the drying racks and I’m putting off trying to remove the seeds because I have no idea what I am doing. Now I know where to start! Thanks for the video!
Thanks for putting up these videos, very informative even if my situation is different in terms of location, ground, etc. I've tried growing quinoa in a boxed flower planter next to the house in rural Newfoundland. There was only room for a dozen or so plants, but they grew fairly well one season, though nothing like 8 feet high, we didn't use any fertilizer aside from the top soil itself in the planter. Got reasonable yield. The next season plants were attacked by something, either insect larvae or downy mildew, and grew poorly. I've tried twice in the actual ground in a raised vegetable garden my wife made, but they didn't grow at all, maybe it was not well drained enough as they seem to prefer dry versus wet conditions generally. BTW, I winnowed just by rubbing the seeds between my hands after stripping off the dried stalks, and then poured the stuff from one large bowl to another outdoors on a windy day. It was very clean at the end, and no need to get the seed wet so either would have to re-dry or else cook right away. It would be tedious to do a large amount that way, but perhaps no worse than the water method you used here. Good luck, hope you've continued to have success!
Unfortunately trial and error is sometimes the only way to learn. Not sure this will help, but my soil is sandy and drains well so I'd agree about the quinoa preferring well-drained soil. They don't normally grow 8' tall - I think 4-5' is closer to the average. The only fertilizer used was a 5-5-5 blend incorporated into the soil 5 weeks before transplanting, then one application of organic fish emulsion at the 2-3 week point. As you saw in the video, it never stopped raining so they didn't need any water. Downy mildew can affect quinoa, so do a search to find pictures to compare. Thanks for the tips on harvesting the seeds. Good luck with your next crop!
Thanks - someone had mentioned that as an alternate harvesting method and it probably works well, but it can make quite a mess and some people were bothered by the dust and chaff getting into their eyes and nose.
Thanks for the feedback :) We don't have any new ones for 2020 because someone's cat started using our raised beds for kitty litter pans so we have to figure out how to deal with the problem. Putting up a fence isn't an option.
He Bro well documented! I have some growing now out in the desert. It's doing well enough. It's 2-3 feet tall. Some are purple just beautiful! The seed heads are coming on strong. I had no idea what it looked like until now that I have seen t in rows. I hope the strong winds don't destroy them. Sure is a beautiful plant the ones that are red and purple! Grown from just bulk store bought seed .
Thanks for doing these videos! I've been thinking about growing this in our new garden as we seem to eat a lot of it lately..I'm very glad to know what we are getting ourselves into with the harvest! 😂
You're very welcome - I'm glad you found them helpful. By the time you harvest the quinoa, maybe someone else will have come up with an easier way to remove the seeds. Good luck!
i dig organics that reminds me! I found another video later that day...they had two plastic tubs...and a fan. They poured the seeds from one tub to the next in front of the fan and after 4-5 times the seeds were nearly clean! (granted..they made a mess...haha...it was everywhere!) The heavier seeds fell on down but everything that was lighter was blown away. It seemed to work ok. Still tedious a bit..but it looks like that's just the cost of home grown goodness. :) :)
I know the feel. I ordered a bunch of seeds in 2019 then broke my back so bad it still isn't healed, but I tried planting some and they all failed. I can't grow things in the state I live in like I could when I lived in my old state. Our parcel is small and lots of trees.
Thanks, your video was helpful as a friend gave me some fresh quinoa stalks to take home and I was wasn’t sure what to do with them exactly after I had dried them out (I let them hang from my kitchen ceiling for a month) I now have a little big bag of quinoa ready to cook up. I find the “processing” part of growing fruits and vegetables to be rewarding work. It makes me appreciate the resulting food all that much more.
Great Quinoa growing videos, Do you think tossing the Quinoa in a light wind would separate the chaff from the grain similar to how poorer cultures separate chaff from rice?
Thanks for the feedback. I think someone else tried the wind method that and had success. My crops are usually fairly small so the hand threshing method works fine.
We could probably use row cover, but that would be time consuming and adds to the overall cost.Storms are part of nature so we generally try to go with the flow.
Would a low fan blow the chaff away? That is how my grandfather separated dry peanuts from their skin, but peanuts are much heavier than quinoa seed. A light breeze outside, rub between fingers over bowl or bucket and breeze blows chaff away. Hopefully heavier seed falls straight down.
Our quinoa crop/harvest is small so it may not work with a larger crop, but we tried a decent-quality, small personal fan and it worked . . . for the most part :) For me, the water-in-the-bowl method was easier.
I am planning to grow quinoa in my garden. I work 300 kms away from my house and garden, usually going home once a month but I still would like to make use of the garden. Do you think that it would work? Do they need a lot of attention?
Depending on your soil, if you prep the bed correctly that should take care of nutrients, but if the weather doesn't cooperate you'll need to provide water. Quinoa really isn't any more difficult than other plants. You'll have to try a few seeds/plants and see how it goes. Good luck :)
@@idigorganics thank you. Where I live the soil is very good. I did some gardening last year. I planted almost everything I could possibly imagine, but last year I was living at that place. This year I moved because of a work, and won't have much time to take care of it, so I was curious if quinoa would survive with minimum care and attention. Thanks for the info.
Don't know if it would help not out of experience but out of what I've watched today it said to put them in old pillow casing or large paper bags I'd say the paper bags cuz that's what I used to make avocados get ripe I think it would dry the seeds out Quicker
Thanks for the feedback and the sub, but between moving last year (probably no veggie vids this year) and being frustrated with Google's decision to place ads on any and all videos, we're way behind on updated the channel. Sorry :(
You need to clean the quinoa better to remove the saponan(sp?)Easy way...mason jar with a piece of nylon stocking over it. Tighten the ring. Put it in the sink and for efully run the cold/tepid water into the jar. Every so often empty the water out . Just tip the jar upside down and drain it. Do the same thing until the water runs almost clear. Undo the ring and dump into a saucepan. Cook with broth or water. I bring it to a hard boil put a lid on pan and shut the burner off. Let it sit for 20 minutes. Then fluff with a fork.I make black bean quinoa burgers. AWESOME!
Really interesting. Roughly how much yield do get per plant? Was that 9oz plus the rest in the tub just from the first plant that was already dry or was that also the ones you laid out to dry for a while?
The harvest in the tub was most of the stems except for a few large stems still hanging in the garage. I honestly don't remember the actual weight of the final harvest. Sorry.
@@idigorganics that’s okay. That’s helpful enough as a starting point. I don’t expect to grow a year’s supply of everything the first time I try it. I’ll probably start with about 15 plants I think. I will have to find a more efficient way of processing it though. I have a chronic illness and pain issues in my hands. That tedious stuff won’t go well. I have a mouli grinder/food mill and am thinking that might be useful. An idea I’ve had for threshing larger grains like wheat is to use a cement mixer and put something heavy like a cricket ball in with the grain as it’s running which I think will be like the action of beating the grain to release the seeds. I think. Bit of a risk to buy a cement mixer just hoping it might work lol. Anyway. Not sure if that might be a bit aggressive for quinoa. Maybe different balls will work for different grains. Only way to find out will be to try 😁 That’s going to be a strange conversation at the sports store 😂😂😂
I'm not really sure - sorry. I wasn't sure how well the quinoa would keep, so we kept enough for a few months and shared the rest with friends and family.
@@idigorganics Found this on the net. The quinoa plant typically produces 1 to 2 ounces of seeds, but can produce up to 6 ounces if grown in fertile soil. Quinoa plants can produce 6 to 26 pounds of grain per 100 square feet which is 10 feet by 10 feet.
I only have 16 raised beds and due to crop rotation for organic gardening there wasn't enough room to grow quinoa again. I'll probably try again next year.
I loved that we got to see them from seed to seed. So cool. Congratulations on the harvest too.
Thanks!
Definitely loved this video series. You did a fantastic job covering the whole process. We raised a rainbow selection of quinoa a few years back and I hope to do a larger planting this year. Once I got the seeds and chaff off the stems and branches I used an electric fan and a distance to blow the chaff separate from the seeds. Thank goodness for a drop cloth to catch the chaff in. I needed to do winnow the seeds several times to get a pretty clean bunch of grain. I was surprised at how much more saponins my quinoa contained than store bought. The first rinsing looked like I had added detergent. It took several rinsings to get clear water without sudsing. I had about the same number of plants as you and harvested about a quart of seeds. We made several meals of quinoa black bean burgers which seemed honestly superior to store bought. Now I finally have a permanent garden space I am so looking forward to trying this again.
Thanks for the feedback, and thanks for sharing your harvesting tips. I'll try them next time I grow quinoa.
Great, informative vid. About to harvest mine. FYI for amaranth which is similar, I use a large (18") plastic cullender from the local Asian market, and with a gloved hand rub the seed heads around in it. Then blow away the chaff with a fan. Thanks for the vid!
You're welcome, congrats on your successful harvest, and thanks for sharing your tip for separating the seeds :)
break down the husk from the seed leave it in that blue Rubbermaid container. Get a fan (do this outside). Have the fan on the lowest setting and slowly in a second container, start to drop the quinoa and husks. what happens is the husk blow away and the seeds will drop to the other container. It's just like the bolted seeds from lettuce same method. Nice harvest!!
I haven't tried this method yet, but thanks for sharing.
yeah, or maybe even just blowing (after enough friction-separation of seed and chaff), ? or if you get skilled enough, toss it in air with gentle winds (like "Frog.." suggested) like some people do for rice
Thank you for the step-by-step process. This was really educational for me as I am considering growing this grain for the first time. I appreciate the effort you made to make this video for others.
You're welcome, and thanks for the kind words. Good luck with your grains crops!
Best quinoa video on the internet. I LOVE that you showed everything from harvest to sifting. You've totally inspired me to grow quinoa. Suuuuuuubscriiiiibed!!!
I LOVE that you took the time to let us know :) Good luck with your quinoa crop!!
ps - thanks for the sub, but we moved a couple of months ago and haven't had time for vids or website updates. Soon, hopefully.
Lol, moving can knock you for a loop for a while. Good luck getting back to normal soon, and i like forward to learning more from you+your vids! 👍❤️☺️
Never heard of quinoa til about 2mos ago. Bought seeds & ready to plant. Looked for help on UA-cam & found your video. VERY helpful! Thank you!
You're welcome, and thanks for the feedback. Good luck with your quinoa :)
I just grew my first quinoa and it’s harvested and sitting on the drying racks and I’m putting off trying to remove the seeds because I have no idea what I am doing. Now I know where to start! Thanks for the video!
You're welcome and congratulations on your quinoa crop!
Thanks for you sharing with us your experience!
You're welcome:)
Super impressive!! I admire you!
Thanks :)
They're beautiful! Thanks for the update! Congratulations on a great job, God bless you and your garden
You're welcome, and thanks for the feedback ;)
Thanks for putting up these videos, very informative even if my situation is different in terms of location, ground, etc. I've tried growing quinoa in a boxed flower planter next to the house in rural Newfoundland. There was only room for a dozen or so plants, but they grew fairly well one season, though nothing like 8 feet high, we didn't use any fertilizer aside from the top soil itself in the planter. Got reasonable yield. The next season plants were attacked by something, either insect larvae or downy mildew, and grew poorly. I've tried twice in the actual ground in a raised vegetable garden my wife made, but they didn't grow at all, maybe it was not well drained enough as they seem to prefer dry versus wet conditions generally. BTW, I winnowed just by rubbing the seeds between my hands after stripping off the dried stalks, and then poured the stuff from one large bowl to another outdoors on a windy day. It was very clean at the end, and no need to get the seed wet so either would have to re-dry or else cook right away. It would be tedious to do a large amount that way, but perhaps no worse than the water method you used here. Good luck, hope you've continued to have success!
Unfortunately trial and error is sometimes the only way to learn. Not sure this will help, but my soil is sandy and drains well so I'd agree about the quinoa preferring well-drained soil. They don't normally grow 8' tall - I think 4-5' is closer to the average. The only fertilizer used was a 5-5-5 blend incorporated into the soil 5 weeks before transplanting, then one application of organic fish emulsion at the 2-3 week point. As you saw in the video, it never stopped raining so they didn't need any water. Downy mildew can affect quinoa, so do a search to find pictures to compare. Thanks for the tips on harvesting the seeds. Good luck with your next crop!
try pouring the seed from one tub to another in gentle wind to remove chaff
Thanks - someone had mentioned that as an alternate harvesting method and it probably works well, but it can make quite a mess and some people were bothered by the dust and chaff getting into their eyes and nose.
um, obviously you'd do it outside (when it's not too windy), right?
Your videos are very inspiring! Thank you for keeping it simple 🙏❤️
You're welcome, and thanks for the feedback :)
Hey that was a cool, interesting vid, i couldnt look away lol. Informative, descriptive, step by step. Loved it.
Thanks! :)
Your video's are so good! Just wonderful from beginning to end and soo thorough and thoughtful. Ty!
Thanks for the feedback :) We don't have any new ones for 2020 because someone's cat started using our raised beds for kitty litter pans so we have to figure out how to deal with the problem. Putting up a fence isn't an option.
I think they wash " saponins" off the outside of the seeds to get a better flavor wherever they grow them. Have a good week, Thank you for sharing !
You're welcome, and enjoy your week (and beyond) as well :)
By the way ! Your video is the best video about Quinoa i have wat hed. Very informative and professional!Thank You
You're welcome. :)
He Bro well documented! I have some growing now out in the desert. It's doing well enough. It's 2-3 feet tall. Some are purple just beautiful! The seed heads are coming on strong. I had no idea what it looked like until now that I have seen t in rows. I hope the strong winds don't destroy them. Sure is a beautiful plant the ones that are red and purple! Grown from just bulk store bought seed .
Thanks for sharing. It's helpful to know that it grows out in the warm desert as well as the cool Northeast.
I love to see videos like this. So many just talks about stuff, but I love to see them do it. I will definitely try to grow some quinoa.
Good luck with your quinoa crop!
Thanks for doing these videos! I've been thinking about growing this in our new garden as we seem to eat a lot of it lately..I'm very glad to know what we are getting ourselves into with the harvest! 😂
You're very welcome - I'm glad you found them helpful. By the time you harvest the quinoa, maybe someone else will have come up with an easier way to remove the seeds. Good luck!
i dig organics that reminds me! I found another video later that day...they had two plastic tubs...and a fan. They poured the seeds from one tub to the next in front of the fan and after 4-5 times the seeds were nearly clean! (granted..they made a mess...haha...it was everywhere!) The heavier seeds fell on down but everything that was lighter was blown away. It seemed to work ok. Still tedious a bit..but it looks like that's just the cost of home grown goodness. :) :)
Good job making this video! It is so thorough and helpful.
Thanks! :)
Thank you, sir. This video is a real gem. ❤
You're very welcome :)
Very nice video , I think this Spring I will give it a try
Thanks for the feedback, and good luck with your quinoa crop :)
Thanks. Very helpful. I've grown 'temuco' quinoa in Ireland. The packet tells me to wash the bitter saponins away: I've still to taste it!
You're welcome, and thanks for the feedback. We've kind of gotten used to the stronger taste.
Sure is beautiful like the kind of sorghum you use to make brooms. I always wanted to grow that and now I want to grow this, too.
Sow many seeds, so little land :)
I know the feel. I ordered a bunch of seeds in 2019 then broke my back so bad it still isn't healed, but I tried planting some and they all failed. I can't grow things in the state I live in like I could when I lived in my old state. Our parcel is small and lots of trees.
Thanks, your video was helpful as a friend gave me some fresh quinoa stalks to take home and I was wasn’t sure what to do with them exactly after I had dried them out (I let them hang from my kitchen ceiling for a month) I now have a little big bag of quinoa ready to cook up. I find the “processing” part of growing fruits and vegetables to be rewarding work. It makes me appreciate the resulting food all that much more.
You're welcome, and glad it was helpful :)
Oh nice. I wish these grow in tropical areas
Great Quinoa growing videos, Do you think tossing the Quinoa in a light wind would separate the chaff from the grain similar to how poorer cultures separate chaff from rice?
Thanks for the feedback. I think someone else tried the wind method that and had success. My crops are usually fairly small so the hand threshing method works fine.
Super awesome !! Thank you
You're very welcome :)
Very nice video. I'm going to grow it next summer. thanks
Thanks. Good luck with your quinoa crop next summer!
Again, great effort. Thank you.
You're welcome.
Is you thinking that the one rinse was good to remove the saponin? Love this video. Nancy. Sekiu, WA. We are about to harvest.
It tasted fine and had the expected texture so I think one rinse was enough :)
Thanks for the feedback, and congrats on a successful growing season!
What is saponin? Is it pesky or poisonous?
Can you cover the quinoa🌿 with “plastic sheets” to protect during the storm ☔️⛈…?
We could probably use row cover, but that would be time consuming and adds to the overall cost.Storms are part of nature so we generally try to go with the flow.
Would a low fan blow the chaff away? That is how my grandfather separated dry peanuts from their skin, but peanuts are much heavier than quinoa seed. A light breeze outside, rub between fingers over bowl or bucket and breeze blows chaff away. Hopefully heavier seed falls straight down.
Our quinoa crop/harvest is small so it may not work with a larger crop, but we tried a decent-quality, small personal fan and it worked . . . for the most part :)
For me, the water-in-the-bowl method was easier.
I am planning to grow quinoa in my garden. I work 300 kms away from my house and garden, usually going home once a month but I still would like to make use of the garden. Do you think that it would work? Do they need a lot of attention?
Depending on your soil, if you prep the bed correctly that should take care of nutrients, but if the weather doesn't cooperate you'll need to provide water. Quinoa really isn't any more difficult than other plants. You'll have to try a few seeds/plants and see how it goes. Good luck :)
@@idigorganics thank you. Where I live the soil is very good. I did some gardening last year. I planted almost everything I could possibly imagine, but last year I was living at that place. This year I moved because of a work, and won't have much time to take care of it, so I was curious if quinoa would survive with minimum care and attention. Thanks for the info.
Great video again, thanks!
Thanks again for the feedback, and . . . you're welcome :)
Excellent! Thanks.
You're welcome, and thanks for the feedback :)
Don't know if it would help not out of experience but out of what I've watched today it said to put them in old pillow casing or large paper bags I'd say the paper bags cuz that's what I used to make avocados get ripe I think it would dry the seeds out Quicker
Thanks for sharing.
Excellent video! I subscribed!
Thanks for the feedback and the sub, but between moving last year (probably no veggie vids this year) and being frustrated with Google's decision to place ads on any and all videos, we're way behind on updated the channel. Sorry :(
@@idigorganics Thanks for replying! I know it takes SO much time creating YT videos.
Great video, very informative, thank you!
You're very welcome. :)
You need to clean the quinoa better to remove the saponan(sp?)Easy way...mason jar with a piece of nylon stocking over it. Tighten the ring. Put it in the sink and for efully run the cold/tepid water into the jar. Every so often empty the water out . Just tip the jar upside down and drain it. Do the same thing until the water runs almost clear. Undo the ring and dump into a saucepan. Cook with broth or water. I bring it to a hard boil put a lid on pan and shut the burner off. Let it sit for 20 minutes. Then fluff with a fork.I make black bean quinoa burgers. AWESOME!
Great idea for washing the quinoa, and the black bean quinoa burgers sound delicious! Thanks for sharing
Really interesting. Roughly how much yield do get per plant? Was that 9oz plus the rest in the tub just from the first plant that was already dry or was that also the ones you laid out to dry for a while?
The harvest in the tub was most of the stems except for a few large stems still hanging in the garage. I honestly don't remember the actual weight of the final harvest. Sorry.
@@idigorganics that’s okay. That’s helpful enough as a starting point. I don’t expect to grow a year’s supply of everything the first time I try it. I’ll probably start with about 15 plants I think. I will have to find a more efficient way of processing it though. I have a chronic illness and pain issues in my hands. That tedious stuff won’t go well. I have a mouli grinder/food mill and am thinking that might be useful. An idea I’ve had for threshing larger grains like wheat is to use a cement mixer and put something heavy like a cricket ball in with the grain as it’s running which I think will be like the action of beating the grain to release the seeds. I think. Bit of a risk to buy a cement mixer just hoping it might work lol. Anyway. Not sure if that might be a bit aggressive for quinoa. Maybe different balls will work for different grains. Only way to find out will be to try 😁 That’s going to be a strange conversation at the sports store 😂😂😂
Thank you for sharing.
You're welcome. :)
Get a pillowcase and put the heads in and shake vigorously, then separate with the water and wash off the chaff, then dry and store
I'll try that next time. Thanks for sharing :)
You can try a screen off a window. It might work better or some type of screen.
Thanks for sharing :)
Cool
thanks
quinoa yum
yum and healthy :)
What is your guess on how many ounces of grain will one plant produce? Thank you
I'm not really sure - sorry. I wasn't sure how well the quinoa would keep, so we kept enough for a few months and shared the rest with friends and family.
@@idigorganics Found this on the net. The quinoa plant typically produces 1 to 2 ounces of seeds, but can produce up to 6 ounces if grown in fertile soil. Quinoa plants can produce 6 to 26 pounds of grain per 100 square feet which is 10 feet by 10 feet.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing :)
Try wind for chaff removal . No wind blow! Chaff not Chafe
Awesome!
Thanks for the feedback and have a great day! :)
i dig organics you’re welcome. With this skill, you’ll never starve. That’s a blessing from God. Keep up the good work!
Thank you!! :)
You're welcome :)
I think this type of separating is done outside in front of a fan. As you agitate the seeds the chafe will blow away.
Yes, that would work, but it makes a bit more of a mess.
@@idigorganics Outside is the key. Good video though. Do you continue to grow quinoa?
I only have 16 raised beds and due to crop rotation for organic gardening there wasn't enough room to grow quinoa again. I'll probably try again next year.
@@CheaddakerT.Snodgrass this is a good crop to plant in the wilds. Nobody will know what it is.
Black quinoa is really short