It’s that time of year again! Corn is going into fields all over the countryside, which means it’s time to sow the Job’s tears so that I’ll be able to bead on into the winter.
Job’s tears are the seeds of a grain plant that grow all ready with a shiny grey coating and a hole through the middle! I saw them in the Seed Saver’s Exchange catalog a few years ago and couldn’t resist trying to grow them. I started making jewelry with these Job’s tears and other natural materials and just couldn’t stop. That’s how Authentic Arts came into being. But how do Job’s tears come into being?
Well, what I learned the first year I grew them, is that they don’t need very fertile soil. (I grew them in the regular vegetable garden and plants that were only supposed to get 3 feet tall grew to a towering 6 feet!) So this year, I’ve sown them in the drier, less-fertile strip of ground between our driveway and the neighbor’s.
I planted them about 2″ apart. I’m not sure yet what the ideal planting distance is. The plants grow like corn, but much skinnier, and as I’m only growing one row of them here, they should get plenty of light and nutrients.
As with other seeds, I covered them with 2-3 times their width of soil, and gently patted this down. I made sure that the line they’re planted in would form a little trench to make watering easier, especially as they’re by the side of the driveway where water will tend to run off of the earth and onto the cement.
I’m going to calculate how many seeds we harvest per foot when the plants are sown at 2″ apart. Next year, I’ll sow sections at different spacings and calculate how many seeds we harvest per foot and eventually come to know the ideal planting distance and also how many feet of plants I’ll need to have enough seeds to keep me making jewelry for a whole year. I’m also hoping to harvest enough seeds this fall to be able to offer packets for sale in my Etsy shop for any crafters interested in growing their own plants, or just wanting a packet of beads to experiment with.
I think these seeds are just beautiful, and I’m looking forward to having a whole stash of them again so that I can use them more liberally in my designs. I’ve been rationing them because I didn’t want to run out of seeds for planting! I’ll continue to post updates on the plants progress as they grow so that you all can see how these little miracles come to be. (I’m using the picture I took at the top of this post as my desktop background, if you like it, I invite you all to do the same!)
Yogeshwaran says
I want to this seed packets where I buy pls tell me the packet
Jenny Hoople says
I sell them at jennyhoople.com/jobs-tears
Stephanie Matos says
I’m growing these as well! These beads were sent over from the Azores Island from a family member who would make beautiful Rosary beads and jewelry.