wheat

[bunkie]

thanks tim! alan! it does sound a lot easier...now to find a flat spot... ;D

[bunkie]

this is an interesting site posted at idig on heritage wheat.

www.growseed.org/index3.html

(on this site) this is interesting in seeing what is being grown out in the northeast...

www.growseed.org/now.html

tim, were there any 'original' perennial wheats, i.e. perennial heritage wheats, ryes?

[atimberline]

No Bunkie, there are no heritage grains that are perennial... not that we have any history/knowledge of. ...all the grain in the world, except for wild rice, is annual.

[Alan]

Interesting, it makes one wonder how many other early breeders may have worked on perrinializing grains and had some amount of success, failure, or somewhere in between, only to later have those lines be lost or die out, there is just so much we don't know about our agrarian history and cultures in general.

[atimberline]

yes... it is interesting. ...based on my interaction with many older breeders who have passed on, who knew still other generations of breeders,... and based on my hunts for seedsavers as a young fellow (before the day of SSE), ....and based all the history that my history student father swamped me with, ...and the history I gleaned from old old people I would talk to as a kid, and listen to about the old days... the experiences of their grandparents, stories of the days before them... this world has been been thru countless wars, accidents, and tragedies ...anyhow, back to you and your wondering... YES, there has been and there continues to be big losses of incredible material, and knowledge. ...primarily because no one who could take an interest took an interest in time to save what there was to save. ...since we are talking perennial grains, I can give you a recent for instance of a perennial wheat that has been totally lost, It was a rhizomous one breed in Canada, Quebec ...if i am recalling correct...(I had notes of the details a few years ago, and talked to one involved in its developement.) ...it would yeild 60-70 % of what the aver. wheat would yeild in it's day. ...but you can not find seed one, root one, ...and just last week when i did a huge search for it via the internet I came up with absolutely nothing that would indicate that it ever existed, Amazing! ....history is constantly disappearing. ....let us save what we can... let us make the best we can ... and pass it on.

[Alan]

Just sourced quite a few varieties of endangered wheat from the middle east, most particularly Iraq via Gatersleben. This year I have enough room and enough places to cowbird to keep this stuff going. Just from taking a moment to investigate the grain I was sent (sourced from the farmers themselves) I am able to see a lot more cultural mixing than I have in past accessions, should make for some particularly drought tolerant stock this year and some interesting genetics, once I grow it out and get some stock built up I'll make sure and offer it up to anyone interested.

BTW Tim, I almost have enough questions for our interview, I'll probably contact you early next week about it and try to do it then my friend, I look forward to it greatly!

[bunkie]

alan, we'd be interested in helping growout and collect seed if you need help. we have several acres in the back of our property doing nothing but growing clover and weeds. we grew triticale there one year, 15 plus years ago. nothing since.

[Alan]

Thanks Bunkie, as soon as I get my stock up on these varieties this year I'll get some sent to you for next year my friend, thanks for all your support!

[macmex]

Oops! I "misplaced" this thread and never responded to Bunkie's question. I grew about 10 X 10 feet of Red Turkey Wheat and about 4 X 1 foot of Ethiopian Hulless Barley, last year. It's time for me to plant Barley now, and I only put out about 4 x 2 feet of the wheat for this year, since I have a stack of stuff, still in my shop, needing threshing.

George

[bunkie]

how did you like the hulless barley george? we grew about 75 plants of it last year. have cleaned a bunch, but still have a bit more to do. haven't tried cooking with it yet.

are you starting your grains in cells? we did last year and had great success with it. going to grow hulless oats as well as the other grains this year.

i wonder if there is a 'hulless' wheat out there???! ;D

[orflo]

Here's something for breeding wheat:
new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=News&itemid=NOED20%20Feb%202009%2008%3A49%3A06%3A767

[raymondo]

Are they talking about horizontal resistance in that article orflo? It sounds a little like it but they are not very specific.

[grunt]

Finally remembered where I saw this www.realseeds.co.uk/winnowing.html