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["Robert Walton" <waltonrp AT gmail.com>]

>  A good number of years ago I got some soybeans from the
>  health food store and figured they were not GMO.  I grew the yellow and 
> black
>  varieties.  Turns out they grew well here and I've saved seeds from them 
> ever
>  since.

Interesting information. I may get mechanical, but not that much that
the size would be an issue.  I may get some seed from Seed Savers and
go from there. One thing that I did find in my researching since I
first posted is that soybeans are hard to hybridize since they are
self pollinating. I didn't know that and thought that in addition to
gene splicing, they here mostly hybrids. That's good, I just need to
stay away from the GMO stuff.

>  I would also put the bug in your ear that fodder beans need not be 
> soybeans.
>  The small seeded fava beans (tick beans) and even cranberry beans make good
>  feed supplements as well.

Bug's in my ear. I am plowing up 1 1/2 - 2 acres that will make a nice
field. It's been goat pasture (read, brambles and weeds)  for a while
so the plan is to green manure it this season. I can get 3 or 4 crops
in. I'm thinking about soybeans and/or cowpeas. Cowpeas do real well
here and the chickens do well on them.

I guess a drawback of soy is that it needs to be cooked before eaten,
I don't think that is an issue with peas/beans, so I might be better
to grow the peas and use that for chicken feed.

>
>  The seed source for Bloody Butcher corn was ridiculously expensive so some
>  several years ago when I found three ears of it for sale at the produce 
> stand
>  for fifty cents (left over as Thanksgiving decoration), I planted those 
> and have
>  had a big crop of it ever since.

Good find. I was looking at soybean seed last night at Seedsavers and
it was same riduculous. Soybean seed at a seed house goes for $25 for
50#. Same with BB. I know the overhead of the seed saver orgs is high,
but they need to get prices to reality levels.

> It is an outstanding variety of OP corn
>  second on this homestead only to Hickory King,    It not only yields 
> enough to
>  be a feasible feed corn, it also makes good cornbread and decent masa as 
> well.
>
That's real good news. I grew Hickory King one year and it is
outstanding. Poor ground and it produced well. The kernals were really
big and that is the reason to try BB.

Thanks for the good information,

Rob - Va
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