"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead "The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller
R Ranson wrote:Looking back on the last year and what I need to grow grain with minimal human assistance, I need a grain that can be planted in Oct, and harvested by the end of May, and another grain that can be planted at the start of April, and harvested before the end of Sep. Both grains will need to tolerate frost. The winter grain needs to withstand too much water. The summer grain needs to tolerate too little.
Kyrt Ryder wrote:
Considering you're planning to sow your summer grain into the winter grain in April, it doesn't necessarily need to be frost hardy. It should be protected inside the Winter Grain's canopy until you harvest that.
Kyrt Ryder wrote:
I do have a few varieties that are worth experimenting on for the Summer Grain, it's the winter one that's perplexing me [and seems to require breeding work.
Kyrt Ryder wrote:
EDIT: also, it occurs to me that your barley may have performed a little better if you'd been able to get your hands on a non-Pooideae [yes, that's the name of the family that contains Wheat, Rye and Barley, no I am not shitting you. Makes you wonder if the Paleo people might be onto something ] mulch. Such as leaf litter or something. Fukuoka makes a big point about not using like as the mulch for like because of diseases.
R Ranson wrote:
Kyrt Ryder wrote:
Considering you're planning to sow your summer grain into the winter grain in April, it doesn't necessarily need to be frost hardy. It should be protected inside the Winter Grain's canopy until you harvest that.
I hope so. But we can still get a good killing frost into the middle of April.
Kyrt Ryder wrote:
I do have a few varieties that are worth experimenting on for the Summer Grain, it's the winter one that's perplexing me [and seems to require breeding work.
Nice about the Summer Grain. Can you tell us more?
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead "The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead "The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller
Hans Albert Quistorff, LMT projects on permies Hans Massage Qberry Farm magnet therapy gmail hquistorff
Hans Albert Quistorff, LMT projects on permies Hans Massage Qberry Farm magnet therapy gmail hquistorff
Permaculture market farming, plant breeding and perennial grains: http://jasonpadvorac.com
Wouldn't flour smell awfully tasty to some of the things that seedballs are trying to keep the seeds protected from [rodents in particular]?Jason Padvorac wrote:I just discovered recently that some people use flour mixed with compost or soil to make seedballs. As far as I can tell, the purpose of the clay is simply to be a binding agent that is easily available and won't harm the soil. Flour fits the bill, I'd think.
Permaculture market farming, plant breeding and perennial grains: http://jasonpadvorac.com
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead "The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller
Kyrt Ryder wrote:Any chance you could split that division four ways, so as to sell [or trade or whatnot] some to your fellow PNW permies for bulking up and experimenting?
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead "The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller
R Ranson wrote:Many people seem inspired by Fukuoka's writings, but I've seen very few people growing grain using his philosophy or method.
take a look at our project topic Permaculture Project SÃtio Terra Abençoada in Brazil
alex Keenan wrote:
They do grow Barley in Alaska. They are also good at sharing information.
https://www.uaf.edu/files/snre/C135.pdf
Are you sure about that? Your autumn rains seem to come a bit later than mine do, so you very well might have time to mature a Very Early Corn or possibly some other short season crop.R Ranson wrote:One of the main things that is keeping me from going full on Fukuoka is that my barley matures too late to put anything else in the ground. Perhaps plant breeding will help with that, or perhaps I need to plant at a different time.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
Kyrt Ryder wrote:
R Ranson wrote:One of the main things that is keeping me from going full on Fukuoka is that my barley matures too late to put anything else in the ground. Perhaps plant breeding will help with that, or perhaps I need to plant at a different time.
Are you sure about that? Your autumn rains seem to come a bit later than mine do, so you very well might have time to mature a Very Early Corn or possibly some other short season crop.
Unless when you say 'too late to put anything else in the ground' you're referring to rainfall patterns in which case you may be right. Your best bet for a Fukuoka style field without irrigation might be some sort of depression with a bit of catchment and TONS of organic matter in the soil to capture and hold moisture through the dry season. One advantage of a winter grain is that it does the much of its growing [and thus uses up much of its total water needs] during the autumn and early winter, meaning more of the spring rains stay in the soil shaded by the canopy for use by the next crop.
Alternatively is there any chance you could rig up some kind of water storage with a release valve/flood gate. Our climate has far more precipitation than evaporation -especially with some sort of shade provided to the storage- so its pretty easy to capture a few feet of depth of water for simple gravity irrigation. Even moreso if you're able to put some sort of water-permeable cover on it [fabric being the easiest, cheapest and most readily available that I'm aware of] to allow the rain to fall through but keep the sun and wind off the water storage.
R Ranson wrote:Thanks for the link. Very interesting. I haven't considered corn for a Fukuoka method crop, mostly because I don't see how I can use the corn 'straw' as mulch. Also, corn isn't a crop that I have a lot of interest in as I find most new world foods difficult to digest. But it might be worth trialing some to see if it can survive my conditions.
Hans Albert Quistorff, LMT projects on permies Hans Massage Qberry Farm magnet therapy gmail hquistorff
This is all just my opinion based on a flawed memory
Hans Albert Quistorff, LMT projects on permies Hans Massage Qberry Farm magnet therapy gmail hquistorff
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