An ancient oilseed crop that is experiencing a resurgence of popularity due to three major factors:

1) easy to grow and high yielding, even on marginal land. Requires little or no input of fertilizer or water to achieve a good crop. Excellent choice for dryland farming and as a rotation crop for wheat or other grains.

2) a heat stabile and deliciously edible oil that has excellent shelf life can be cold pressed from the seeds. Very high in unsaturated fatty acids, the oil is loaded with health promoting Omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin E. The oil is a delicious raw condiment, and is a stabile and tasty cooking oil. The seeds themselves are excellent for feeding to poultry, giving exceptional egg production. Other stock can benefit from the feed value of this seed, as well.

3) this is one of the best crops for producing biodiesel. The plant is hardy to the temperate north and gives high yields of clean burning fuel. Interestingly, there are efforts afoot to limit the distribution of Camelina seed, and producers have worked out complex multi-level contracts aimed at cornering the market and fueling corporations instead of promoting self-sufficiency. We take issue with such things.

The plant has been used by humans for at least 4,000 years (remains in Switzerland date it to the Neolithic). Making this little weedy wonder into an exclusive botanical in modern times is not moving in the direction of cooperation. We offer the seed up to the public domain, and hope that many of you will grow it experimentally, and work your clean little patches up into commercially viable fields within a few years.

Camelina gives fast turnaround and high yield per input. The photo is of our recent germ test of this seed.

This species is a bad companion plant, depressing the growth of nearby plants. It has become a noxious weed of cultivated fields in some of the areas into which it has been introduced.

An easily grown plant, it succeeds in most soils but prefers a well-drained light soil in a sunny position.

It thrives on infertile, submarginal areas and is renouned for its ability to grow on sandy soils.

Established plants are drought tolerant. The plant is reported to tolerate an annual precipitation in the range of of 22 to 176cm, an annual temperature in the range of of 4.3 to 21.3°C and a pH of 4.5 to 8.2.

Rye is a widely cultivated temperate zone cereal crop. It is able to withstand severe climatic conditions and can be grown much further north and at higher altitudes than wheat.

Average yields vary widely from country to country, the world average is around 1.6 tonnes per hectare with yields of almost 7 tonnes per hectare achieved in Norway.

There are many named varieties. Rye is a rather variable species and botanists have divided it into a number of sub-species, all of which could be of value in breeding programmes. These sub-species are briefly listed below:

S. cereale afghanicum (Vavilov.) K.Hammer. Native to the Caucasus, western Asia and India.

S. cereale ancestrale Zhuk. Native to western Asia.

S. cereale dighoricum Vavilov. Native to the Caucasus and eastern europe.

S. cereale segetale Zhuk. Native to temperate Asia.

Malt, a sweet substance produced by germinating the seed, is extracted from the roasted germinated seed and used as a sweetening agent and in making beer etc. The roasted (ungerminated) seed is used as a coffee substitute.

The straw is used as a fuel or as a biomass in industry. It is quite strong and can also be used in thatching, for paper making, weaving mats and hats etc. Other uses for the straw include as a packing material for nursery stock, bricks and tiles, for bedding, archery targets, and mushroom compost.

Division after flowering. Only use rust-free specimens.

Root cuttings in December.

Basal cuttings at almost any time of year.

Succeeds in most soils. Poor soils should be enriched with organic matter. Prefers a heavy rich soil and a sheltered sunny position. Plants are hardy to about -15°c.

The flowers are harvested when they are open and are dried for later use. The shoots are used to ease a difficult labour. The root is astringent and demulcent. It is crushed and applied as a poultice to ulcers. Internally, it is used in the treatment of dysentery. The roots and the flowers are used in Tibetan medicine, where they are said to have a sweet, acrid taste and a neutral potency. They are used in the treatment of inflammations of the kidneys/womb, vaginal/seminal discharge, and the roots on their own are used to treat loss of appetite.

The seed is demulcent, diuretic and febrifuge.

Edible: young leaves, raw or cooked. A mild flavour, but the texture leaves something to be desired. They have been used as a pot-herb, though they are not particularly palatable. They can also be chopped up finely and added to salads.

Inner portion of young stems, raw. Flower petals and flower buds, raw. Added to salads.

A nutritious starch is obtained from the root.

A refreshing tea is made from the flower petals.

A fibre obtained from the stems is used in papermaking. The fibres are about 1.9mm long. The stems are harvested in late summer, the leaves are removed and the stems are steamed until the fibres can be removed. The fibres are cooked with lye for 2 hours and then ball milled for 3 hours or pounded with mallets. The paper is light tan in colour.

The flowers are an alternative ingredient of 'Quick Return' herbal compost activator. This is a dried and powdered mixture of several herbs that can be added to a compost heap in order to speed up bacterial activity and thus shorten the time needed to make the compost.

The seed contains 12% of a drying oil.

The red anthocyanin constituent of the flowers is used as a litmus.