Pumpkin weekend

I am sad to say...Pizza and my pumpkin weekend did not go as planned.  We drove out to Carnation, WA to Jubliee Farm.  A nice short drive over I-90 just past Issaquah brought us to Hwy 202, which we then took North.  We followed the signs from there, easy as pie.  Once we got out to the farm, kids and parents were running wild, tractors were bearing down upon us, pigs were muddy, a cold wind was blowing... Ok. Not really.  It wasn't that scary.

You have to take a short hayride to get to the u-pick pumpkin area and Pizza and I wanted to explore a little first.   We walked under the grape vines, and past two extremely large pumpkins...maybe 300 lbs?  We also poked our heads into the tomato greenhouse; it was really hard not to grab a vine ripe tomato and eat it.  The farm was big (that's the opinion of a city-dweller living with 700 sq ft of personal space).  During our walk, I happened upon a pretty purple plant. Ahh..the threat of the 3 p's.  Just so happens it was Amaranth.  A grain that I have been trying to find raw for a little over two weeks.  

So here I was with Amaranth right in front of me.  I talked to Julie at the front desk, she tells me that they really only sell the plant for use in flower bouquets, but that I can get it for the same price.  $0.35 per pound sounded pretty good to me.  I took the top or three large stalks and $8.25 later, Pizza and I hopped in the car for the drive home.

Yeah..in case you were following from the beginning, we totally forgot to get pumpkins.  There is always next weekend, I guess.  

Now here come's the tricky part.  I have to figure out how to get the grain off of the stalk, without taking with it the bird poo, spiders, husks, leaves, etc.  Anyone have knowledge on that subject?  I'm all ears.