How not to harvest Amaranth

This magnificent beast of a plant is Amaranth. It has seeds which can be used for grinding into flour. It has been one of success stories here. Grown by moi aka Under Gardener from seed, repotted, planted out, thrived. Does a convenient droop of its leaves when it is thirsty, and stands proudly over all the other plants out front.

It is ready for harvesting. Uno problemo: Just How Does One Do That! It is upwardly pointing. An Idea made entertainment in my head. 'Milk' them. You know, like you would an udder of a cow. Did I succeed? Well, sort of. I did get a yield of seed. Plus other things, like spiders and other creep crawlies.

Now for a bit of info according to the Seed and Plant Sanctuary of Canada: ' Amaranth is an ancient high protein plant from South America. Their leaves are among the most nutritious of vegetable greens, but it is their seeds which are usually eaten....the protein content has essential amino acid balance that is near the ideal ....and comes closer to meeting the genuine protein requirements of the human body than either cow's milk or soybeans. They are high in amino acid lysine, which is lacking in most cereals such as wheat, sorghum, corn and barley.'

'Wow! Sounds like a gooddee to me' I thought, and when I espied a packet of amaranth in Under Gardener/ Hubs's stash of seeds, it was 'Go, sister, go!'

Plants thrived:

So: How to get the tiny grains off the plant. Bend them over a pot, that's what I thought I would do, then shake them off.

Good idea. Didn't work. Seeds went all over the place. Then a thought: Massage! And that is what I did. Gently, as if working the udders of a cow, I massaged the flower head and success! Off came the seeds. And all the little living creatures which were making their home in the flower head as well. Such as tiny spiders, slightly bigger spiders, a couple of even larger spiders which got quickly flipped out of the pot by my fingers.

But unlike the udders of cow which conveniently point downwards, the upwardly pointing flower head has to be bent over the bowl for the seeds to be captured.

The amaranth is not very obliging on this point. It is a strong plant and it is meant to stand proud. It does not like to be bent over, although is strong enough to tolerate such rough handling although I tried to be as gentle as I could, not wanting to cause it damage.

I surveyed my supply of seeds. Loads of little insects were running amok in them. Momentarily I was quite put off the thought of eating the seeds. Then a thought: 'Why don't I put the seeds onto a flat plate so the little creatures could hopefully relocate somewhere else'. And they did!

So what to do with the seed-store. 'Put them into the pastry from which I am making a meat pie.' Another good idea which bit the dust! Unlike the dock seeds which sat quite happily in the pastry I put them into a while ago, the amaranth stayed hard and granular. Hubs didn't make a murmer, bless him, when I mentioned that I had added an extra something to the pastry although made the comment several hours later that he was still picking the amaranth grains from out of his teeth!

So it was back to the Internet, and the idea to use a wheelbarrow lined with plastic to shake the seed heads into, but!!!!! An idea has just landed in mine head! How about using one of the plastic dustbin lids which are lying around without a useful job to do! No massaging. Just gentle shaking, which will hopefully keep those little insects clinging on to the flower head and stop them from being forcefully rehomed in our awning.

Will let you know how I get on!