Barley
Hordeum vulgare
Botanical family: Poaceae
Hordeum vulgare, a cereal of uncertain homeland, from Asia, grown in almost all of France; it is usually sown before winter. Sources: Tela Botanica, “Hordeum vulgare L.” (Coste's flora; Baseflor).
Full sun
Light, drained
Low: more drought-tolerant than wheat
Hardy annual: winter barley withstands frost once hardened off, but less well than wheat
Sown in autumn, overwinters in your zone
Self-pollinating: each flower fertilises itself
One plant is enough for a crop
Role in permaculture
A hardy cereal, undemanding for water (better than wheat in a dry climate). A short cycle (4-5 months). Also a very good winter green manure: sown in October, mown in March-April, it protects the soil.
Insects attracted or useful
Seasons & availability
Sown in autumn as winter barley, harvested in June and July, or in early spring as spring barley, sown from February to April and harvested in July and August; the grain keeps dry for the rest of the year.
Available: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
Guidance for the oceanic / temperate climate; it may vary with your region, altitude, exposure and growing method.
Sources
- Chambres d'agriculture France, « Tout savoir sur l'orge » (chambres-agriculture.fr/actualites/actualite/tout-savoir-sur-lorge)
- Livre Blanc Céréales (Wallonie), « Date de semis » (livre-blanc-cereales.be/thematiques/semis/date-de-semis/)
- DRAAF Bretagne (Agreste), « Les moissons d'été 2021 » (draaf.bretagne.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/10_moissons_ete_2021_cle07ae34.pdf)
Nutritional & medicinal properties
For educational purposes. Not a substitute for medical advice. Effects depend on the form, the dose and personal context.
Precautions & contraindications
Barley contains gluten: it's to be excluded in case of coeliac disease or gluten intolerance/sensitivity. As with any food rich in fibre, introduce it gradually to let digestion adapt. It does not replace medical advice in case of a cholesterol or blood-glucose disorder.
Family behaviour: Poaceae
In general, Poaceae structure and aerate the soil with their dense fibrous roots (maize, wheat, barley, rye, oats), and leave a precious straw for mulching. Hungry for nitrogen for the grain (especially maize), they make excellent winter green manures (rye, oats).
Understanding families means learning one rule per family rather than every pairing one by one. Learn more →
Species & varieties
The best-known species and varieties in France.
Common varieties
Voices of peoples
Paraphrases attributed to their documented sources. Never an invented quote.
Ancient Greece, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (founding narrative of the Eleusinian Mysteries) · Greece, sanctuary of Eleusis; hymn composed around the 7th century BC
In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (v. 205–211), the grieving goddess refuses the red wine and asks for another drink: barley meal mixed in water and flavoured with pennyroyal mint, the kykeon, which she drinks to break her fast. This gesture serves as the founding narrative of the ritual drink consumed by the initiates of Eleusis. It is barley, and not wheat, that is here the grain of Demeter and of the rite. The idea, put forward much later, that this kykeon contained a psychotropic drawn from barley ergot does not belong to the ancient text and remains debated.
Hymne homérique à Déméter, v. 205-211 (env. VIIe s. av. J.-C.) ; traduction anglaise uh.edu (Université de Houston), passage abondamment commenté dans les études sur les mystères d'Éleusis.
Attested: the text of the hymn and the ritual use of a barley-based kykeon at Eleusis. A clear distinction: the hypothesis put forward by Wasson, Hofmann, and Ruck (1978) of a psychotropic kykeon drawn from ergot belongs to contested speculation, not to a fact established by the ancient sources, the real content of the rite was kept secret. No effect of this drink is presented here as a fact, and the account is not reduced to a timeless 'Greek wisdom'.
Key takeaways
- • Prefers full sun exposure.
- • Ideal soil: light, drained.
- • Classic companion: Clover.