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  • From: "Forest Garden" <forestgarden@gvtc.com>
  • To: <austinperm@yahoogroups.com>, "Selene" <seleneh@bellsouth.net>, "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>, <unschooling-dotcom@yahoogroups.com>, "Rethinking Education" <RethinkingEducation@yahoogroups.com>
  • Subject: [permaculture] A sweet sourgum story
  • Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 18:07:26 -0500

Flipping thorugh seed catalogs with the kids we lightheartedly ordered two
packets of sourgum seeds: one for Kimber to grow sourgum meant for making
brooms, and the second for Ryan to make sourgum syrup. My leg was severly
lacerated just before the seeds arrived and the planting was delayed a few
weeks until I could limp along enough to throw them out and scatter a bit of
hay for mulch. I watered them and prayed for the best.

They grew surprisingly well given the random and irratic care I afforded them
as my much reduced mobility and energy forced me to focus on other
priorities. Should I also mention the 8 weeks with no rain, scortching sun,
and a lot of days over 100 degrees? I've come to respect the sourgum plant,
and its cousin's milo and sudan (planted as compost crops nearby).

When the seed heads were in the soft stage, towering high on 7 foot stalks
from what amounted to about 10 square feet of growing plants. We stripped
the stalks of leaves and cut them into approximately one foot lengths
Kimber offered the seeds heads to the chickens, who were mildly interested.

Since we didn't have a sourgum mill - not the horse to turn it - we decided
to use a kitchen version juice extractor called the 'Green Power' (like a
Champion juicer for those that remember). The first few inches of stalk
completely jammed up the powerful motor. After much cussing (on my part as
this is one of my favorite machines in the kitchen) Ryan stripped off the
tough outer-layers of the stalks and then cut the softer inner peices to inch
long lengths. These shorter, more proceessed pieces went through fairly
easily and we watched in surprise at how much juice we got. Several cups
worth!

Next we put the juice in a pot on the stove with a low flame.. Demonstrating
much more patience than I thought he had, Ryan accepted quite easily that the
boiling down would take a few hours, and he happily went off to play.

The final product was, well, interesting. It was pretty sorry looking. And
tha taste? Well, we all agreed it had potential. Maybe next year we would
try again.

We never could figure out the broom stalk sourgum - the stalks looked very
thick to us and we didn't have a clue how to make brooms out of them. They
did make a lot of organic matter to add to the compost though, and we've
decided to save the seeds for future compost crops. Who knows? Perhaps we
will actually figure out it is supposed to work...

Cheers,

Marjory, Ryan, and Kimber. .



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  • [permaculture] A sweet sourgum story, Forest Garden, 09/18/2006

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