Re: Re: background info on sorghum

[Guest guest]

At 05:08 AM 8/1/2002 +0000, you wrote:

>Wheat survives this harsh climateeven better than sorghum. It was

>perhaps better? as grassland. BTW I'm planting grass this fall for the

>cow and very little wheat. What will we eat next year? Dennis

Really? I've been told sorghum is more robust in dry climates. Maybe

they use a different breed in India? I planted a bit of wheat last year

and it DOES seem robust, makes nice arrangements though I would

not consider eating the stuff, personally.

I don't know what the weather is like in Kansas, but Africa and India

seem pretty harsh. I wonder how they deal with it? What do they plant?

If you DO get into planting sorghum for sale, I'll buy a " stake " in the

crop ...

I do feel for your situation though. Our local organic farmer lost all the

spinach with a 5-day draught and 80 degree heat (around here, that's deadly,

though you'll probably laugh!).

Heidi

[Guest guest]

> --- Maybe the answer is in availability. Winter wheat allows the

> farmer to grow a crop out here in the desert in the winter. Winter

> wheat grows essentially while the bugs and weeds(or some anyway) are

> not. Also wheat can be planted in a pile of dust and whenever it gets

> rain it germinates in about 24 hours outgrowing the weeds(that weren't

> already growing). BTW wheat's about the only thing I've harvested

> this year and it (organic non-hybrid) probably yielded only 20% of the

> Kansas average. Grasshoppers ate the onion tops, drought brought the

> blackberry harvest to an abrupt halt and eliminated my sweet corn and

> peanuts. Bugs and drought killed the soup beans(an atypical Kansas

> crop but I thought maybe an alternative to soybeans). the

> watermelons and cantalope are being destroyed by striped and spotted

> cucumber beetles, mexican bean beetles and mealy bugs among others.

> Grasshoppers destroyed the rhubarb and frost and /or freeze greatly

> reduced the asparagus yield. Plus I didn't get the chicken house

> cleaned out last fall to fertilize it. My fault. Anyway wheat and

> blackberries and milk (the cow grazes on wheat pasture about 4 months

> yearly) are about all we've produced and we've been at this avocation

> 6 years. We did manage to take about 30 acres of hybrid NPK wheat out

> of production cause we did move into a wheat field and plant

> fruits/vegetables and the house and barnyard where the wheatfield once

> was. Wheat survives this harsh climateeven better than sorghum. It was

> perhaps better? as grassland. BTW I'm planting grass this fall for the

> cow and very little wheat. What will we eat next year? Dennis

Sorry to hear about all your troubles with drought. Maybe it will be a

wake-up call in Washington when they realize how many farmers in the nation

are having serious problems this year!?! Food shortages?

Peace,

Kris , gardening in northwest Ohio

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http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/know_your_fats.html