Triticale Update

I promised a triticale update, oh, I dunno... ages ago.  I was waiting to see if I would get around to the final thing on my triticale-to-do list -- making bread from the flour -- but, that adventure is no where in sight.  I,  currently, am up to my eyeballs in turkey babies (hatching and selling), apple-collecting, tomato-harvesting, and the end-of-season garden clean up (well, only in some areas), as well as entertaining a little fuzz ball named "Beep" who insists she's human.  Or at the very least, a very intelligent parrot.

So, I could go on and on about all those other things, but instead will just give you a glimpse of what this whole triticale experience has meant for me.

It started off as ground cover, to shade weeds and hopefully inhibit their growth.

It did a pretty good job of that, seeing as we had probably about 66% less weeds than last year, and that's only from planting the triticale and the vetch.  Good thing #1.

I have spent several hours among the stalks, cutting off the seed heads and storing them in various containers.  I have to hide and secure the containers, or the turkeys will find them and Eat Them All.

 Which is not a huge bad thing as the grain is high in protein (turkeys need a higher protein than chickens, especially in the first 6-8 weeks), and cheap free.  Free is good! (Good thing #2)  AND I've recently discovered that triticale is NOT on the GMO list, so all the seed heads that have fallen to the ground should germinate in the spring. Yay!  Plus it's nice to know that I'm not feeding adulterated food to my birds.  (Good thing #3)

Good thing #4 - I could be using the straw part of the plant as bedding for the animals, but honestly, I'm too full of other things to do right now... but I could  use it for that.

And then, of course, Good Thing #5 - it apparently makes great bread.  I would love to get a chance to try that, but that remains to be seen.

Oh, and Good Thing #6, predators can't see the sheep as the triticale blocks their view.  I think we would plant it again for this point only.

So, there you have it.  The Update.  Whew.