Barley Harvest

Yesterday, as the sun finally slid behind the house and gave a reprieve to part of the garden, I took up my pruners, untangled the chicken exclusion wire and row cover fabric, unclipped our hastily-added potential rain deflector of landscape fabric, and freed our bed of barley from it's layers of protection.
I'm sure the neighbours gave a quiet sigh of relief that the eyesore was finally being removed.

Then I took a moment to house the inquisitive chickens who had been waiting for that moment with a certain chicken intensity.

There was, at one point, an intent to observe the differences in the quality, quantity, growth habits and other factors as regards each of the three varieties of heritage barley grain, but the birds - both of the wild and backyard variety - took enough interest in our crop that it would be impossible to know how opportunistic predation affected the outcome.  The point of interest now (well, after making sure the grain is properly cured), will be to see how these grains taste, sprout, and most importantly how easy they are to thresh by hand.

Our 8x4 bed, with the viable grain cut out (I'll let the chickens play cleanup crew for a few days)

Our barley harvest, separated from the stalks (which the rabbits are happily enjoying). From front to back, the barley is Faust, Lompoc and Sheba.  All the barley is inside now, sharing an oscillating fan with me while I do schoolwork on the computer.