Post by Alan on Feb 10, 2010 20:10:19 GMT -5
I am thankful to friends here who have helped me to track down some painted mountain corn, it is greatly appreciated.
A few notes about selective breeding and the project I am working on regarding painted mountain.
One reason for seeking out such early germplasm for a climate such as mine in Southern Indiana where we can actually grow really long season corns is to hedge bets against climate change (no, not supposed global warming) such as was experienced in 1816 via the year without a summer. Feeding ourselves and our livestock will be of utmost importance.
I have in the past grown painted mountain, mostly for fun, but I haven't been particular about selecting and as such I needed some more germplasm and for that I think my friends.
While speaking with Carol Deppe we talked a lot about selective breeding and how one genetically dierse variety can become many individual varieties, we also talked a lot about the cullinary quality of vegetable varieties and targeted breeding regarding cullinary quality, her insights in this are were particularly revealing and I look forward to reading her new book, the section on potatoes alone will deal with a lot of Tom Wagners varieties and their various uses and I think will come in handy for many of our friends here.
Regarding corn she revealed to me that the Alleurone color, pericarp color, and kernel color in general can have a lot of influence on taste. This is something I have picked up on in the past and we discussed a bit the "muddy" flavor that painted mountain tends to impart. Carol herself has been working with Abernaki (Roy's Calicas?) corn for a few years selecting individual color lines with high cullinary quality which she should be releasing in conjunction with her book this August. This comes in handy for many reasons, for one these varieties could be grown in blocks side by side and still be maintained,even with minimal crossign, as individual varieties, or even as one whole varieties, in other words your not going to change the DTM or agronomics of the crop through a bit of crossing between the four individual lines, my plan is to do the same thing with painted mountain, selecting for flower and hard meal properties as well as parching ability (should it be present in the crop). Eventually I plan to release four-six varieties from painted mountain alone.
At the same time I will be evaluating Bear Island for the same qualities.
A few notes about selective breeding and the project I am working on regarding painted mountain.
One reason for seeking out such early germplasm for a climate such as mine in Southern Indiana where we can actually grow really long season corns is to hedge bets against climate change (no, not supposed global warming) such as was experienced in 1816 via the year without a summer. Feeding ourselves and our livestock will be of utmost importance.
I have in the past grown painted mountain, mostly for fun, but I haven't been particular about selecting and as such I needed some more germplasm and for that I think my friends.
While speaking with Carol Deppe we talked a lot about selective breeding and how one genetically dierse variety can become many individual varieties, we also talked a lot about the cullinary quality of vegetable varieties and targeted breeding regarding cullinary quality, her insights in this are were particularly revealing and I look forward to reading her new book, the section on potatoes alone will deal with a lot of Tom Wagners varieties and their various uses and I think will come in handy for many of our friends here.
Regarding corn she revealed to me that the Alleurone color, pericarp color, and kernel color in general can have a lot of influence on taste. This is something I have picked up on in the past and we discussed a bit the "muddy" flavor that painted mountain tends to impart. Carol herself has been working with Abernaki (Roy's Calicas?) corn for a few years selecting individual color lines with high cullinary quality which she should be releasing in conjunction with her book this August. This comes in handy for many reasons, for one these varieties could be grown in blocks side by side and still be maintained,even with minimal crossign, as individual varieties, or even as one whole varieties, in other words your not going to change the DTM or agronomics of the crop through a bit of crossing between the four individual lines, my plan is to do the same thing with painted mountain, selecting for flower and hard meal properties as well as parching ability (should it be present in the crop). Eventually I plan to release four-six varieties from painted mountain alone.
At the same time I will be evaluating Bear Island for the same qualities.
