Growing Proteins
Proteins, who needs them?! Well we all do.
We grow many of our own proteins on our plot and we say we have a vegan small holding on the basis of having no animals, no bee hives and growing proteins such as quinoa, amaranth, borlotti beans and Greek gigantes beans.
So how much protein do we grow? Here are the facts and figures for these crops, courtesy of the USDA database.
| Crop | Protein % | Weight of crop (kg) | Protein total (kg) |
| Quinoa | 14.12 | 9 | 1.27 |
| Amaranth | 13.56 | 6 | 0.81 |
| Borlotti beans | 6.99 | 3 | 0.21 |
| Greek Gigantes | 5.00 | 5 | 0.25 |
| Total | 23 | 2.54 |
The average human being needs roughly 18 kg of protein per year so from these crops we fall rather short of the mark, even though these are high protein crops. So how do we get the rest of our proteins?
Well without doing the sums in detail, and luckily, all vegetables have proteins, like potatoes, cabbages, peas, broad beans for example.
| Crop | Protein % | Weight of crop (kg) | Protein total (kg) |
| Potatoes | 2.05 | 100 | 2.05 |
| Cabbages | 1.28 | 20 | 0.256 |
| Peas | 5.42 | 2 | 0.10 |
| Broad beans | 5.60 | 10 | 0.56 |
| Total | 132 | 3.00 |
Still short of our needs even if we add in all our crops we might come up to 10 kg of protein (5 kg each).
Now we don’t grow everything we eat, we are not entirely self sufficient. We buy in our bread flour in bulk, we buy lots of red, green and brown lentils. loads of rice etc. So how much does this provide.
| Food item | Protein % | Weight per year (kg) | Protein total (kg) |
| Spelt flour | 5.00 | 35 | 1.50 |
| Rye flour | 10.88 | 25 | 2.72 |
| Red lentils | 23.91 | 12 | 2.87 |
| Green lentils | 24.63 | 3 | 0.74 |
| Brown lentils | 24.63 | 3 | 0.74 |
| Rice | 7.54 | 12 | 0.9 |
| Oats | 16.89 | 24 | 4.05 |
| Total | 114 | 13.52 |
So with not much of the diverse range of foods, we come to close to one person’s worth and, amazingly when we calculate all the foods we can think of that we grow, buy and forage we get to well in excess of our quota.
Nor do we believe that we need the amounts that we are told we need. When we eat a healthy balanced diet and avoid more harmful foods, like refined flour and sugar, our bodies function more effectively and we can assimilate our nutrients better and therefore need less.
So although we only grow a small proportion of our own proteins and we eat a mostly vegetarian diet we find enough proteins to live a fit and healthy life. We do not rely on animals that are contributing lots of the greenhouse gases and polluting our environment.