As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
When one trials crops, you have to note all the realities of those plants. The current measure is just that, in I was out measuring the height of the barley, oats and wheat.
I was impressed with the height of these cereal grains. I will note that the corn I have growing on like soil has not exhibited great heights, and some as in Nothstine Dent, are in the 6 feet range, in nothing overly tall.
This soil has had absolutely no fertilizer. It is an old feedlot which has not been in use for over 30 years. It still is acidic in it grows too many weeds, but I would consider it virgin soil.
I keep this here on the blog for my personal records, and some odd person like myself is just going to be drooling over this technical data.
The Era dwarf wheat was 38 inches tall. It looks small, but that height is over three feet, so it is doing very well.
Anthony oats was 54 inches at shortest and 62 at the tallest. Yes 6 feet tall plants, and most of it did lodge. It is why the dwarf wheat looked so small compared to it.
The Lee wheat which lodged disappointingly, was 43 to 48 inches tall.
The Manker barley had a mean height of 45 inches. It was the most uniform next to the Era.
The beardless wheat in Thatcher was uniform at 48 inches, and I explain this as the suckers or the wheat which stooled were measured at 41 inches, and top heights of a few main plants at 50 inches protruding up.
Looking at it, it is uniform, but there is enough of the suckers to note, but this is a very uniform looking variety too.
I was looking at these crops and realized that I was witnessing something which had not been seen in America since my Grandparents and Great Grandparents were pioneers and farmers.
Entire fields of beardless wheat and my other open pollinated corns from that era. It was the Holy Ghost who pointed this out to me, in touching the past in these crops. It really is moving to touch things these people from generations past used to pioneer America, and it saddens me that all of these varieties are gone.
Yes there is Red Fife, but that is nothing that is that readily available out of Canada. So the project by God's Grace is to propigate this as the USDA expects people to in samples and like Robinson Crusoe in an island full of wheat.
The Manker has me fascinated as it grows quickly, and I wondered how it would work as fodder if cut green or grazed. My only experience with barley was a neighbor of my Grandparents who grew acres of it for his hogs. I always thought it was pretty in, barley has beards which are much longer than wheat.
I am excited about threshing these grains out by hand. Am hopeful the heads filled and am happy how large the heads have grown. My initial prejudices are toward the wheat of Era and Thatcher.
Era now that I am surprised is over 3 feet tall, is certainly as a dwarf tall enough for straw. The point of short straw is not to have to deal with it as it does get in the way. Am sort of thinking about taking my four feet long carpenters ruler to measure the neighbors wheat........as I am curious.
The crops all look healthy as other regions like North Dakota have been spraying fungicides all over the country. My conditions have been quite cold and dry early, some manageable heat, and now it is high humidity. There has not been over 5 inches of rain..........3 was at one shot, and one good inch of rain in this period.
It simply proves that a little watering on my part with a hose running directly on the roots is enough to make these crops reach for the giant in the clouds.......no golden goose, no Maryann in a french maid uniform and no giant though.
I probably should have looked for a better variety of oats, but this was an afterthought in Anthony. If it would behave though in not lodging, the livestock traditionally go wild for oat straw in munching on it, even if it does not have a great deal of nutrition in it.
Cows get malnourished when fed on it in winter.......and they weaken and go down to die.
Yes you learn so much from me by God's Grace.
That should wrap this up. I will be when this grain is ripe, do a taste testing on Baby Belle and Baby Daisy......probably give Mother Marie a sniff too, just to see what they think of the crops. Might just line up a bundle of each and see if they do a choice test for me.........great data to gather though. I just know Baby Belle took a big chomp out of the Era wheat as her preference at that moment in her reach.
OK that is a wrap. Am not looking to desire the summer away, but I will be pleased when I get to measure these grains out and see how God multiplied them.
Three years and I should have enough to eat and plant a field. God better get on this land thing, collapse, taking riches from the rich......things like that as me baby wheaties got the berries looking for a cradle to rock a bye grain and grow up, up and away.....no to me, as I am not scattering my pearls before swine.
Yes is grammatically correct as they pearl barley.
agtG
