So, ever since then, dad and I plant barleys just about every year. In addition to the soil benefits (on ground hardly worthy of the moniker), buckwheat is a food plot option that has a remarkably broad appeal to wildlife.
If that isn't testament to his advanced age, I don't know what is. I like seeing big antlers as much as anyone, but for whatever reason, seeing a deer with the body of a Guernsy milk cow is what really gets me excited! If the 12-pt and the Incredible Bulk were both within range, at the same time, I'd probably faint from the pressure of making that kind of decision. Ironically, my wife once sat in a stand and watched a beautifully symmetrical 10-pt and an old, bruiser of an 8-pt square off and posture at one another. The 10-pt, who wasn't any older than 3.5, decided he had some seriously pressing business in the next woodlot over and quite literally high-tailed out o' there. My wife, not knowing how entranced those critters were during their "walk-up", never moved a muscle for fear of scaring them off.
Buckwheat is a dear friend of mine, because it is willing and able to grow on the absolute worst excuses for soil imaginable. When the first field of it bloomed, on my grandma's property, she excitedly informed me and dad that, "your little barleys are doing great!"
Any more, the value of BW to deer is no more than a tertiary benefit, in my eyes. It is planted, first and foremost, for what it provides to the follow-on crop. You've got good soil there, but you are also more attentive and astute than most; I suspect you will be keenly aware of how well the next thing you plant in that area grows. Given your proclivities, I'm sure you already took note of the bees (and therefore birds) and the rabbits and the turkeys (my gosh, the turkeys!) and the various and sundry predators that have all delighted in the mixed salad of buckwheat and cereal grains. If the current crop of BW gets a chance to harden off seed, and Kentucky has a late turkey season, steel yourself for what is to come.
I have always loved seeing pictures of your place. I know, without a doubt, you and Aldo would have been the very best of friends.
Stay safe my friend.
Native, I'm reading a book called The Boys in the Boat about 9 Americans and their quest for gold metal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Anyways, I ran across this quote that reminded me of you and all your fruit tree trimmings. Don't take this the wrong way.
About one of the early coaches at Washington College of the rowing team who had rethot the rowing technique and with his instruction, led the college team from nothing to be a world competitor, it says,... "Conibear died just a few years later, in 1917, when he climbed too far out on a limb, while reaching for a PLUM in a tree in his backyard, and plunged headfirst to the ground". Caps are mine. I could just see you or myself doing such a thing!!
I am always envious of your tree plantings and the variety/diversity of your prairie/open ground. My switch is only 5 ft tall.
As a bee keeper - I would add a cautionary statement about buckwheat - I cant give honey away my bees have made from buckwheat. I know a lot of bee keepers have a different experience - but my buckwheat honey is so dark it looks like molasses and not in demand from my customers. Bees will travel up to three miles to forage. As a private landowner - that may be of no concern to you - and that is no concern of mine. Just throwing that out there.
See, now I have tried buckwheat flour, mostly in pancakes, as well as the honey made from bees that were collecting nectar from buckwheat flowers. I have to say that I enjoy both of these flavors, although I know my mom tried buckwheat pancakes and said there wasn't enough maple syrup in the world...
I do know that some folks value buckwheat honey quite highly, preferring it to the "bland" honey from more plebeian sources of nectar. Then again, some people prefer the flavor of beef over venison, so we know there is no accounting for taste!
