I doubt that kamut will work - it is not old wheat. I would trust growseed.org (or tryKusa seed society) they have excellent seeds. You could try Banatka seeds although they are mixed with Bankut.
It is not complete! Otherwise people would get some results - if we do not count disasters as results. There is a full text in French that is circulating around but it is very private and for personal use. And to answer Your future question I do not speak French!
Link and related document that I mentioned in one of the previous post is not that bad.
Jack Shawburn wrote:Having an interest in developing a piece of land with a mix of grains, N fixers that currently is covered only in Heteropogon contortus grass.
I think I need to grow other hardy covers first to improve the soil structure.
Thinking of Radishes, Cowpeas and try to get Clover established before trying wheat or other cereals.
All of this on dryland, surface sown and covered with the straw from cutting the grass, no-till and 20" of rain pa"
jackommm McCoy wrote:Thanks guys.
I checked Banatka wheat, and it used to be cultivated in Poland in the beginning of XX century, but now is out of market...still some hobbyists might grow it, but no trace of them yet.
Hi Janeck
Did you get any Banatka in this season? There seems to be plenty in genebanks http://genbank.vurv.cz/ewdb/asp/ewdb_d1.asp?START=21&fname=Banatka&d1=&d2=&d3=&t2=&avail_code= I don't know a way to extract from VIR in Russia but German, Dutch, French, Polish, Czech etc just find their website, fill in their order form and they will send you for free however many you order - only 10g each, but with so many examples of this line you will already have quite a lot in the first season.
I happened to come across yesterday mention of Hungarian Wheat "Banutka", being grown in Vermont USA with very favourable mention for baking http://www.localbanquet.com/issues/years/2010/spring10/heritage_wheat_sp10.html - there are accessions of this across Europe also, but do you think or know whether this would be same as "Banatka" - just a Hungarian version of "Banatka" name?
yours
Andy
Andy I think it is not "Banutka" but "Bankut" - which is Hungerian name for crossed Banatka. Banatka is truly the only pure, authentic European heritage wheat but Bankut is not - see "Plant improvement in Hungary goes back to over one and a half century, but its main target has always been wheat improvement. Originally the aim was to raise yields and to produce drought-resistant species, which was later replaced by attempts to create flintier grain and firmer stalks.The improvement of the Bánkút 1201 and 1205 species started in 1921, and in 1933 the species was pronounced the world’s best wheat at the world grain exhibition in Regina, Canada. The Bánkút species was widely produced until the 1960s and remains one of the best stock for improvement." Bankut
I am happy to announce that we had very successful harvest of Banatka. I will share some photos of the fields that were conventionally sowed with 200kg seeds of Banatka (wrong method as Banatka has about 20- 40 shoots from a single seed) with yield of cca1500 kg per 0.5 ha. Of course no fertilizers or herbicides.
But we also tried Bonfils method and that was big success - from 40 seeds on one plot we got 5,5kg!
Now we are going to sow 0.5 ha Banatka (it is truly the only pure European heritage wheat) I will also post in coming days lab results of content of Banatka.
hvala wrote: i just found his book, but its in french. doesnt have any particular name i think, just agricultural research. if somebody is interested and speaks french, i can send him....
What is the name of the book and how many pages does it have? I am interested for the book of course. I can send You slome info in English and German.
jackommm wrote: Hello everyone My name is Jacek , and I live in Poland. Since 2 years me and my wife are starting a natural farm following teachings of Masanobu Fukuoka. We would like to try Bonfils method for growing cereals. I think I have read all the avaiable materials on the web on this (the main two are "The Harmonious Wheatsmith" and "Winter wheat and its phisiology according to Fukuoka- Bonfils method"). I have read also some reports from people trying this method out - usually unsuccessfully. So your wheat Zemljak made BIG impression on me. Congratulatuon !!! Last year I managed to establish nice white clover carpet on 1/2 acre field . So this year I will start my trials with barley, oats, spelt, buckwheat, wheat, millet and maybe rye.
Zemljak could you please give us some details on your wheat. What variety was it ? Where and when and how (one seed or couple of them at spot) was it sown? I don't see new wheat plants among the ripen ones, so are they there ,or it was just one year crop? Did you follow the method exactly or did you make some modifications? Any major problems? As well wheater you would have any seeds left for sharing( I cant find any proper wheat variety yet, even 100 would do )
thanks Jacek
Hi, sorry for late reply - Banatka is the name of wheat and I am sure You have it somewhere in Poland
and there are also few of the Busha cattle in Dalmatia left. Don't forget about us. Main strong point of Busha breed is resistance to diseases, and they can thrive in marginal land where other breeds could not succeed. Milk is of exceptional quality; more than 8% milk fat. In Dalmatia percentage of milk fat with these breed averaged around 9%.
Davor
Greetings to You Davor!
It is nice to know that there are few busa in Dalmatia as well! Please send some photos.
hercegovac wrote: Mister Zoran you have nice cattle, it is great that there are people who wish to preserve native breeds. But it is not true that pure busa cattle are only in Serbia. It is true that busa cattle is endangered (in all countrys), but there are still pure busa in Croatia, BiH ...............
It is important to mention that there are some differences in Busa from different countrys. For example Busa from Kosovo are mostly red, it is assumed that Busa cattle from Lika(Croatia) are smallest of all busa populations...............
Hello, hello!
You might be right - my observation is not based on information from the field for obvious reasons! It is based mainly from secondary sources. cattle from Herzegovina is not busa. Ones from Croatia that I saw on internet were not busa at all!
Bur Your photos are from busa without any doubts! I am so happy to see a tiger busa on one of Your photos as we are trying to preserve that type of busa. I am looking forward to hear more from You. Busa is native Balkan cattle that remains in the mountains pockets - now I know there are in Lika as well.
Bonfils method would be disaster if You don´t use pre-1829 (I think) wheat variety. The reason is quite simple - those were not mixed with hybrids, very resistant to cold, and very vigouriuos so they compete with white clover.
This is not complete cookbook (as they jealously keep full manual) but it might help:
what about import to EU from Serbia. That part needs to be checked first. As far it goes to buying one that is tricky business and takes time and patients.
Jami McBride wrote: Awh . . . I found some information about your cattle Zemljak, thank you for posting about your farm, and this breed of cattle.
Busa
The breed of cattle called Busa or sometimes Busha, Bosnian or Illyrian are a small native breed which belong to a group of primitive short horned cattle (Bos brachyceros europaeus) with multiple strains of the breed being found across the Balkans. Some sources state that the Busa has existed around the Balkan Peninsula since Neolithic times.
Busa cow and calf Photo courtesy of Zoran Petrov, Busa breeder, Serbia In the 19th Century, Busa from Croatia and Bosnia (then under the Austria-Hungarian Empire) were crossed with an Austrian breed. This cross is larger than the original Busa and it is exclusively grey in colour.
During the civil war (in Bosnia) in the 1990's, the Yugoslav army brought Busa in from Serbia, these cattle were all used as a meat supply. So although the Busa is sometimes referred to as Bosnian the use of this name is incorrect as the majority of the Busa population is in the Southern Balkans and found in the mountainous regions of Serbia.
Today in Kosovo, cattle are the main source of milk and meat with small scale farmers making up 95% of the industry. Research shows that the Busa in Kosovo is nearly the only breed which provides genetic bases for the majority of crosses in the country.
Today a pure Busa is very rare and generally are found in mountainous, hilly areas of Serbia. There is a herdbook for the Busa, which is helping the determination of the different strains and increasing numbers of the breed.
Characteristics Busa colour varies according to the regional strain. For example the strain from the Metohija region of Yugosalvia are red, while the Macedonian strain is blue-grey. In Serbia there are three strains - black (considered the oldest), red and grey.
They have a compact conformation, the average cow stands 104cm at the withers and weighs between 230 and 270kgs. The average bull measures 115cm at the withers and weighs between 340 and 430kgs.
The breed are very resistant to disease, internal and external parasites, plus survive well with a minimum ammount of management, low feed and natural grazing. It is also said that this breed is very clean as they defacate in one place only compared to other cattle which go anywhere.
The milk production is very efficient compared to their small size, each lactation averages 1400kgs over a 240-280 day period. The calves are born at about 15 to 22kgs and put 500gms on per day.
Statistics # Disease and parasite resistance # Minimal management required # Thrives on natural grazing # Efficient milk producer relative to body size
Distribution Busa can be found throughout southern Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Serbia. Breeding programs and associations are being set up to determine breed strains and standards as well as to keep Busa numbers constant.
suomi--Nicola Lloyd wrote: Are they from Serbia or would they have been in other places in europe? Im in Finland and our native cows are also quite small,we are farming on a very small scale we have 8 finn sheep and 3 pregnant Kainuu Harma (old finnish breed) we are planning on getting goats and a couple of cows. It would be lovely to hear more about your farm..... an othere animals? how big is it? are you in the mountains? have you done farming before?
Nicola.
Hi Nicole, pure buse is left only in Serbia. I would love to see photos of Your cows! We run small biodynamic farm north of Belgrade. No mountains - some hills.
I have 13 cows of busa breed. They are small cows living with us since neolithic times. Their height is not more then 110 cm and weight around 250kg (bulls 350kg) and they give 4-9l of milk daily (with 8% of fat). They are extremly rare with cca 400 left. They are very modest animals that could be compared to goats when it comes to food. Last month I struck my luck to get one of the last of its kind Tiger busa bull!!! This beauty weights only 330kg and unfortunately it is one of the last that exist. We hope to save it from extinction!
Kathleen Sanderson wrote: I found a cheese-making forum that will hopefully help me figure out how to make some of the hard cheeses that I haven't had much success with.
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