Market Farming

[KAKerby AT aol.com]

Interesting.  We ran into a variety of oats, purchased from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply in California, that appeared to be perennial.  It resprouted after cutting the mature heads of grain.  Not just one or two stalks but entire sections of planting area.  I wondered if that was something new or if that had been known for awhile.  I'll have to check to see if any of our seed this year does the same thing.

Leslie - say hi to Salina for me.  Family friends hail from there; not too many folks can say they're from Salina.

Kathryn Kerby

frogchorusfarm.com

Snohomish, WA

 

In a message dated 1/13/2011 9:13:48 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, unschooler AT lrec.org writes:

I'm not really following this conversation as I'm swamped at the moment, but thought I'd mention one thing. Please excuse me if it has already been mentioned....  Wes Jackson at The Land Institute has been working on perennializing annual grain crops. They have a nearly-market-ready perennial wheat that they're calling Kernza that they are trialing on a larger scale next year.  They sold some Kernza flour last year at their annual festival (The Prairie Festival) and it was fabulously delicious and it is more nutritious than (annual) wheat.  Grown as a perennial, Kernza has a MUCH longer root system that is able to hold soil against erosion, be far more drought tolerant, and require lower inputs. Jackson also intends it to grow as part of a polyculture--not as a monoculture crop--however, I'm less knowledgeable about how that harvest works.  Anyway--I don't believe it is available as a commercial seed crop yet, but I expect it will be in the next few years. And they MAY be loo
king for small growers who will trial it in their area(s).  By the way....the Kernza flour sold for $10/lb., though I think it was mostly a fundraiser for their research. We bought some to try it and I'm glad we did--best pancakes we ever ate!--but we couldn't afford to eat like that too often! 

--Leslie (who regularly attends The Prairie Festival, Salina, KS)
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