I dream of being more creative than I am. In fact, I have piles around our office, awaiting my moments of creativity. However, those moments are far too few in the busyness of this season of life.
The reality is I am just too practical. If there is a need to be creative, I will seize the opportunity, but if that need does not arise, the creativity piles before me often collect dust and then sadly retire to a Rubbermaid storage bin.
A few months ago, my practicality had the opportunity of merging with creativity. I had purchased a 25 pound bag of buckwheat from our local co-op at a great deal. On our pick-up day, I was so excited to get it and begin to prepare pancakes, bread, etc… but then found out upon opening the bag that I had purchased unhulled buckwheat.
I love my grain grinder as it is incredibly versatile, but I am unable to produce extremely fine flour with it, so my unhulled buckwheat became undeniable waste, or possibly chicken dessert, unless I could grind it at a friend’s house.
Being frustrated and not liking to waste money, I tried it in my grinder. It spit out coarse flour with black hulls still attached. I played with the coarseness of the grind and found that a somewhat coarser grind separated the hulls in a cleaner fashion and left me with part of the buckwheat that I could re-grind on a finer setting.
I put the sifter on top of my bowl and spent a half hour babysitting the buckwheat spewing from my grinder — sifting all of the hulls out from the coarse flour. At the end of that time, I had: two gallon zip lock bags full of black buckwheat hulls and two bowlsful of coarse buckwheat. The hulls found their way to my creativity cemetery in the office, and the coarse buckwheat later became some very hearty pancakes adored by all big and small in our home.
Well, those hulls sat and collected dust until summer came and a bit of time freed up. A friend invited me to sew with her; we would also teach our girls to sew. We had just enough time to go over some sewing basics, as well as make a pillow pattern for our girls to practice sewing. That was all that time allowed — we never made the actual pillows.
After forgetting about the project for awhile, on a rainy day, we remember and brought out that pattern. We sewed the pillow and pillow case, but were stumped what to use for filling.
My dear husband reminded me of the hulls collecting dust next to his bookshelf, and I excitedly grabbed them. The girls were a bit confused at my joy over the brown, crunchy hulls, but played off my excitement and proceeded to funnel buckwheat hulls into their pillows. My practicality had won and my mistake turned into a great blessing. I should have realized it could from the very beginning.
In the realm of parenthood, and real food adventures, I thank the Lord for natural alternatives to commercial “needs”. I also thank the Lord that He turned my mistake into a beautiful, inspirational, rainy day of sewing with my girls, and discovering a bountiful harvest of creativity within the walls of our own home.
Buckwheat Hull Pillow
Note: It is my understanding that you do not want to get the buckwheat wet. That’s why chose to make both a pillow and pillow case. To make a case, too (if you don’t already have one to match the pillow you’re making), just use the pattern below but make it a bit larger and don’t close the end. 🙂
1. Grind buckwheat coarsely as mentioned above. Multiple times, sift the hulls to remove the coarse flour. Do this several times to get them nice and clean.
2. Make a simple pattern for pillow. Our pattern was small for little heads: 14” length by 7” width. I didn’t add extra for seam the allowance, but you can add extra if you’d like. Mark one long end as “fold” as shown in the photo.
3. Fold fabric in half with the salvage edges parallel to the fold (or however you want to do it — think about how the fabric pattern will look on the finished pillow). Lay the pattern on the fabric, lining up the fold edge of the pattern with the fold of the fabric. Cut out.
4. Right sides together, sew 2 sides of the pillow, leaving one short end open, for filling the pillow.
5. Turn right side out, fill with buckwheat hulls. Fold the open ends inside and stitch closed by hand or by machine.
6. Slip buckwheat pillow into pillow case. Then take a nap with your sweet little one, enjoying the comfort of your new pillow, and the smiles that follow from it.
Viola! You have a buckwheat pillow and quality time spent with some wonderful little ladies in training!
Have you stuffed your pillows with anything unconventional and lived to tell about it? Please share!
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Buckwheat hulls are a traditional pillow filling in Japan. I slept on one for a couple of years after a teenage trip there. Great memories!
Yes, after making this pillow and researching the buckwheat, I came to find all of its many great uses! Thanks so much for sharing and reading!! : ))) Do you still have your pillow?
“In the realm of parenthood, and real food adventures, I thank the Lord for natural alternatives to commercial ‘needs’. I also thank the Lord that He turned my mistake into a beautiful, inspirational, rainy day of sewing with my girls, and discovering a bountiful harvest of creativity within the walls of our own home.”
Absolutely! Amen!
Thanks, Elisabeth!!!! I thank the Lord for moments such as these, and this season in my life. God bless you!
I had no idea you could buy unhulled buckwheat! I have had my buckwheat hull/sobakawa pillow for nearly 20 years, which seems kind of gross, but actually I heard Martha Stewart say she had used the same one for 30 years! They are so comfortable and I can’t sleep without it now. What a fun project with your daughters and an example to them of how you can often make your own!
: )))) I am now inspired by you to make a pillow for the rest of our family- I guess I have some grinding to do. : ))) By the way, We get our buckwheat from the Azure co-op. : )
Tracey,
Thank you for your idea! I have some hulled and unhulled buckwheat. My mill makes great flour even with the hulls (‘whole’ …wheat?) If I wanted the hulls separate from the flour, what would your recommendation be to get that? Use a blender? ~Lisa
Hello Lisa.
Our mill has different settings(Family Grain Mill)- so I put it on the coarsest one and it spits out coarse buckwheat along with the empty hulls. I then sift the hulls from the coarse flour and regrind the flour on a finer setting. I know every mill is different, so I wish I had better advice. About the grinder- maybe on pulse? Let me know what you discover- I would enjoy hearing alternate, possibly more efficient ways of getting the hull separated from the flour.
Hello, Tracy. So you reinvented the buckwheat pillow?! I think it’s so funny when I do something such as you describe and then realize that God was there way ahead of me! Best regards to you and yours. JamiefromOregon. p.s. your girls are so pretty and happy!
: )))) After making our pillows, my father shared with me that he has had a buckwheat pillow for years from when he visited China. I guess my original idea was not so original after all – however, we sure had a fun day and enjoy the little pillows. My little ladies are getting too big- but thankfully most days, they are smiles from ear to ear and warm our home. Hope you and all are well!!!! With fondness, we sure reflect upon our time in OR. God bless, Jamie. : )
Sooo I am confused as to the grinding and flour part of your post and the reference to not getting your pillow wet?..sounds like you made your pillow out of the grain? which clearly still works although isn’t the normal substance used in pillows and mattresses. I purchase 3 different buckwheat products, well actually 4….
1. buckwheat HULLS – this is JUST the seed coating, the shell, nothing else- like cracking open a walnut and keeping the shell… except with buckwheat the ‘shell’ or husk is light and fluffy and perfect for making pillows or more recently my buckwheat mattress project! You do not have to worry about getting it wet…. a SUPER easy DIY for those of us with no time or ability to sew we just picked up zippered pillow cases at the Goodwill/Value Village/thrift store and filled them with the hulls and zip them up. They come in varying sizes from a throw pillow size to a regular sized pillow case. As for the mattress pad I was able to find zippered duvet or even a futon cover might work covers at the thrift store for $8-10, a double would fit a queen bed as a queen duvet cover would be meant to drape over a queen bed so the double should fit. I forgot to check the zipper on the double I bought and it was broken so I had to use the queen but that was ok, the excess fabric I jjust tucked underneath. Otherwise it worked great – it took 104 lbs of buckwheat HULLS, not the grain for a queen mattress. I did not use a box spring or anything underneath, we just put pine plants vertically on the bed to cover up the horizontal slatting in the bed frame. Then we put the duvet cover on top of the pine planks and filled with the hulls. You may have a preference for a less thick mattress or a thicker mattress so you would have to adjust. My 12 yr old also will be attempting to fill the throw sized zippered pillow cases we found (for .99 cents and no none of them match LOL) with the buckwheat hulls and to place them side by side to sleep on. Not sure how that will work out 🙂
2. unhulled buckwheat – this is the WHOLE grain. Perfect for sprouting into say a microgreen like buckwheat lettuce (think wheatgrass, pea greens, sunflower greens etc)
3. hulled buckwheat – this is the grain that is removed from the shell, we cook it like oatmeal in the morning for porridge, or we soak it then sprout it and eat it as a sprouted porridge with almond milk, grind it in the champion juicer with the blank in or the green power to make a ‘dough’ which can be flattened into pizza crust or made into bread sticks either in the dehydrator or oven. this will NOT grow into a plant, just a sprout.
4. kasha – is toasted hulled buckwheat- same as the above except has a yummier toasted flavor 🙂 This will not normally sprout because its been toasted.
Wendy
Oh my, those mattresses sound wonderful! I will have to send your info to a friend who was looking into spending a fortune on a buckwheat mattress! : ) Thank you!
For our pillows, I purchased unhulled buckwheat- like the sprouting kind you mentioned above. I put it through my family grain mill on a coarse setting and it separated the hulls or shells from the flour or meat. I then sifted the hulls (shells) from the flour and bagged them up to use for whatever project may arise- in this case, our pillows. I took the flour and re-ground it on fine to use to bread, pancakes, etc….
For a 25lb bag of unhulled buckwheat, I probably gleaned six, gallon size ziplock bags full of hulls (shells)- not enough for a mattress. : )
In regards to the moisture, I read somewhere, although I cannot now remember, that the hulls can mold if moisture stays on them too long? Any thoughts on this?
Thanks again for sharing! I still have 4 bags behind me of hulls that I might need to save for a mattress. : )
When I got my first sobakawa buckwheat hull pillow, they were advertised for keeping your head cool and not retaining heat to make you sweat. They had not met me; I sweat a lot, plus I was living in Mid-Atlantic heat and humidity, but they dry quickly. You don’t want to soak it or throw in the washer, but you can spot clean. If you have someone that drools/slobbers, (sorry to say it) you might want to put in a pillow protector.
Mine lasted for years and I took it everywhere. It busted allover my couch. I still used it a bit half full (I don’t sew, so I just shoved it in another pillow case). The current ones advertised have plastic pellets instead of buckwheat hulls – Do Not Get Those! We found some marked down hull at the health food store and just put the bags in 2 pillowcases (someday someone will teach me to sew). The size you made with your girls makes a great travel pillow. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your buckwheat pillow story, Tracey. I discovered buckwheat hull pillows a couple of years ago and now it’s the only thing I can sleep on. I enjoyed it so much, I started making pillows and offering pillows and pre-milled and cleaned bulk buckwheat hulls for pillows online. Making your own pillow is such a satisfying project, as it makes a practical item you and your family can use every night for years!
Agreed! Sounds like you have a great business! God bless!
Thanks Tracey! All the best!
I enjoy buckwheat hull pillows for great neck support but millet hulls make a much softer,quieter pillow. It feels almost like little silky beads.you will need to Google millet hulls, I cant remember where I bought mine
Buckwheat hulls are a traditional pillow filling in Japan. I slept couple of years there. Great memories and thanks for the article.