Cereal Grain Review

As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.


This is a mid term review of the cereal grains which I have been doing test trials on. These grains as far as my searching has revealed are not available anywhere on the planet for bulk purchase. They are like most things in this world, only in reservoirs of germ plasma as Monsanto devours the world.

The grains, Era dwarf wheat, Anthony Oats, Lee wheat, Manker barley and Thatcher wheat, were doing well in a drought. I did water them, as I had only 5 grams to start with, and I needed these heads to fill with grain, so thus the watering.........I did not over water though.

I was impressed in the barley headed out at 3 feet. The Thatcher was close to 4 feet as was the Lee wheat, while the Anthony oats attained almost 5 feet in height.
The Era is around 2 feet tall.

Era was robust in the cold and dry weather, as was the Thatcher. Manker Barley did well, but all came along with warmer weather and moisture.

In the drought, the grains all performe quite well. Baby Belle chomped on the Era wheat........meaning that grass wheat is more alluring to animals, which might be a better straw for them in bedding and supplemental chew food to fill in with real food.

Things were looking pretty good, except the Lee does not seem to be as heavy in as many heads. The heads appear heavy in larger seeds, but this wheat did not stool or sucker like the other varieties.
Lee though had two and half dead heads in the row.

Then came the test which matters. I have these grains in a sheltered location, and we received an inch of heavy rain with some wind. To this, the Anthony oats lodged or went flat, so did the Lee wheat.
Lodging is a factor which can be a real mess in harvesting, and I have to factor that in, when I noted that the numerous Thatcher heads did not lodge in the least, nor did the Manker barley, nor did the dwarf wheat of the Era.

Era has captured my attention, as it is robust, produces numbers of heads even when Baby Belle at a swath out of it, and it does not lodge. My focus at this point is Thatcher the beardless wheat, which is a grandchild of Red Fife, and a much better wheat in production for the States, and this Era which is most interesting.
The dwarf is important because if you have limited resources and do not need large volumes of straw, that straw becomes a problem in your fields in dealing with it. You either burn it, plough it under or it cause problems with your little hoe and in trying to sprout things, as it dries out your soil.

At this point in the wheats, Thatcher seems to produce the greatest amount of heads, with Era close, and Lee being less. Lee though seems a larger kernel head.....but again it lodges.

Only harvest will prove what is of value now. The heads have to fill. Size of kernels is a factor and the big one is yield. Numbers of kernels which are smaller does out produce fewer large kernels.

On disease, I noted something that looked like some rust spots on the oats leaves. Rust is not a good thing as it limits production. I did not notice any on the grain heads though, as that is where rust resides.

I would have liked to have found a hulless oats, with less oil in the seed, as this has it keep better, than to have this Anthony, but I will, the Lord willing by next season. Hulled oats is good for feed though for livestock and in reading Canadian reviews of damage to hulless oats in harvest, I wonder if they would just wait a bit longer in combining it, would harden those tender seeds..........cut it a bit green as is the normal practice with oats, let it ripen in the swathe for awhile......get a rain on it to rot the straw a bit, and harvest with ease.

That though is another grain for review.

I really enjoy this growing heritage cereal grains. It is interesting to watch them develop and find out that some are better in my location, than others are. If I had made the mistake of only growing Lee, I would have a lodged grain and that disappointment. I hope it raises itself as grains will sometimes, but Anthony and Lee appear to be too top crop heavy for their straw.

It is not that easy growing your daily bread. Not all is barely for beer and malt o meal easy. Manker is a 1970's variety, so it has more development, but as I review this, Thatcher is 1930's beardless wheat, while Lee is 1950's. and Thatcher is the more reliable.

Put it this way. There are reasons the old wheat only produced so much grain. The food value was higher as the nutrients the plants took up was not diluted in larger production. I am assuming that the new jumbles of hybrids also have more "thangs" going on in them in chromosomes to aggitate the body with allergies, just like Round Up crops of algae.
That is another subject, but it comes down to a reality of your putting in an acre of wheat and hoping for 25 bushels of grain for your bread to thresh out........and you have this fine crop, and it rains, and there it is, all flat on the ground, and you have to hope it does not rot, so you do not starve.

I realize that not everyone has the resources to do the things I do, nor the time. I certainly do not have the time, as the richtards are still pondering donations, and I do not have the time. It is though a necessity that God has me focused upon for reasons yet to be revealed.
I know that a few people will find this, and will revel in the information as it is million dollar information which will save them years of trial and tears........and might just save their life.

Lee might be a wheat which just requires less nutrients, and dry field conditions, so it does not grow so tall nor overload on the heads. I only can assess though that two other wheat varieties, on weedy virgin ground, and no fertilizers, did not lodge. For my conditions, that puts Thatcher and Era ahead.

I am not promoting Thatcher or Era, as it might not do well in your location. It just happens to do well here this year. Thatcher is as stated and offspring of Red Fife, and as Red Fife did best in Canada......even they did a cross around 1900 for something named like McQuire or something and later the Americans around the Minnesota region produced Thatcher, and then left that for other bearded varieties.
There are local varieties for the south and the west. Very few are available in the northeast. It is just something that needs to be found out in trials. If you have a local grower by some God blessed reason, who has a good heritage variety, then that is probably the genus which is best for you. I like most people am not that fortunate. I have to start from ground zero........and my ground zero is better than having some Wormwood or other ground zero in trying to do this work, when the world is a cinder patch.


Nuff said


agtG