It's wheat, so what."
Posted on 06/20/2016 10:37:51 AM PDT by Red Badger
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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