A collection of hand-drawn illustrations of Vermont whole grains including oats, rice, rye, wheat, and barley, with some grains scattered and labeled, accompanied by the Vermont Harvest of the Month logo and website, promoting whole grains.

Whole Grains

​A grain is the edible seed inside a cereal crop. These grains are comprised of four parts: the husk, the bran, the endosperm and the germ. The husk is inedible and has to be removed before it can be consumed. The bran is a thick inner covering

that is made up of several layers. The germ is the part of the grain that produces the sprout for a new plant to grow, and the endosperm is the soft inner part of the grain that provides nourishment for the seed after it is germinated. A whole grain is one with all these components except the husk, if the grain no longer has the bran or germ there will be a loss of nutrients.

Downloads (PDF):

A close-up of a pile of toasted wheat grains on a white background.

Reading List:

Recipes:

Two young girls working on a farm, one holding a bunch of dried straw and the other writing on a notepad. They are surrounded by hay, a blue tarp, and wooden structures.

Blog Posts:

Harvest Videos

A square-shaped granola bar coated with sunflower seeds on a light wooden surface, with sunflowers in the background.

Harvest Photos

Close-up of wheat stalks with a ladybug on one of the stalks under a partly cloudy sky.
Close-up of numerous raw wheat grains scattered together.
Crushed oats spread on white paper