Zoran Petrov

Kali De Keyser wrote:Hello,
The texts on winter wheat "Natural agriculture : winter wheat in northern Europe according to the Fukuoka-Bonfils method" and "Winter wheat and its plant physiology according to the Fukuoka-Bonfils method" are translation from courses notes taken by students who followed some courses given by Marc Bonfils many years ago. These are not documents written by Marc himself and are rather incomplete. There is a lot more of original written material in french. Not only on winter wheat actually.
https://www.verdeterreprod.fr/3885/ -  it says all documents from Marc bonfils but some on the list are not his
https://www.permatheque.fr/2015/04/18/permaculture-recherches-de-m-bonfils-pdf/ - many subjects but not winter wheat
Concerning the winter wheat cultivation, there is a transcription being made presently. I takes time...I'm not working on it but I can put people in touch if interested to participate.

Kali for Las Encantadas

actually there is a full text by Bonfils on winter wheat that is not published (yet) - available published papers are not sufficient to have any success! Tragic death of Bonfils prevented these papers (some 120 pages) to be acknowledged.

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.

Best regards and good luck!

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.

Lawrence London wrote:
This seems to be a complete version of the original document translated into English

Winter wheat and its physiology according to the Fukuoka-Bonfils method.
http://files.uniteddiversity.com/Permaculture/Bonfils-Winter_Wheat_Physiology.pdf


How to grow winter wheat?
The Fukuoka-Bonfils method
http://files.uniteddiversity.com/Permaculture/Bonfils_Winter_Wheat.pdf

It is not - that is the reason why people have poor results.

Rick Freeman wrote:This link will let you download the article. downloadable fukuoka-bonfils winter wheat

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 found this article that explains a bit more about the Bonfils technique.
http://files.uniteddiversity.com/Permaculture/Bonfils-Winter_Wheat_Physiology.pdf

I could not download The Wheatsmith.

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"

This is not the same. Try this link for 3 pounds - http://www.moodie.biz/wheatsmith.html

David Miller wrote:It looks a lot like maris widgeon wheat.

Except that Maris Widgeon was developed in 1964 - it will be interested to see what crosses they used.

I forgot that straw of Banatka is excellent to feed cattle and there is a lot of it!

atty McCoy wrote:

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.

hvala wrote:
marc bonfils had great website overclover.com where all this was well explained but its hacked by radical islamists....

!?!? As far as I know Marc unfortunately died years ago. And to have a site in English - hardl to believe! It must be some of his followers...

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

regards