Small-Scale grain storage (as in, up to several tons)
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Marianne
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Link wouldn't work for me!
Several tons of grain kinda sounds like a lot.....
Several tons of grain kinda sounds like a lot.....
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Huh.... tried it again and it seems OK.Marianne said:
Yes, tons seems like a lot. My family uses about 5 lb flour/week, which comes to 250 lb/yr. 1 ton would be an 8-year supply. I saw a 200-lb load of wheat berries stored in 5-gal containers. A ton of grain would be around 60 5-gal containers!
A ton of grain isn't much in the context of storing several years worth of food for a village. Some parts of the world have frequent and severe droughts, so these amounts of stores aren't thought of as weird.
Marianne
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The link worked just fine now.
Pretty interesting stuff! You're right, a few tons wouldn't go too far in an area plagued with drought, etc.
Pretty interesting stuff! You're right, a few tons wouldn't go too far in an area plagued with drought, etc.
Icu4dzs
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I copied the entire article. I did this a while ago. Basically, I bought some metal trash cans. They are clean and keep things dry. Wheat will store indefinitely if kept dry and cool. A 30 gallon trash can holds about 3 bushel which is about 150 lbs (give or take). Of course if you decide to grow some of that you get a lot more back and it will be fresh, too!Marianne said:
This article recommends a number of outdoor techniques, but as I said, dry and cool is the critical element from what I have read.
As one of you said, 5 lb of wheat/week will only mean 250 lb/year and that translates to a ton is 8 years worth. Not bad if you ask me. You may get tired of sprouts, and bread/products, but you certainly won't starve if a problem arises.
Of significant importance is that honey will also store indefinitely given the same criteria of storage. Some folks worry about crystallization and that is no problem. Warm it up and it goes right back to liquid state.
Seems that is one of the nice things about living in the midwest where I live. We may get tired of hamburger on bread, but we won't starve!
Trim sends
//bt//
TanksHill
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Looks like a good article I will need to copy it as well.
I have some grain for my animals stored in 55 gallon metal drums. If I dump it in the drum holds over 6 50lb bags.
I have some grain for my animals stored in 55 gallon metal drums. If I dump it in the drum holds over 6 50lb bags.
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I just got 2 55-gal drums. They had white petroleum jelly in them, so I'll have to get in there with a rubber spatula or something.TanksHill said:Looks like a good article I will need to copy it as well.
I have some grain for my animals stored in 55 gallon metal drums. If I dump it in the drum holds over 6 50lb bags.
Icu4dzs
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I got my wheat 5 years ago when I moved here and it is just fine. Like I said, keep it cool and dry. You don't have to spend huge amounts of money to store it, but the more you store, the more secure you feel! (at least I do) I don't appear to have much of a problem with critters in it either. They all seem to have died after the first year.
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