Permacultureglobal.org - the interactive map and database of the Worldwide Permaculture Network

Bluegrass Sustainable Agriculture Project

Details

Commenced:	01/03/2009
Submitted:	02/02/2013
Last updated:	07/10/2015
Location:	67 Bluegrass Drive, Middletown, Rhode Island, US
Phone:	1 401 263-4217
Climate zone:	Cool Temperate

My Projects

(projects i'm involved in)

Bluegrass Sustainable Agriculture Project

Middletown, US

Followers

Back to Bluegrass Sustainable Agriculture Project

Cold Tolerant Rice

Project: Bluegrass Sustainable Agriculture Project

Posted by Paul Kile about 12 years ago

Enjoyed my first meal of rice from the project today.

In order to utilize the vernal pond in the back yard I explored cold tolerant rice growing. Takeshi and Linda Akaogi put out a manual for growing rice in the Northeast US several years ago. Germplasm was acquired from the National Small Grains Collection, Susan McCouch at the University of Cornell, and the Dale Bumper's Rice Research Center in Arkansas.

The first year I amplified 9 varieties of seed in buckets. The second year I trialed two varieties that seemed promising and produced about 7 kg of seed. This year I put out 4 varieties; Japanese Akitomachi and an early maturing Chinese variety Zhe-733 along with two upland varieties, Ukrainian Duborskian and a Peruvian seed collected from a village at 11,000 feet above sea level.

No pesticides or chemicals were utilized. Mulching was with seaweed and a small amount of organic chicken manure.The paddy is under a canopy of maple trees with sunlight for about half the day. I used only about 120 gallons of harvested rain water during a very dry period to keep the ground moist, the rest of the season was natural rainfall captured in the vernal pond which coincided well with heading up, filling the grains with rice.

Harvest was by hand, all straw returned to the paddy, Fukuoka style. The Zhe-733 matured in 137 days. The Akitomachi took 167 days, about a month longer. The birds began harvesting as soon as it reached maturity, taking primarily the pannicles that were bent over near the ground.

I used a hand mill to dehusk it with disappointing results, leaving too many cracked grains and about 5% unhulled. It was brown rice. Boiling (Akitomachi) left it too moist and next time will steam it. Very nice grain, fluffy with an almost buttery flavor.

Comments (0)

You must be logged in to comment.

Courses Taught Here!

Project Badges

Administrators

Team Members

(close)

Legend of Badges

Note: The various badges displayed in people profiles are largely honesty-based self-proclamations by the individuals themselves. There are reporting functions users can use if they know of blatant misrepresentation (for both people and projects). Legitimacy, competency and reputation for all people and projects can be evidenced and/or developed through their providing regular updates on permaculture work they’re involved in, before/after photographs, etc. A spirit of objective nurturing of both people and projects through knowledge/encouragement/inspiration/resource sharing is the aim of the Worldwide Permaculture Network.

	Member A member is a permaculturist who has never taken a PDC course. These cannot become PDC teachers. Members may be novice or highly experienced permaculturists or anywhere in between. Watch their updates for evaluation.
	Permaculture Matchmaker One of these badges will show if you select your gender and the "I'm single, looking for a permaculture partner" option in your profile.
	PDC People who claim to have taken a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course somewhere in the world.
	PDC Verified People who have entered an email address for the teacher of their PDC course, and have had their PDC status verified by that teacher. Watch their updates for evaluation.
	PRI PDC People who’ve taken a Permaculture Research Institute PDC somewhere in the world.
	PDC Teacher People who claim to teach some version of PDC somewhere in the world.
	PRI Teacher With the exception of the ‘Member’ who has never taken a PDC, all of the above can apply to become a PRI PDC Teacher. PRI PDC Teachers are those who the PRI recognise, through a vetting board, as determined and competent to teach the full 72-hour course as developed by Permaculture founder Bill Mollison – covering all the topics of The Designers’ Manual as well as possible (i.e. not cherry picking only aspects the teacher feels most interested or competent in). Such teachers also commit to focussing on the design science, and not including subjective spiritual/metaphysical elements. The reason these items are not included in the PDC curriculum is because they are “belief” based. Permaculture Design education concerns itself with teaching good design based on strategies and techniques which are scientifically provable. PRI PDC Teachers may be given teaching and/or consultancy offerings as they become available as the network grows.
	Aid Worker The individual with this badge is indicating they are, have, or would like to be involved in permaculture aid work. As such, the individual may or may not have permaculture aid worker experience. Watch their updates for evaluation.
	Consultant The individual with this badge is indicating they are, have, or would like to do paid permaculture design consultancy work. As such, the individual may or may not have permaculture consultancy experience. Watch their updates for evaluation.
	Community Project Community projects are projects that help develop sustainable community interaction and increase localised resiliency.