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| One of the contaminated clones. |
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| Good leaf growth on this tissue. |
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| Good root development on this tissue sample. |
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| In clean room getting ready for transfers. |
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| Out of old medium and into new medium. |
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| Two jars become four - good work. |
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| Seal, label, and wait for another 8 weeks. |
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| Let's hope at least one continues to grow of the four. |
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| Sorghum crop from this year. |
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| Ready for popping in the microwave. |
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| Looks just like mini-popcorn. |
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| Google this name and once again new info will fill your screen. |
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| Common snack food in other places - why not here??? |
The spinach in the cold frames has sprouted unfortunately I did not get pictures today because it started to SNOW! However, we should have a nice crop come spring as three of the four frames have good germination; even the seed I planted in the old cotton bed close to the house has sprouted. I should not complain we need the moisture to replenish our very dry ground.
Saturday I went back to Fox Valley Tech to check on the fig clones. Three jars were contaminated as the pictures show and two jars showed good growth. I went back to the clean room and transferred the tissue to new medium jars. From two jars we got four new jars as one of the tissue cultures split in half. One of the cultures had good root development as one of the pictures shows and the rest showed leaf growth. This is tissue from our original Chicago Brown Turkey fig which has a great taste compared to the new one we got last spring -so hopefully we will get at least one clone to grow to full size.
Now about the sorghum crop from this season. I harvested the seed heads, threshed it with a jug of sand as a roller and winnowed the chaff out on a breezy day. We got a big jar and a small half pint of seed. Experimenting with popping methods we have found the microwave is the most efficient. We put a couple of tablespoons in a dish, cover and nuke it for two minutes or until we have as much popped as will pop. It has a nutty flavor and for all the world looks like miniature popcorn. On a recent visit to an Indian grocery store we found, as pictured, a large bag of the stuff already popped. Seems that this is a snack food and they seem to have varieties that pop real well. I will look into trying to get some of that for next season - seed that is. For now we will continue to pop our crop and purchase some from the Indian grocery in Appleton when were are there. My wife is allergic to corn and she was very fond of popcorn but it's off her food list - too tough on her system - the popped sorghum makes a great substitute without the nasty effects of a corn allergy. Try some if you can find it in a local ethnic market or some health food stores stock some of this too - one brand is called "Popghum".
Happy Gardening
