Harvesting sorghum for grain and initial processing

Come see how I harvest this great healthy grain which feeds us all year. One cup of sorghum has 20g of protein! Sorghum is also full of antioxidants and is very rich in fiber. We use it to make our bread and to make cakes with, sometimes alone, and sometimes mixed with corn flour from the corn we grow here. We also mix it sometimes with wheat flour - two thirds sorghum, one third wheat flour. We also cook it like rice to have for supper or for breakfast.
Click here to see our video about growing sorghum - for the sugar in the sugar cane, and for the grain!
• Grow your sugar & grai...
#foodautonomy
#permaculture
#soilhealth
#makingbread
#homegrownbread
#plantprotein

[@lyricalgypsy]

I love hearing you give thanks to nature and animals for "helping" your garden because they really do. Peace & Blessings. ❤

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Thank you for watching and commenting and we love your comment! It is so true. In so many ways!

[@hemabchadee4711]

Bravo

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Merci Hema!

[@suemee1328]

Absolutely beautiful

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Thank you! ❤️

[@renamarsland9642]

Brilliant!!

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Thank you!

[@belangermartin1]

Very interesting video. I didn't know that you could grow sorghum in Canada. Thank you

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Thank you! It's one of the easiest plants to grow. Once it has started to grow, it quickly outgrows everything else, even areas thick with weeds. It's healthy and it is also good for soil retention. It's roots are strong and go deep.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

Frost when? Zoning doesn't matter unless you're talking about perennials. For instance, we in Prince George in BC have a zone 4b but almost everything that needs a frost-free season is in around end May, which is similar to many zone 8s in England. On a brighter note... those sorghumcanes are HUGE! Holy [censored]! Have you found the seeds make good tortillas or so? I've heard they're used similarly to maize.

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Yes, you are correct. From last to first frost timing - the growing season. End of May is also our window. First frosts could come around end of September, but could also wait until end of October. The sorghum grows quickly once the sprout is up. It is ready by the beginning of September. It's easy to start early indoors if you want. Transplants very easily, like any grass family plant (corn, barley, rice, etc.)

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

@@WillowsGreenPermaculture Understood, thanks. I think I will do nursery culture (sowing just one week before transplanting), which is quite common with rice as well.

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

You would need fast growers to do that.

[@cathyhvazda8443]

I just found your channel and love it! How many plants do you need to supply a years worth of sorghum if you want to bake two loaves of bread each week?

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

For the moment, we are still mixing the sorghum with organic whole wheat flour that we buy, about a 50/50 ratio. Something that helps alot is to add a vegetable. We have a ton of pumpkins, so we add pumpkin purée to the mix and it really gives a great result. I've seen videos in which people add spinach! To have enough sorghum, used at a 50/50 ratio with wheat flour, to bake 104 loaves, you probably need 40 to 50 plants which should give you over 150 bunches of sorghum. (Fewer plants may be enough - next time I take down some of our sorghum to thresh for some bread, I will measure how many bunches are needed for a loaf.) Under normal circumstances, each plant grows 4 to 7 tillers (stems), and you have a bunch like you see in the video or in the thumbnail at the tip of each tiller. Here's a link to our video from this past Wednesday in which Magali made some pumpkin bread (bread, not cake). It's so good! This can be done with 50% sorghum flour. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2SqgaVrhM5nnLssi=wjf6lgukwUq3KU5Z

[@cathyhvazda8443]

@@WillowsGreenPermaculture I just saw your reply now. Thank you very much! I will definitely try that pumpkin bread!

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Thank you!@@cathyhvazda8443

[@rogerkenworthy6380]

Excellent video - when you cut the top off, will it regrow and produce another head of grain? Cheers roger

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Thank you, we're glad you liked it! And yes, if you have enough growing season left, you can grow a second head of grain. I have read that they do this in the south all the time. You can also take cane cuttings and reroot them. Roots sprout from the nodes (they look like knuckles). I've got one rooting just for know indoors, and it's growing.

[@rogerkenworthy6380]

Thanks for your reply. I'm ordering seeds to try our hand at this wonder plant. All the best for 2024. Cheers Roger@@WillowsGreenPermaculture

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Thank you, you too!@@rogerkenworthy6380

[@dhaniaboodoo7042]

What’s the name of the sorghum you harvested ?

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Three types - the brown seed is syrup sorghum, the red compact bunches is coral sorghum (which also gives syrup) and the red and black long tasselled heads are broomcorn sorghum. Thank you for watching!

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

The first syrup sorghum’ name is Williams Sorghum which I purchased from Seed Savers Exchange. (seedsavers.org).

[@JennyBryant-is5xb]

Love this. We are also zone 5, what time of year do you plant? I heard harvest in June? Or was that plant in June?

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

If you are 5a, I would maybe wait until the beginning of June to plant. We're 5b, we plant some in the greenhouse in the 3rd week of April, and others we direct sow in about mid-May. The greenhouse sorghum, we transplant out in June, after hardening it off.@@JennyBryant-is5xb

[@sarahCooper-Nelson]

@@WillowsGreenPermaculture Love the Seed Savers Exchange! Just got my order in for this year

[@burrochapadogrl]

I loved this video and it never one this plant existed

[@WillowsGreenPermaculture]

Thank you!