sorghum

sorghum is under rated for a survival crop,
it is in the top 5 biggest crops in the USA
it can take dryer or wetter conditions than corn can
and will produce on worse soil,
and can take the hot and cold better than corn,
here is my plot

it has the same to close spacing as my corn, but can deal with it just fine,
and seems not to mind the high soil temp. when the corn likes its roots cool.

so why it is not so popular with home gardeners ?
I suspect it is because most people have no idea what to do with it,

I had apple pie a few days ago that was made with sorghum flour in the crust,
we just replaced the wheat flour with sorghum flour and it worked out good,
maybe a tad more like a cookie than the wheat flour, but it sure worked and tasted good.

here is a great cookie recipy that uses sorghum,
http://newworldcrops.com/wp/friends/sorghum-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe/
now I use olive oil and not canola,
and water and not soy milk,
and they are good.

the sorghum grain is also good just cooked like rice,

so now that you know what to do with it, time to grow some !

there are 2 main kinds of sorghum,
one is grown only for the grain and it is often called milo
and the other kind is grown for the cane, mostly to feed animals or to extract sugar.

I decided to grow an old kind that the ancient Egyptians grew,
and it seems good at grain as well as sugar in the cane if I need it,
and I also grew it 2 years ago here with good results.
here is is if you want to get some seeds
http://www.rareseeds.com/shallu/egyptian-wheat/

sorghum looks lots like corn when it grows,
but does not make a cob,
it makes an open seed head
you may need to net the top of the plants to keep the birds from harvesting for you,
and if you are feeding it to chickens (because you did not grow any corn ), then you don't even need to thresh it, you can just toss them entire seed heads and they will pick the seeds out.

but if you do want to thresh it, the friction method works fantastic
it is basically 1/4 inch grid wire cloth on a wood frame with something for friction like a big shoe or block of wood with tire tread on one side, and you just rub the seeds heads between and let the seeds drop into a bucket below.
read for full details
http://www.geopathfinder.com/ThreshingByHand.pdf

so my point is that sorghum is sweet and tasty
and really should have a place in survival gardens.

for more reading go to the links my friend came up with in 2010
The corn crops: a discussion of maize, kafirs, and sorghums as grown in the United States and Canada www.archive.org/details/cu31924055099083

Sorghums : sure money crops www.archive.org/details/sorghumssuremone00borm

Yearbook United States Department Agriculture:Sorghum Improvement tinyurl.com/27p9z4z

The Sorghun Crop in Kansas www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/Pubs/SC025.PDF

Sorghum Crops for Silage: Feeding Experiments with Dairy Cattle www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/Pubs/SC028.PDF

Ground Sorgo Seed as a Feed for Dairy Cows www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/Pubs/SC110.PDF

Ground Kafir as a Feed for Dairy Cows www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/Pubs/SC119.PDF

Growing Combine Grain Sorghums 1933 www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/Pubs/SC170.PDF

Experiments with Sorghum and Sugar Beets www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/Pubs/SB016.PDF

Varieties of Sorghum in Kansas www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/pubs/SB266.pdf

The Comparative Nutritive Value of Sorghum Grain, Corn, and Wheat as Poultry Feeds www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/pubs/SB268.pdf

Sorghums for Kansas www.ksre.ksu.edu/historicpublications/pubs/SB304.PDF