Posted on 06/20/2016 10:37:51 AM PDT by Red Badger
Clemson University scientist Brian Ward and his team harvested about 145 pounds of Purple Straw seed, which was grown from less than half a pound. Credit: Scott Miller / Clemson University
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The first step of an ongoing-process designed to bring a valuable heirloom wheat back from the brink of extinction has been completed with flying colors.
Last month, Clemson University scientist Brian Ward and his team harvested about 145 pounds of Purple Straw seed, which was grown from less than half a pound. Purple Straw is the only heirloom wheat to have been cultivated continually in the South from the Colonial Period into the last quarter of the 20th century. It remained a crop wheat until the 1970s, when it was then abandoned and replaced by more productive modern hybrids.
"Thus far, it's been a complete and total success, even better than expected," said Ward, who planted and nurtured the wheat in the nutrient-rich organic fields surrounding Clemson University's Coastal Research and Education Center in Charleston. "The panicles (loose, branching clusters) turned out really great, we didn't have a problem with insects or disease. Everything worked out perfectly."
Ward planted the small amount of Purple Straw seed in late 2015. He will follow up with a second, larger planting in early October of this year that should produce more than a thousand pounds by the time it is harvested next May. He again will use a sophisticated process called System of Crop Intensification to generate those yields. After a third harvest in 2018, Ward should have several tons of seed.
Purple Straw is the only heirloom wheat to have been cultivated continually in the South from the Colonial Period into the last quarter of the 20th century. Credit: Scott Miller / Clemson University
"By then, we'll have enough to dole out seed to growers who will become curators of the seed," said Ward, who recently revived another heirloom crop, the African runner peanut, in a similar fashion. "And these growers will then be able to supply the wheat to chefs and distillers. The hope is Purple Straw will eventually become widely grown across the country."
Purple Straw's fall into disfavor almost five decades ago came not from disease or infestation but rather from the rise of modern hybrid wheats and foreign introductions that were genetically designed for disease resistance, grain size and massive production using petroleum-based fertilizers. Even if fully restored, Purple Straw will not be able to compete with these hybrids when it comes to quantity, but it will stand out admirably in terms of flavor and nutrition.
The Purple Straw bioconservancy effort has already attracted attention from a internationally recognized list of chefs and distillers who are excited about the rediscovery of such an important Southern food.
"It seems like I'm hearing from everybody," said Glenn Roberts, president of Anson Mills, a Columbia-based company that produces landrace grains on more than 100 farms across America. "But regardless of the demand for Purple Straw, the preservation of the seed must come before there can be any kind of sizable distribution. And that's the beauty of being in the orbit at Clemson University. Scientists such as Brian Ward put biosecurity above all else."
Explore further: The power of purple
The soil here is thin, and under it is solid limestone-the properties on this road have more dirt than most because of it washing in on the way to the river-but it is not rich soil-I usually add composted mulch, or even some purchased additive-this is the first year I’ve thought to add washed-in silt and muck from the river.
It is about the time critter raids here begin, too-I have a fence to keep out deer, but I’ve got to dig out the bird and raccoon netting to hang over the tomatoes and peppers-they like to bite into those, and the raccoons will strip all the ripe ones off...
Monoculture is dangerous. We need preserve old brands of plants. Just in case...
Just don’t let the Tribbles get at it.
It's wheat, so what."
Agree. I’m glad this is being cultivated still.
You might also include in the better taste department, the Anasazi beans that were cultivated from a very few found in a pot in a dig.
They cook quicker and will cook at higher altitudes and have a really good sweet taste. Lots of stores carry them now as they have been resuurrected as a commercial foodstuff.
I wonder how they'd do in West Virginia.
But that one was quadrotritacaly(sp?)-a high yield wheat developed in the old USSR...
Do you know a source for the Anasazi beans for planting?
Won’t cost but a couple of dollars to try. Go for it.
Unless you want to find a 1000 year old pot with some dried beans in it out in Arizona or Utah, I just plant a few from Whole foods or some other store that carries them.
If they want to keep the wheat commercially available, the producers will have to create demand.
Otherwise, it will fade again.
5.56mm
Thanks-no Whole Foods within about 60 miles, but there’s a health food store in the nearest “real” town-6000 people and 22 miles away in the next county-I’ll give them a call tomorrow...
I’d be bagging all that river muck I could get if I were you.
I think limestone subsoil would be preferable to the adobe I’ve got. But I can ameliorate it all the same. I’ve been thinking about trying a clover cover crop. Or maybe buckwheat. My neighbors will wonder what the hell I’m up to now... although actually they all admire and are entertained by my gardening adventures.
I’m in a suburban area... no deer nearby but there are raccoons and coyotes and rats. I’m guessing raccoons are the thieves even though I never see them.
Good luck. A mess of those beans with a red onion and some cornbread is all a Texan needs to make a damn good meal.
Yes. It is cool. I’ll try to remember to link it to the Friday garden ping. I ordered some heirloom wheat, but didn’t get it planted either.
I am hoping to plant some winter wheat this fall. We still have a large coffee can full of grain that we grew 2 years ago. I grind small amounts in a coffee grinder than has a fine ground setting. Then add it to flour when I make homemade bread.
Trouble is, now that I am on low carb, I almost never make bread, so we don’t use the grain up as fast as I thought we would. Still, I like to keep a couple of packets on hand, just incase TSHTF.
Bread, Peanut butter, and veggie soup - that’s a hard times menu that one can provide just from the back yard garden.
It’s future really depends upon the DNA secrets it may contain as to what its real value is..................
thieving animals.........future compost ingredients............
One trick that works well with clay soil is to plant daikon radishes, and then leave them in the ground to rot. It stinks to high heavens for a while, but you wouldn’t believe the difference!
Daikons are sometimes referred to as “nature’s rototillers”.
I just recently read about daikon radishes and had been considering them as well. Thanks for mentioning them.
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