A Must Grow Plant for Anyone with the Goal of A Self Sufficient Food Supply
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- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2016
- Wild grains are a must grow when looking at growing plants to reduce
their dependancy on outside sources. It is important fod animal feed,
as well as food for human consumption. In this episode I outline one of
my favorite wild grains and ancient grains that everyone should try
growing!
Grain seeds you can purchase
Amaranth - amzn.to/2cp4obC
Sorghum - amzn.to/2byvuNq
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Marysville, MI 48040
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Want cheap chicken feed? Take a box fan attach a net sock so air blows into it at night put a light in front of the fan collect a sack full of bugs to feed your chickens.
that's thinkin' !
I use a blue light bug zapper. I took the tray off where the electrocuted bugs fall and let them drop into my fish pond. Guess you could do the same for chickens.
I saw one video where a guy threw some glowsticks in a minnow trap and left it on a tree branch overnight. Had a good amount of bugs the next day.
We just take a small semi-opaque storage box -- shoebox size but tall, turn it upside down and put a small 40w bulb fixture under it. Turn it on at night and it keeps the ducks happy all night until we turn it off when we go to bed.
i would be glad if the chickens would go after the scorpions around here....second sting in less than a month and the b****** got me twice on my left cheek...and im not talking about the one on my face. aaaargh
actually if you put a screen bag on the heads, and tie it, it allows airflow, but keeps pests out and allows it to drop out seeds in the bag, and you don't lose such a harvest. These bags are found in your wedding isle as they put rice in them and also put candies and whatnot, but its at walmarts and michaels. Sunflowers, sorgum, small heads of plants...
Deborah Elliott you can also use tooling (sp?). The same stuff that you make cleaning puffs out of. It's real easy to run some tooling under a sewing machine and save yourself a fortune. You can also adapt bag size to head size as sorghum and milo have different size heads.
I think you mean tulle, pronounced 'tool', a fabric?
downbntout yes that is what I meant. I knew I would get it wrong! Ha Ha!
That is brilliant, my goodness.
There are different types of tulle so you will need to use a fine mesh tulle for grains but its a great idea. For those who don't sew, a large square of tulle and a string would probably work as well
We grew sorghum in a biology class. a thing to remember is that it is a competitor and releases a mild herbicide around it
Taven03 I'm so glad i read this !! I was going to plant a bunch of it to bundle with BroomCorn.
very helpful, thanks
Wont hurt anybody not important unless your an insect
@@Test7017 herbicide... Still won't hurt you but will kill grass and other plants. It's also important to remember if you are composting a lot of it.
@@Taven03 organisms in the composting process breaks most things down will destroy toxins poisons even oil. Including fungi spores many kinds and sugars will help composing piles
I lived in Ky when I was a young girl. The town I lived in had an annual sorghum festival. They had mules hooked up to a large round wooden run, that they went into circles and mashed up the plant to get the liquid out of it. They cooked it up in huge cookers over an open fire. They would give all the kids a piece of the stalk and let us dip it into the hot sorghum. Good memories.
We have a sorghum festival here in OKlahoma; just can''t remember the name
What is hot sorghum like? Was it like cream of wheat, or like a syrup..?
We go to the sorghum festival every year. It’s not so big now. 5 miles away. You should come back for a visit.
@@somnyad it’s like syrup
Is this after they've harvested the grain? So it is harvested while the stalk is still green?
i've grown sorghum for a few years now, you can actualy get multiple harvests per plant if you cut the first seed head off.
Cool! Thanks for the tip!
Desert Swale Permaculture you do have to wait until the "reddish" color comes on to ensure that the protein content is viable for animal feed.
About how many weeks would you say it takes for the new head to grow in?
Interesting!
I have several of these plants in my yard that just popped up on their own, and when I noticed the birds were eating the dried seeds I left them alone. Now I know what it is and what to do with it. Thanks!
A friend of mine back in Kentucky grew a lot of this and made molasses from it. I got to help one year. It was pretty amazing. If I recall correctly it was the stalk that made the molasses not the seed head.
I just watched a video on this. The stalk has sugar juice inside. That is what is cooked down. I grew some this year for fun and they are busting open their seed pods now.
@@verngib9041 awesome! Did you make molasses with them?
I buy it for my Birds they love it😂
If someone is interested in sorghum for the syrup (molasses) part, better look for the "amish" or "mennonite" heirloom varieties. Not all sorghum is good for that purpose.
Our chicken yard became a jungle of that stuff, from pure neglect, after we sold our chooks to build a better house for the next batch of girls. They left the seeds alone until they were red and dry (like you said), then they'd jump up and pull down the stalk to have a feed. I never thought of growing it on purpose, and especially not eating it ourselves, so this was a great video!
I was told "oh, sorghum doesn't grow up here in MI." Well we grew it and it did wonderfully. Thanks for your videos
Sorghum makes wonderful sourdough bread that is far from flat. Of course I don't use sorghum alone as gf breads require starches and psyllium, but it is the dominant flour I use. It is what I use to start and feed my sourdough starter. I have been making this for years as we are a gluten free family. It makes wonderful porridge as well.
Could you give me some more information please? I would love to talk to you I have some questions. I have severe food allergies and more food to be able to eat would be awesome
It makes the best sour porridge
Late on the reply but would love a recipe or more details!!
I have celiac disease so I smiled when you said a downside of sorghum is that it's gluten free. That's a selling point in my household! I will never be growing wheat but I'm excited to grow oats next year, and I may give sorghum a shot too, although I've never tasted it as far as I know.
I hope you've had a chance to try sorghum. It's very popular here in South Africa as a porridge. I love it.
@@colly7963 Not yet but it's on my plan for next year! My garden was much bigger this year than last, and I plan on expanding it this year too.
@@kellyriddell5014 wishing you the best of luck ❤️
@@colly7963 Thank you!
@@colly7963 How do you guys deal with the tannins in the grain? Do you soak or ferment?
this plant synergizes well with the 3 sisters approach. i recommend sorghum, dragon bean, and luffa gourd.
Is luffa gourd edible, or is it only used for a backrub? :)
@@charljoubert7908 edible when small, I believe.
@@charljoubert7908 We eat it in Asia while it's still tender. To make luffah, the fruits are left to dry on the vine.
There is so much more to this plant. The sugar content in the shaft... and the sorghum syrup to keep for years... and the fat that you can use it for so many things... and then drop that shaft and leaves for Nitrogen replenishment. So many things from this plant.
Yes, l accidentally chance upon it and like it's beautiful structure, ornamental and its stalks are so sweet.
Please tell me more about the fat. I never heard about this and I need to know!
@@user-ru8xq7tq9o It was supposed to say the FACT that you can use it for many yeaars and so many things. I'm sorry. I was probably typing without my glasses. It has carbs in the millet and the leaves are edible too..
@@deannastevens1217 aaa ok hahaha... thank you anyway ,for your time to answer you are very kind! God bless you and your family!
That's actually a weed here , sorghum is what we call milo and the cool thing that most people don't know is you can pop the seeds like popcorn pretty awesome and healthy
Omg so you just put it oil or what?
@@davidalexander8761 search it up!
yes
I like to eat sorghum milo
When I was young we grew up on sorghum farms in India. For medical reasons (diabetes) I remember my Gran used to have this daily to give her the strength, making a flat moist bread which was made with ground flour mixed with a bit of rice flour and enough hot water to make a dough, this was kept aside for awhile to breathe, then they made flat breads from the dough by hand and it was to be consumed immediately. They tasted great with meat curries and stews.
Hiiii!!! Sorghum WILL produce MORE than 1 seed head per plant!!! I'm in Florida, and my seed bundle froze, I eventually chopped JUST that stem off in Jan, and now I have 3-4 seed heads growing from those same plants!! (It's April now). Sssooo, looks like Sorghum is EVEN COOLER than we originally thought!! 😊
Thank you so much. God bless you and your family.
Amen! I am 100% self sufficient in all the Dietary needs of our Livestock & for our family.
I raise hundreds of meat birds and layers off of raw milk, compost and free range.
Our other larger stock is 100% grass fed of course.
I finally found a Sorghum Variety that I can grow in WI in our shorter season.
I am just now reading comments from this video. I will check out your channel. Thank you
What type did you find?
I MUST tell you a huge THANK YOU !!! You explained that the seed heads would only hold up for a few days before they went to molding -> that is when I ran out to my seedling greenhouse and put them all spread out on 2 shelves to dry !! ...thank you, really. for all you do.
I just heard about this plant this year watching the walking dead. so I did some research on it and grew some. its very easy to grow in almost any soil. all I need now is a sugar cane press.
Hmmmn. What are you brew...er making?
no sir from vids ive seen you can make syrup and sweetener like sugar cane. and some varieties you can pop the seeds like pop corn
didn't know you could make sweetners/syrup/molasses...so cool! Now I need to get a press, haha. I did know about popping them though, which is pretty cool too. Rareseeds.com has a variety of seeds to choose from.
Grew up eating that syrup with biscuits and fried salmon cakes! It's awesome!
Oneal Jones We grew some and ate the syrup with butter and biscuits.
Funny enough I believe I grew this by accident I was filling my bird feeder and this came up by my garden! I'll try to get a picture.
I had NEVER heard of a grain like this so thank you so much!! I always been told that you need land by the acre full of them before you as a person can benefit from it. I am so glad that I came across this so I can INDEED grow them in such a limited space, including containers and yet still expect a USABLE if not plentiful harvest of them!!
Don't forget about sorghum syrup and molasses.
Clifts Farms ( I think that is the name.).. They have a Sorghum Farm and MORE!
We used to have a sorghum Festival in Southwest Michigan that would boil the syrup down in the fall. The only place I know in Michigan now is tiller just outside of Kalamazoo that will process sorghum juice into syrup. I did it at home the past couple of years but it's a lot more work. And if you want grain you have to do it just right so that the seed heads are forming and the plant isn't overly dry when you harvest.
2:46 "One of the downsides of sorghum though, it's gluten free..." LOL haven't heard anyone say that for years.
Yes, that made me laugh! That is a POSITIVE, in my book, lol!
Various Curious your profile pic is interesting :0
Various Curious it's not a downside if you aren't gluten free, and it's a valuable protein. and gluten free bread is the worst, since the protein fibres make it spongey.
Shilo Turner watch Southpark. his name is mintberry crunch
I am all about the gluten free! Bring on the sorghum! I also prefer flatbreads to the fluffy stuff that makes you fluffy.
I've got a 4x4 square of sorghum started this year, excited to see how the season goes!
I had never heard of this grain before except maybe subconsciously. So after seeing this video, I did a little research. Besides being much more ancient, hardy, having more protein without the gluten, and easier to grow and harvest than wheat, it has a long history in the South in particular. (It likes heat) It used to be king in the South before the '50s when it started to become "old fashioned" to be self sufficient!
So it is the PERFECT grain for homesteaders. What's more, some varieties have lots of sweet juice in the stalks and there is a long history of producing Sorghum Syrup with a Sorghum press (easy) which compares to Maple syrup (some say it's better). It's said that many of those old presses are still showing up at garage sales and on Craigslist and people are restoring them. But of course you can buy a modern electric press.
I'm ordering a book and a recipe book on the subject and I'm very excited about it! Another arrow in the homesteading quiver. I have so many arrows that I look like a pin pillow! :) But just like a pin pillow, there's always room for more!
There's several varieties: some are good only for the seeds, some only for syrup and at least one for both. Gonna be a lotta experimentation! Today I'm going down to our great local granary and get some seeds (Amaranth too) that you can cook like oatmeal. It takes an hour unless you grind them first in a coffee grinder. Gonna get some syrup too to see if I like it. Looks like a new PROJECT! Yeah, that's what I need: another PROJECT!
I'm almost embarrassed that I am so ignorant of this grain when it feeds half a billion people worldwide and used to be so important right here in the states too! But that's what modern homesteading is all about eh?- rediscovering the past! Gotta get ready for WWIII.... before it's too late... And if it miraculously fails to happen, well, homesteading is a GREAT way to live your life!
Farmers here in Arkansas grow a lot of grain Sorghum or Milo, it is used for animal feed. A few raise sorghum to make molasses. Molasses is made from the stalk.
Nice to know about sorghum. Quinoa, amaranth can easily be grown in many climates; these grow quite a lot of seeds on stalks, in small amount of space, is small garden. Millet, too.
Jerusalem artichokes are really survival foods...those keep coming back very well....long term storage in fridge crisper bin [we still have some from last season, and it's half way through May now]. Cold storage + long cooking = far less gas-forming. Aka: Sunchokes, these have a lot of Inulin, which helps heal the gut lining, and helps regulate blood sugar due to high fiber.
Buddy, I just found your channel and so far you've just made me decide to do two things different next year! I have chickens for eggs, and even though I pasture them and they are good foragers, I'm still buying a 50# bag of feed every two months. Just opened the Baker Creek Seed Catalog page to check out some sorghum to go along with the amaranth that I already bought.
If you are giving your chickens scratch then you already have some sorghum seeds. It is called milo and is a different variety than the one for making syrup. The blades are thinner and it looks more like oats than corn. I'm not sure if it is a hybrid or not. I know that it does grow and produce seeds but I have never tried to grow from the seeds it produces. My chickens have always consumed all the seeds before I could save some for planting. lol
My Baker Creek seeds grew well, but their packaging smelled kind of funky (I have a chemical sensitivity). I grew some, and gave the rest away. You may also try these other great seed sources: Botanical Interests, Fedco Seeds, Johnnys Select Seeds, and Seeds of Change. Hope this helps, and God bless!
If you're growing this for chicken feed, instead of chop and drop, chop and use for nesting material, and then toss the nesting material in your grain bed. They'll pick more nutrients from it, any bugs, etc, and they'll provide all the nitrogen you'll ever need.
thankyou, I love your videos..living in Puerto Rico where things are getting really difficult, I have started growing amaranth , I've been eating in salads and throwing the seeds throughout my property 1 acre of very hilly land..I have never heard about sorghum I will try it for my chickens and pigs..I also am growing a lot of other things tropical , but looking to sustain ourselves just in case..again thankyou. Any suggestions are welcome😁
Michele Sànchez flax seed...DEFINITELY look into flax seed. not sure if it will grow in your region or not, but it's insanely healthy for you.
I just discovered that you can eat the seeds of amaranth as well....much to my disgust as I've just chopped my plants down and discarded the seeds. I found one video about popping the seeds and eating them as a cereal. Cool, can't wait to try it come next growing season. Sorghum, I'm definitely planting next season. Stella
Just saw this. I realize you saw this post a year ago, don't know if you will see my comment, but if you haven't heard about MORINGA, you should research it. I've heard amazing things about it. I wish it grew where I live, but it's a tropical plant.
@@betsyoman7173try dwarf moringa and plant it in a container so you can overwinter it indoors when it gets too cold out. That's what I'm doing this year. Out of 10 seeds I only got two to germinate but it was definitely worth it.
Luke, your sign-off should be "grow big AND grow home". Also, I really enjoy all of your content. Thank you!
I grow corn, wheat, oats, and am working on rice in my fish ponds but this is a great video and point taken as feeding my livestock ( chickens, sheep, goats, pigs and soon cattle again).
Very informative, thank you! A chipmunk planted sorghum in my large herb container where I left soil from the previous year and on top of it I stored firewood. One day I noticed a large plant growing out of that container and assumed it was corn. Later, when the plant started to matured, I realized it wasn't the corn. I did a research and learned that it was a sorghum. Now I am waiting for it to fully mature so that I can harvest it. What a cool plant! I never took care of it. It is very resilient plant that lives well on its own in Illinois.
I cut the seed head off and left the plant. Then the plant grew many more seed heads. So happy with it!
Hii !In what phase did you cut the first seed head ? How long after planting ? Was the seeds still green ? Thank you very much ma'am!
It would be great to see it for sale on your website for next year. I'd also love to see more self sufficiency videos like this. Love and blessings to you and yours.
I am a happy amaranth grower and now would like to grow sorghum, thank you.
One thing I'm learning with my research about grains lately is that it may be really simple to grow, but not so much to process on a small scale at home. I'm curious to see what methods you use once you start growing. Please put that on video if you can.
D.M. Stetson imagination?? any thing can be done the same, small scale.
Best thing I've seen is a wheel powered mill... can literally use a bike to grind, or crank, or motor. . .
D.M. Stetson I would use a pestle and mortar to grind down the seed. I have a 20' x 20' planting of sorghum, amaranth and millet. That gives me enough flour to make 2 loaves of bread.
ladywolfe67 Think I will pass on this one, there is a lot better things one can grow in a 20 square foot bed then 2 loaves of bread, and they are a lot less work too. In fact, last week I planted the inside of a tractor tire that comes out to a 28 inch circle with Asparagus, I value that at more than 2 loaves of bread a year. In a couple more years after it is fully established, I can cut asparagus off that raised bed for up to 8 weeks harvest. Plant once right like I did, it can last 30 years. Pretty much guaranteed 15 years of good harvest. The whole thing is just taking up a little over a 4 foot circle in my yard.
I could go on and on about this. I don't think we need to grow this. I just bought several super pails of red and white wheat and stored them, grain problem solved.
FullSpectrum Survivalist great info thanks!
"Sorghum is a grass type..."
*POKEMON?!*
"...Plant."
Sorghum is an unsung hero of a plant. Ours this year grew to over 12 feet with all this heat. Drying ,thrashing, and winnowing can be time consuming. Overall amazing plant that takes next to no care and is drought tolerant.
I grew up in Ohio. Before big Agra bought out all the little farms, they used to grow sorghum for silage to feed their animals and such. Some of the Amish may still do it. Last time I was back there, I saw the Amish using chemicals on their fields. I am glad that the younger generations are getting back to learning about growing their own foods and CHEMICAL free gardening. It is how I was raised. I learned all that stuff that folks are introducing as the old ways, LMAO and I am not that old. I also laugh to see those Hack videos due to my mom doing all of those things because they lived so frugal.
StarFlower99654 check out the "biointensive technique."
StarFlower99654 I do chemical free gardening too. I refuse to put dihydrogen monoxide on my plants, I've heard it's one of the worst chemicals out there. For some reason, though, my plants are all wilting...
We get volunteer sorghum each year from our chicken feed (fancy scratch). The local birds love it. They land on the heads and pick it straight off the plant. This is extremely cheap entertainment for our family (including the cat)! It is an aesthetically pleasing plant as well in my opinion so having it grow next to the house isnt a concern IE I don't get yelled at by anyone.
I am inspired to try this next spring. Thanks for the helpful videos Luke! Have a Blessed day!
Hi Luke. We started with our homestaed last year sept. I have been having trouble with feed for my animals. Thank you very much.
Sorghum syrup from the stalk, sorghum popcorn, etc etc. It's a super food.
Gluten-free grains in my own garden, wohoo!!! :D ♡♡♡
You can also make syrup from sorghum to replace sugar by cutting up the stalk and cooking with water then reducing
Excellent video, thank you for sharing. I have over 200 chickens and I never really thought about growing feed for them. This sounds fairly simple and I'm going to look into it
Sorghum (also know as Broom Corn, as the stems are what they make brooms out of) is a wonderful, multi purpose crop. You can make syrup from the stems, of course, but is also makes excellent silage for goats, pigs, chickens, and cows! You can even use the remains of the stalks after you have pressed the sugar and liquid out of them (along with the leaves that aren't pressed for syrup)! Also, as you mentioned, the seed heads make not only an excellent gluten free flour and chicken feed, but also make excellent supplemental feed for rabbits, quail, ducks, geese, turkeys, and squab! It really is an excellent all-round crop! :-D
Where can we get these brooms?, all I see is cheap plastic junk these days.
The Home Depot
I'm currently growing a small patch, as a learning experience. I will definitely be planting a much larger quanity next year.
Hello New Hampshire here. I used to save all the lawn clippings and place that in a barrel with water to make a tea. Actually anything green. I would use this to water our garden throughout the season and pour the rest on the beds at the end of the season. The only downside to this is it tends to smell a bit like elephants and a sewer. Smell goes away in about an hour. Works amazing! Thank you for sharing your channel is wonderful.
As a kid I helped plant , cultivate , harvest sourghum and we'd haul to the press and then on to the cooking vats. Grandfather made a leaf stripper from a shaft with rubber strips spinning around it that then stuck up thru slits cut in a table that the shaft was running under. We could strip a truck load of their leaves in minutes. Then in a stack we'd chop off the seed heads. Chickens would eat them ok . Later we tried on called High Gear , it produced like nothing we'd ever grown. like a small patch produc d truck loads and filled the barn loft. Cows wouldn't eat it hardly , chickens still ate it ok but wanted other stuff. We later ground that High Gear with the whole plants of sourghum to sweeten it up so cows would eat it.
For some reason I really love this story :) Thank you!
U should make a video
I made a raised bed that I covered with half mulched goat manure and ended up getting a sorghum plant in the bed. It's not tall at all. It's ready to harvest and only 18" tall. A happy accident that I will save for next year.
Thanks for this highly informative video! Ancient grains have proven themselves and you are helping out many people by informing them of the value in these overlooked grains.
I just bought some and am excited to try it! thanks
I've never grown grains before but I am looking at buying some land that has a steep sunny hillside and needed to find a crop that will grow in semi-harsh conditions. Not to mention this becoming chicken feed for our birds. Great idea.
Grew blue flax, dwarf sorghum and gold, orange and red 8 ft amaranth. I planted in a very long 60 ft raised bed in descending order amaranth in back against the welded wire hen yard then dwarf sorghum then blue flax all in the raised bed. My goal was to see how it all worked together and am happy to see all successful and was super colorful. So harvesting now. The hens love it all. We plan to replant in the Spring allowing for 4 times as many raised beds as we have 25 large breed laying hens.
So nice to hear your success story.
I am in zone 7b want to grow sorghum for good. Which variety and where do I buy the sorghum seed, can you tell me?
Thank you.
I am going to grow Sorghum this season for the first time. I like the idea before the grain in ready to harvest to cut tops off to dry out. Don’t want the critters. :)
You could also use jewelry mesh bags to cover the seeds heads
For me, since I have celiac, sorghum will be good. I never thought of being able to grow my own grains since I usually avoid grains.
Dude...Make sorghum sugar from the cane.
If you want to enhance nitrogen in the soil, plant vetch or some field peas.
You can even enhance the nutritional value of livestock feed by mixing a bit of the sorghum molasses in with it.
This video was awesome! Reminded me of childhood. I grew up in India eating sorghum bread. Its extremely healthy and tasty. Looks like pita
So glad you did this video - I had a chicken run yard that I fed corn scratch for their nightly treat, I moved the chickens to another area and low and behold I had what I thought was corn popping up all over from grains the chickens missed the year before in their run.
Dumb me I didn't know what it was so it discarded it when no corn ears grew on it - but it was growing great and all over the place. I did nothing to grow it - no water or anything and it just grew on its own.
Now thanks to you if I'm lucky enough to have it grow up like that again, I'll know what it is and be able to use it !
At least I know it was a live feed I was giving my chickens - because a dead or GE feed would not have any life in it to grow.
So Purina was telling the truth that they test each load of corn with it comes in - to make sure it is NOT GE corn ! They have never been on any recall list for bad feeds yet like other companies are ! I use only Purina feeds for ALL my animals - horse, goats, chickens, cats, dog !
===========================
Great video. I've been saying I'm gonna grow some grains for the past few years and just never go around to it. But now I will be planting some grains next spring. Looking forward to you upcoming grain videos.
Thank you for this
How are you here?
Probably your least liked comment.
Its a great plant. You advocate that people should grow their own grain to feed themselves and their livestock. Its a great concept but most people do not have the acreage and equipment necessary to do that.
In South Africa we eat sorghum porridge for breakfast, it is delicious. But have never thought of growing it myself. Definitely going to give it a bash this year.
I like the look of Sorghum, not thought of it before. I think I'll grow it in my chicken run (sectioned off from the chickens to allow it to grow). I don't know where I'll get it in the UK though, I had a quick look after this video but didn't have much luck. I'll try again and spend more time on it today. Thanks for sharing x
Thank you for this, Luke. I am truly looking forward to this new series. I hope you talk about growing more different grains than sorghum...you mentioned amaranth too...and any others you might have in your fund of knowledge (and/or your seed bank) That would be awesome! 😊
My wife picked a single head of wheat last year and I grew it into a small clump f grass a foot long. This year I planted out that foot of "grass" and will get more seeds! I also btw tried out sprouting barley to try malting!
I'm days away from harvesting the sorghum that I planted in June when almost nothing else wanted to grow in the 105 degree heat. I bought a packet of "Tennessee tall," last year that I'm multiplying seed from. The dog jumped the fence chasing a cat and knocked half of it down, but I have about 30 plants in 10 sq ft with thousands of seeds. I'm looking forward to weighing the harvest once it's dry, and even more to planting it on my small acreage as a poultry feed and biomass accumulator next year.
wow....great video! I never thought about growing my own grains expect corn. Awesome info...
Important to note that there are many varieties of sorghum (all seed suitable for livestock feed) Broomcorn (that straw brooms are made from) grows very tall 2-3m, with seeds on 'tassels' at top, Sweet sorghum (sorghum molassis extracted from stalks), red-black varieties more bitter as a deterrent to birds, white sorghum grows 1m (called Jowar in India) less bitter, better for humans-flour, pop-corn, porridge etc. The variety in video looks like White sorghum
Squeezing the stalks for sugar also gets more out of your sorghum crop. Sorghum makes a good silage for cattle and hogs love it too. We would chop it and pile it up. Then cover it with a tarp. Just like corn silage. Towards spring they both tend to ferment. The sugars are turning to alcohol. Melow cows.. Haaa. As a cash crop it didn't used to be a great value. There wasn't much of a demand for sorghum other than an alternative feed for livestock. Things may have changed.
You should do a video about using human urine as a fertilizer. Human urine is VERY high in nitrogen, so sorghum should love it. I use it on my corn. When the plants start tasseling I dilute my urine with water and apply every other day. (3 parts water, 1 part urine)
You could plant clover as a cover crop after harvesting and tilling in the sorghum then till in the clover additional nitrogen the next spring.
I laughed out loud when you said that it being gluten free is a downside... Sounds perfect for this celiac sufferer! XD
Stig, you may be interested in what Steven Gundry says about gluten. I read “the plant paradox” book over the past 2 weeks. A wealth of information about gluten & other fruits/veggies. I found it fascinating. Anyway, best wishes!
At about 4:25, you said something like "the amount it produces in comparison to like Amaranth or Weed," whatever you said....gave me a giggle. I know you didn't say you were growing weed, but I heard it wrong at first and this has been a very bad day and I needed that giggle! Thanks!
i collected an amaranth seed head that fell off a plant outside a local restaurant. I could winnow it by gently blowing on it and squeezing my eyes shut but i'm worried about making a mess of my desk and keys. ;.; gonna have to wait for a warm day and go outside and do it.
you can put whole plum or damson in your flour to provide a nattural yeast for your bread.
I found a large stand of wild Amaranth that I was thinking of harvesting the seeds from to replant. Also i recently found a good stand of wild rye that I was thinking of harvesting the seeds from to propagate over a larger area, and then eventually once i have a large amount of all these grains I will have enough to harvest for both consumption and for re-seeding. Thank for the video by the way. I wish I could find some sorgum around here in Canada. I am not sure if I can grow that here as it may be a bit too cold.
go to a local farm and feed or co op. I'm in Northern Ontario and can find it up here.
Adam Craig Outdoors How does that work. I never heard of co-op. Thanks!
It was just an old farming store in Canada. Anywhere that sells feeds will likely sell seeds you are looking for.
Adam Craig Outdoors oh okay. Thank you for the advice, and have a great day!
yes you too.
great video my boss grown it every year makes a sorghum maze out of it for Halloween for the kids I haven't tried it but when the grain dry enough you can pop it like popcorn
Sorghum is an excellent grain that will grow where other grains won't but do you folks really have an understanding of how much one has to plant for it to amount to anything? This isn't anything you're going to be able to do and produce much in a city back yard. Those wanting to make your own molasses, you have no idea how much it takes to get enough juice to boil down to make molasses. It will take anywhere from ten to fifteen gallons of juice that has been extracted from the sorghum stalks to boil down to make one gallon of sorghum syrup. Also be forewarned, though sorghum will grow in poor soil, sorghum will make good soil poor. It takes an awful lot out of your soil.
Because, like in many of his videos, he gives out misinformation. Sorghum, like most grasses uses a lot of nitrogen from the soil. Also, like most grasses, it does not add nitrogen back when the stalks are turned back in, quite the opposite. The woody nature of grass stalks takes more nitrogen to break them down. This is why most commercial farmers rotate soy beans with their corn.
You can to a mix field with sorghum and a legume, like hairy vetch. The vetch will keep the soil healthy, feed additional nitrogen to the sorghum, and when turned back in continue to enrich the soil. Vetch can also be used as an excellent, green, animal fodder.
You took the words right out of my mouth when it comes to how little sorghum is actually being grown. Far too little to feed a few chickens for more than a day or two tops. Really, even most homesteaders are dependent on things like metal tools, gas powered machinery & other technology. To be totally self sufficient, you probably have to live very primitively, like a hunter-gatherer. Thanks for the other info. about the sorghum. That seems to be a very rare grain these days.
Amaranth is actually a better survival grain to grow. It does revitalize the soil. You can toss it and forget it. It grows as a weed here in Florida. Very tasty.
@@robinlillian9471 check out Off the Grid with Doug and Stacy. They live quite a quality homestead life with no electricity and no company water. #offthegrid
@@healinggrounds19 There is also an edible leaf variety of Amaranth I am growing for the first time this year, and may even try to grow it year round in a pot when the snow starts to fall. Search: Edible Red Leaf Amaranth Seeds
Inam growing amaranth for the first time. So far, so good.
Ok, Sorghun in South America is the one who they use to manufacturer brooms and has a hollow stalk and the seeds are a little flat , but the one you show in the picture , it look like the one whose stalk has juice like sugar cane and the seeds are red /purple and round
Yeah it's called Jower in India
I accidentally grew it😂 I made my chicken feed blend with Millet which sorghum is a millet, and some fell out in my rock garden. I let it grow just to see what it is and now on YT to learn when to cut the heads off and dry.
GREAT info for those not 'in the know'. Points not mentioned tho.....'Rule of thumb' planting is about 10 pounds of seed PER ACRE. A 50 lb bag will EASILY drill a 'dense' 4 acres. Be aware that MOST 'feed stores' sell a STERILE version as 'livestock feed'. NOT for planting! ASK! Also, as with most TALL, fast growing planting species, be aware of YOUR 'wind conditions' and space accordingly. Nothing more frustrating that going out after a windstorm and finding most of an immature field laying flattened for the tiller.
Sorghum is a C4 plant and grows better in lower latitudes, higher temperatures than C3 plants, i.e. wheat, potato etc as the enzyme PEP-carboxylase in C4 has a higher temperature optimum than rubisco in C3. Yields are comparable with wheat in higher latitudes. Keep this in mind.
Thank you. Looking forward to learning more about ancient grains.
Super helpful! We're going to try it this coming year! Thanks for the inspiration and enthusiasm!!
I had never thought of sorghum. I planted some hulless barley a couple years ago and it's easy to grow also. Some came back this year and I'm going to try and save seed. Agree on the self sufficiency. First of all, people who are self sufficient should think about eating about 90 percent plant food because it's more efficient to just eat the plant, and high starch foods are the best like grains and tubers, and then small animals like chickens and rabbits would be second.
Can rabbits eat grains like sorghum? Or the leaves maybe?
Might not be a good choice for rabbits. I guess they can live on alfalfa and prunings from trees. I fed some grass clippings and they did all right, of course, I have a mixed yard full of all kinds of weeds. They're pretty versatile, but everyone thinks they have to buy those pellets.
My understanding with rabbits is that while they are herbivores, they're not really grain eaters so much like chickens. You can tractor them like chickens though, particularly if you line breed them...With each generation they get a little more hardy and adapted to your climate and feeding scheme, provided you aren't using pharmaceuticals to bolster mortality rates. It's tough at first, I know, watching half of your flock die since they don't have a natural resilience to your particular climate, but it pays in the long run and you wind up with healthier, happier animals. Isn't that what animal husbandry is all about?
Ty Thompson 'Tractor' them? Never heard that term before? It makes sense what you say about building a resilient line. We only have three: it's just my husband and me. I am growing them because they are healthier for his heart issues (so far three has been plenty to keep up with us, and we did not breed them all summer this year!). How often should you replace breeders? You seem to really know a lot about this stuff!
Yes, like a chicken tractor. Joel Salatin talks about his son doing it with rabbits for a 4H or FFA project. I don't remember how often breeders should be replaced though, sorry. Been since I was a kid since I did anything with rabbits (I'll be 47 next month, lol). A google search will probably turn up some good advice about replacing breeders.
thanks for that Luke! I grew some amaranth in about 1980s when I was younger and I still have the seed so I should plant some of that and see if it grows. I bet it will!
Going to start mine this week
I had not thought about grains in my self-sufficiency quest. Thank you for your video. Lee.
I've been interested in learning to forage and finding wild plants that are edible. Can't wait for the series
You can make most seeds last longer by sprouting them for chicken feed
saw a man collecting sand hill in Galveston TX. saw some black seed in NM looking like flax. sprouting for Maltose . thinking the hen bit. looks good.
i love the idea of ancient grains videos.. I will be looking forward to that! Cheers from Maine!
Sorghum has been a staple in most of West Africa for centuries
Are you going to sell these seeds on your website anytime soon? Thank you for the exceptional informational videos!
1st question is how about pearl millet? Is it a good option for chicken feed? 2nd whst type of sorghum do you grow? Bicolor?