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- From: "Wyatt Jones" <wyatt_jones AT netzero.com>
- To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [Market-farming] Heritage Wheat
- Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 14:59:59 -0500
Hello All
I've been trying to decide what kind of
heritage wheat to grow and where to find seed. I was supposed to be able to
get Turkey Red from a local farmer who was giving me the hard sell but after 2
months of giving me the run around he now says he can't sell me any.
I know turkey red used to be a standard until the more modern wheats took
over but there are thousands of different kinds out there. Rouge de
Bordeaux sounds like a great one, although I've heard its actually a mix of
three types, I've also heard it was rather mild. Others like Banatka lodge
way too easily and we have some rather stiff winds her in SW Ohio.
Supposedly Ble de Radon is great but I only found that in France, I found
a government site where one can get so many kinds its incredible, GRIN, the
National Recourses Genetic Program http://www.ars-grin.gov/. But it
doesn't really give much information on the varieties and there is so much there
its easy to be overwhelmed, for example they have 5 varieties of Rouge de
Bordeaux. I also looked at the Heritage Grain Conservancy but the more I
look into that the more I get the impression that they are somewhat sloppy
breeders and the fact that they want a 10% royalty for heritage genetics reminds
me of Monsanto's piracy of public domain genetics. The fact that they
charge $25 for an ounce of seed seems common practice but since I would have to
grow it out and select it, it seems I'd be doing as much as they have since I
can get seed from the government I could be more sure of but you can only get 5
g of each kind from GRIN. Other places like the Sustainable Seed
Company also have seed but then again only in very small qtys ($8 for 25 seeds
of Red Clawson, one of the wheat varieties they used to grow around
here). I realize I'll probably have to grow a small plot to get enough to
plant 10 acres but it would be nice to get at least a couple pounds of
seed to get started, especially since I'll probably have to do some
selecting based on what does well here. Its like pulling teeth getting any
info on these varieties and what one does get seems rather vague, especially
when it comes to cultivation, wind resistance disease environmental concerns
harvesting issues etc. Some of these grains don't thresh well by hand,
others are too fragile to thresh by machine. I could just wing it but it
seems like flying blind given all the issues involved.
Anyway I'm looking for a heritage winter
wheat that is resistant to lodging, great flavor, good bread baking quality,
decent yields and disease resistance. preferably one that can handle somewhat
wet conditions on occasion as I do live in Ohio. Turkey Red seemed like a
safe bet as others are growing it, albeit in very small amounts, here and I
gravitated towards it based on apparent availability but I'd like to explore
other possibilities since there is a lot else out there and as it turns
out getting Turkey Red seed in any qty is going to be as
difficult as anything else.
Thanks
Wyatt
Jamestown, Ohio
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-
[Market-farming] Heritage Wheat,
Wyatt Jones, 11/20/2013
-
Re: [Market-farming] Heritage Wheat,
Richard Stewart, 11/21/2013
- Re: [Market-farming] Heritage Wheat, Ken Bezilla, 11/21/2013
-
Re: [Market-farming] Heritage Wheat,
andrea davis, 11/21/2013
- Re: [Market-farming] Heritage Wheat, Richard Stewart, 11/22/2013
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: [Market-farming] Heritage Wheat, Wyatt Jones, 11/21/2013
- Re: [Market-farming] Heritage Wheat, Wyatt Jones, 11/22/2013
-
Re: [Market-farming] Heritage Wheat,
Richard Stewart, 11/21/2013
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