Buckwheat

The pic to the left is our first patch of buckwheat in full bloom. Buckwheat is a indeterminate plant which means it will just keep putting on new blooms until frost kills it. I had originally intended to use this strip for corn but it got to late in the season for corn so I put this in to provide cover and as a green manure crop. Since then I have decided to let it go and take what ever grain matures. Chickens will eat whole buckwheat so I can use it to replace some of the high price corn I would have to buy otherwise. It is not that big of a patch so I'll be able to thresh it out by hand. The right hand pic is of another strip of that patch which we planted camalina on. Camalina is a member of the mustard family which can be used as a forage crop. We read several articals about it and thought we would give it a try.We have just started cutting it so we will see how the cows like it after it is dry. They don't seem to impressed with it fresh. I also put in some late green beans in this field so we will have green beans again in a week or two.