Why not barley?

Random stupid bitching!

When I switched back to more or less vegy diet in 2010 after a carny diet led to trouble, I made barley the base. In my previous long vegy period from 1970 to 1990, I had followed hippie tradition with rice.

Barley has more complex nutrition than rice. It grows in many climates, including right here in Spokane County.** Barley is also the first of all cultivated grains, serving as the basis of measurement and money for many centuries. As a metrology freak those historical considerations matter to me. Barley serves well as the constant in all soup-like combinations.

But barley is still disdained by the organic types, and surprisingly hard to find. I bought it at Safeway until 2020. Stocking was sporadic and quality was uneven, but I learned to hoard and sort.

When Trump’s 2020 concentration camp started, I switched some items online to reduce the number of Trump Torture Trips. Nuts.com had both barley and coffee, so I’ve been ordering both from there.

Last week Nuts.com suddenly stopped carrying barley. I checked FullCircle, the regional organic food provider, but no barley there either. The latter is puzzling, since they do sell fashionable hippie grains like Kee-Nwah and Basmati Rice.

So it’s back to Safeway. No big deal now that Trump has moved on to different ways of torturing us. I’m just puzzled and a little disappointed by the low availability for such a basic nutritious common food.

** According to the WA Grains website, 90% of the barley grown here goes to animal feed. I guess that’s the answer to the puzzle. From monetary unit to only suitable for cattle is quite a status drop.