New and old

I planted the rest of the millet in a recently disced plot in time for the rain! Hopefully the birds won't eat all the seed.

The red fife is sparse, I'm guessing because it needed more cold than we got. Sonora is still grassy and green, a few sending up flag leaves. The rye, however, is a giant that comes up to my chest and has heads. The Triple IV has heads and looks like a good stand. They reached anthesis or flowering a couple weeks ago, with their anthers hanging out. The rains knocked off all anthers, which left me concerned that they didn't get pollinated in time and begin producing kernels. But, as I've learned from farming, don't freak out until you really need to freak out. So I messaged the North Coast Grain Growers group about whether the lost anthers affected yields. O.J. Lougheed assured me that the grains pollinated before dropping anthers, so I should be nice. Phew!

Triple IV

I spend most of my time removing blackberries cropping up in the field so that they don't impede harvest. I imagine myself as a zombie slayer, returning these resurrected roots to the earth. Perhaps I can come up with short films spoofing farm work.

Lately, I've dedicated myself to building the North Coast Heritage Grain Alliance. There are many burgeoning grain operations, but in order to grow we need shared processing equipment (because buying something alone creates a big hole in your wallet) and to learn this lost practice from each other and together. Much education among ourselves and to the public about whole grains is key to securing cereals for food security. So, I've been calling up old farmers to seek advice and working with new farmers to create a processing facility. The long-time, big growers tell me it's going to fail, but it could work if all the small growers coordinate and connect with our neighbors to provide healthful, wholesome grains.