Why a whole blog?

Photographer Theodor Jung took this 1935 as part of the government's Resettlement Project.

Why did I care enough to make a whole blog about buckwheat?

To me, crop diversity seems vital to prevent world hunger / famine. This would happen after I'm gone, but I have children and I care about next generations of people, whether they are related to me or not. We've been growing a few basic crops to feed all the people, and the problem with farmers only raising wheat, corn, and rice is that one widespread disease would wipe out thousands of tons of food. There are 'blast" fungi which endanger rice and wheat crops. (Here's an article about the issues with wheat.)The key to food security, in my view, is to encourage farms of all sizes to add buckwheat as a crop.

Buckwheat grows well in even poor-quality soil. This makes it part of basic food security for almost any household where people have access to any spot where a plant can grow -- even paved areas where a container could hold dirt. 

 No experience necessary. No garden tools are even needed, if there's no shovel or rake available. One can broadcast buckwheat over any surface where one can see the soil; broadcasting means taking a small handful of seed and throwing it out sideways to cast it broadly over the ground. Many of the seeds will germinate wherever they land, and it's super-easy to harvest the seeds by just putting them off the plant. The seeds store very well, because the hull is so hard. One seed which grows into a decent-size plant will easily make enough seed to start 20 or 30 or 40 new plants.

Bees love buckwheat blossoms. Bees are good. We need bees. 

Buckwheat's a healthy food and it's also inexpensive. All the food within a two-mile radius of where I live is loaded with sugar, fat, salt, and chemicals. The only exceptions are vegan muffins which cost nine dollars each (or close to it, anyway). If buckwheat flour and pancake mix become more familiar and more available, people of modest means can add them to their cooking and baking without a lot of hassle. 

Buckwheat is an ingredient in many traditional foods. I love modern life but food traditions help hold families and communities together. Recipes for kasha varnishkes, ployes, and soba noodles have been passed down for uncountable generations. They are too valuable to forget. 


Sources: The image of the flying bees comes from here https://brookfieldfarmhoney.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/how-honeybees-fly-muscles-wings-and-stomach-crunches/

The milk jug container garden photo is from http://funlearninglife.com/2013/06/milk-jug-flower-pot-craft/