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| Millet |
A gentleman this morning at Starbucks suggested that what I described was either millet or milo (also called sorghum), but from our picture, we thought millet might be more feasible.
The whole discussion evolved from our interest in the extreme drought that destroyed almost half of this year's corn crop in this country. We wanted to know what looked a little like corn but was still green and healthy.
We learned that the millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for both human food and animal fodder. Millet is favored by some farmers due to its productivity and short growing season under dry, high temperature conditions. However, in this country, it is mostly grown for bird seed. It is also sold as a health food. Due to its lack of gluten, it can be included in the diets of people who cannot tolerate wheat.
Proso millet is well adapted to many soils and climatic conditions. It has a short growing season and needs little water, the least of all the major cereal crops, so it is an excellent crop for dryland and no-till farming.
The mature plant reaches an average height of four feet. The seadheads grow in bunches. The seeds are small (2-3 mm or 0.1 inch) and can be cream, yellow, orange-red or brown in color.
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